Sitting on the bench at the foot of their bed, Stevie listened to the sound of his feet traveling down the hallway. "If you came up here to defend them, save your breath, Lindsey." She held up a hand as soon as he walked through the door.
She was so annoyed, she was almost certain that anything he said wouldn't change that... She'd just had enough of all their insanity, that was all.
"I just came up here to talk." Lindsey cracked a faint smile as he took a seat next to her, wrapping his arm around her shoulders immediately. "You alright, baby?" He felt her lean into him, kissing her forehead as soon as her met his chest.
The thing about being married for as long as they had been married was that there didn't always have to be some huge apology anymore... They were over that.
He knew that he'd made her feel bad the day before and he regretted it, which she knew and that's all it took at that point.
"I overreacted, didn't I?" She mumbled, rolling her eyes more at herself, than anything else.
He couldn't help but chuckle as he brought his free hand up to her cheek to rub his thumb back and forth under her eye. "No, not at all." He assured. "They ask the stupidest shit sometimes." Lindsey shook his head, not too impressed with any of them, either.
Biting down on her lower lip, she let a giggle escape her. "Did you go to Cloud Gate?" She channeled her best Kash impression as she glanced up at her husband with wide eyes. "Were they being serious?!" She couldn't believe that the people that she had given life to would ask such insensitive questions about something that was so hard for them....
She had raised them better than that, or at least she thought she had.
"Did someone ask us if we went shopping?" Lindsey scrunched up his nose, causing her to laugh a little harder.
Nodding her head, she sank into him even more. "Where do you think we went wrong?" she sighed lightly as she closed her eyes for a moment. "Well, I should ask, where did I go wrong..." Her voice grew much softer as she felt the tips of his fingers trail along her jawline.
Sometimes it bothered her- the strained relationship she had with her oldest and other times, she didn't let it. But for some reason, on that trip especially, it really pained her.
She just wanted better for the both of them.
"They are so lucky to have you." He assured as he continued to trace the curve of her neck.
She sank into his side further, this calmness washing over her from the soft touch. "It's like we get one step forward and then take two steps back." She had always felt like that with the kids... Mostly Crosby, though.
She couldn't even count how many times they'd tried to understand one another, but it never worked... they were so different- they just couldn't see past one another's flaws.
"You can only help them get so far in life, and they have to figure out the rest on their own." He repeated something that she had said a million times before... Occasionally, she used some tough love, too. "And you've always been the best mother to all four of those kids." When he said that, he truly believed it.
She was just one in a million.
"The best?" She whispered, a soft smirk tugging at the corners of her lips as her hand met his chest. "You don't even wanna hang out with me anymore." Stevie raised a brow lightly, a playful tone lingering in her voice.
He let out a sigh as he tilted her chin up to look into those brown eyes. "I love you." He scanned over her features, finding her just as beautiful as ever.
Stevie batted her eyelashes jokingly as she leaned in slowly. "I love you more." She mumbled, lips instantly meeting his as she slipped her arm around his neck.
He held her for a long moment, replaying her words from a couple of days earlier... the night she accused him of not showing her enough love anymore.
He couldn't stop thinking about that- it really bothered him a lot for some reason.
"We should rent a room somewhere this weekend and just get away for a few days..." he suggested, pushing some of her loose curls behind her ear to see her face better.
She creased a brow, trying to decide if he was being serious or not. "Where is that idea coming from?" She let a soft smile dance across her face as she shook her head lightly.
"We haven't been away, for fun, all alone in almost ten years." He announced that like it was news to her... Like she hadn't brought it up a million times before.
They had tried to get away a dozen times, but it wasn't easy anymore. They had a lot of responsibilities... it wasn't just them like it had been for a long time after the boys moved out.
Stevie let out a heavy sigh, feeling him slowly start to let her go. "This is an awful time for that, Lindsey." She kept her arm around him, trying not to sound as unappreciative of the idea as she was being.
With a light shrug, he pushed himself up to trail towards the door. "Don't say that I don't try, Steph." The shift in tone didn't go unnoticed by his wife, who was left kind of stunned.
"What are you talking about?" Stevie held up a hand, eyes following him through their room.
Shaking his head, he stepped into the hallway before he replied. "Just forget it."
~~~
A couple of hours later, after Stevie and Elise had made lunch, all the guys disappeared down to the studio, while the ladies gathered around the living room to chat.
"Did Evee have a good time at least?" Janie wondered, sitting on the fur rug, watching her son stumble around the room, aimlessly.
Nodding her head, Stevie leaned forward to set her pie plate on the accent table. "I think she really enjoyed it, yeah." She hadn't had much of a chance to talk about it with her daughter, not like she should have. "But now we're back to real life, so..." she shrugged lightly, really not in the mood to talk about Chicago anymore than they already had. "I'll be back at the restaurant tomorrow morning." She added, holding out a hand for the baby as he trailed towards the sofa.
"Maybe you should take a break, mom." Elise was the most sympathetic one... She could see right through the strong front that Stevie was putting on. "Just focus on yourself..." she lingered, cradling her glass of wine as she leaned back into the couch. "Maybe you and dad could take a little road trip, or something fun. Just the two of you." Her words were so ironic... it was almost unsettling.
With a faint chuckle, Stevie took her daughter- in- laws hand in hers. "Dad and I are just fine."
