"This isn't fair." Evee mumbled, throwing her bag into the back as she climbed into the passenger seat.
Lindsey had called her on the way there, telling her to get her things together because she needed to come home... This was after he had already told her that it was fine if she hung out with her friends, so Everleigh knew who actually wanted her home so badly- her mother.
"Does she not trust me now, or something?" She held out her hands, kind of annoyed but also a little sad.
She loved her mom- a lot, but sometimes she just didn't always understand her way of thinking.
"Evee, your mom loves you very much and it isn't that she doesn't trust you..." Lindsey and his wife had already talked about this, a million times. "She just doesn't really trust all the friends that you've been hanging out with." He admitted as he drove them back out of the subdivision.
Rolling her eyes softly, her jaw settled lightly. "Well, maybe I should just stop hanging out with my friends, and just sit around, knitting my days away with my 72 year old mother." She regretted saying that as soon as it left her mouth...
Lindsey sucked in his bottom lip as a deep sigh escaped him. "Don't hurt her feelings, Everleigh." He warned.
~~~
"I put new sheets on the bed and all the towels in the bathroom are clean." She led him down the hallway, rambling on about things that didn't really seem important, but she didn't know what else to talk about.
She hadn't seen him in awhile, not since they had gotten together for dinner a couple of weeks before he left for the road, which had been months earlier... She couldn't even remember when, exactly.
"Thank you, mom." Crosby carried his duffel bag in one hand and his leather jacket in the other.
He was a lot like Lindsey- the less mature, more irresponsible version, that is.
Lindsey was wild too, so was Stevie but they both, collectively knew when it was time to settle down and grow up, which is something she feared their oldest would never do.
He was going to be hitting retirement age, but still relying on his parents to bail him out of trouble. It was kind of ridiculous.
"You don't have to thank me." She mumbled, pushing open the door at the far end of the hallway. "I'm your mother, too." Stevie didn't say that to make excuses like, it's okay if you fuck up, I'll always save you.... she said that, because she knew that they didn't always share that sort of relationship.
Kash and Levy were different- they were easier to understand. But Crosby had always been so hardheaded, it was just nearly impossible for them to find common ground. And that was okay... Sometimes that's just how it is.
And she was used to that- it had been like that forever. Whenever they seemed to make an improvement in their relationship, something happened.
It was what it was.
"You and dad doing okay?" He was a little curious, only because the tension in the room at dinner was incredibly thick.
Nodding her head, she watched as he set his stuff down on the floor. "We're good." She shrugged a shoulder, not sure what he was expecting her to say. "We celebrated our fifth a couple of weeks ago." It had actually been about a month, but she was still proud of that... She was proud of them.
Taking a seat at the foot of the bed, he let out a soft laugh. "That's quite an accomplishment." His eyes fell to the floor- he didn't want her to see how tired he looked, but it was too late.
She sank back into the wall as a deep sigh filled the air around them. "I want you to want to help yourself, Crosby." Stevie lingered, hoping he didn't hear the way her voice had unintentionally cracked. "I can't make you want to get sober..." she didn't plan on having some overly emotional conversation with him that night, but it couldn't wait. "So you have to tell me right now if you're getting better for you, or if you're only doing this to appease to Kara." She was sympathetic- she'd had problems of her own and the very last thing she was doing, was judging him.
But she knew, deep down, that he wouldn't come out on the other side of all of this, unless he was doing it for himself... Unless he was fighting for himself.
"Your dad and I can only do so much for you and then you have to want it." She added in a very serious, yet also soft tone of voice.
She didn't want to sound harsh, but she also didn't want to sound as sad as she felt, either.
Crosby let silence fill the room for a moment as his eyes stayed glued on the hardwood floor. "I'm gonna try to figure it out." He couldn't make any promises, not to her.
He might not have always agreed with everything his mother did, or said, or how she raised them, but that didn't mean that he loved her any less.
He still wanted her to be proud of him, even though he felt like he'd lost any hope of that in like the junior high.
He didn't want to promise her something that he wasn't sure he was capable of quite yet.
"Sleep well, Crosby." She gave him a faint smile, hoping it looked even remotely real.
~~~
With a deep sigh, Lindsey took a seat on the leather sofa in his home studio.
It was late- only a little after ten when he'd finally snuck down there. Everyone had already left, or gone to bed... everyone, besides his wife, who was busy working through their bills at the kitchen table.
It had been a long night, especially after he'd picked up Evee from her friends. She was upset and of course, like always, embarrassed. And she complained all the way home about having to leave early, not at all considering her mother's reasoning.
He was just so tired, that was all.
Leaning forward, Lindsey reached under the couch cushion, letting out another sigh when he pulled the bottle of scotch out.
He had tried to stop totally, he really did. And for awhile, a couple of years, he was totally sober. But there were occasions that were just overly stressful and the only way he knew how to take care of that was to pour himself a strong one... Without Stevie knowing, of course.
"Lindsey?" She was at the top of the stairs- he could tell by the way her voice carried.
"What's up?" He wondered before he brought the bottle up to his lips to take a quick drink.
Traveling down the stairs with her silk robe wrapped around her tight, Stevie let off a sweet little grin as her eyes stayed fixated on each step. "Hi..." once she'd made it to the doorframe, he'd already hidden the alcohol behind the couch cushion.
"Hi, pretty woman." He leaned back a little further as he watched her venture further through the room.
One of her hands met his knee as she took a seat on the couch next to him. "Is Evee mad at me?" She could tell by how quiet they both were when they had gotten home that their car ride probably wasn't all that pleasant.
Shaking his head softly, he wrapped his arm around her as she sank so far down, her head ended up in his lap. "She'll get over it." He stared down at her as the tips of his fingers gently traced the outline of her face.
He still thought she was the prettiest woman in the world... She was his everything, even on the bad days.
Stevie's eyes fluttered shut as she tilted her head to one side for him. "That bad?" Her lips turned up lightly to show off that crooked little smile.
She wasn't oblivious, not at all... She knew that Everleigh probably wasn't too happy with her, but she also felt like she knew what was right.
After all, she'd already raised three children- this wasn't her first rodeo.
"I have a good idea," Lindsey leaned down, pressing a soft kiss to her forehead. "How about we pack a couple of bags and just run away?" He was joking... to a certain extent.
Stevie let out a sheepish giggle as she bit down on her lower lip. "I kinda like the sound of that." She whispered back.
