Reconsider Me

Part 13

Things between Stevie and Kyle had definitely gotten awkward. They had barely said anything to each other during the past three weeks excepts for an icy hello, when he came over for a visit. Stevie stayed out of his way, finding something to occupy herself with instead. She hadn't thought that she was stringing him along at least not until he said it out loud. Maybe there was some truth to it, but she wasn't keeping him close yet at some distance on purpose as if he was her safe choice in case no one better came along. Since that night, when Kyle stormed out of her house, Stevie was thinking about everything he'd brought up. He was right, she had to make a decision.

"Look, daddy!" Aimee presented Kyle with her newest drawing, looking proud. 

"Oh, that's amazing, Aims." Kyle grinned, studying three stick figures on a piece of paper. "Is that you?" He asked, pointing at the smallest one and Aimee nodded. "Is this mommy?"

"And you!" The girl showed excitedly. 

It was hard to escape their voices, Stevie suddenly got emotional. Even though they did their best to keep things as normal as possible for the sake of their daughter, she knew that once Kyle had to say goodbye, Aimee was going to have that sad look on her pretty little face as they hugged and held on to each other. It crushed her every time. If Stevie had doubts about her and Kyle, she had none, when it came to Aimee and what was best for her.

Before Stevie could go to the family room, the phone started ringing. She wasn't expecting to hear from anyone, so she didn't rush as she made her way to answer the call. 

"Hey, Steph." 

She smiled, hearing Lindsey's voice on the other end. "Hey."

"I hope, I'm not interrupting anything." Lindsey checked first, when Stevie told him, no, he wasn't, he continued. "I was wondering if you like to come over. I promised to show you those demos."

Demos? Stevie took a second, before she remembered him mentioning something about it vaguely the last time they saw each other. "Oh, right. Sorry, I just- you know, nevermind. Uh, I'd love to, yeah."

"Great!"

They chatted for a couple more minutes and made plans. Stevie promised to get back to Lindsey, when she found someone to babysit Aimee. She didn't want to ask Kyle and have to explain. 

"I hope, I'll see you soon then." Lindsey said, sounding rather excited. 

"I'll let you know. Bye, Linds." Stevie wasn't as enthused, but it had nothing to do with him. She couldn't quite tell him, what was going through her mind right now.

"You don't have to find a babysitter." Kyle's voice startled Stevie, she didn't know, he was behind her. "I'm her father, I can look after her."

"No, I wouldn't want you to-" Stevie began, but he cut in.

"It's fine."

"Okay, thanks." She smiled weakly, then began wringing her hands. She couldn't come up with anything to say to keep him and Kyle had already turned around to leave. "Kyle, wait."

He stopped, but didn't face her right away. Taking a couple of deep breaths, Kyle turned to look at Stevie, who seemed to be struggling with words. "Well? If you have to say something, then say it." Her mouth had gotten dry, she cleared her throat and parted her lips, but nothing came out. "I have dinner with a potential client in less than an hour, so-"

"Okay." Stevie said and took a step closer.

"Okay?" Kyle frowned, unsure of what she meant by that. 

"I want it, too." Her words still didn't make much sense. "I want the same things that you do. I want you for you. We'll figure out the rest together."