Pulling open the front door, Stevie quietly stepped out into the night air with a blanket in her arms. "It's chilly," she announced, looking back over her shoulder to see her husband walking up the sidewalk.
He had a soft smile on his face, hands in his pockets as he trailed towards her. "It is." Lindsey agreed with a faint chuckle.
She couldn't help but smile lightly, reaching out for his hand as she carefully ventured down the couple of steps. "Thank you for coming..." her voice was soft as she stared into her favorite set of blue orbs.
Those eyes were her saving grace sometimes...
With her hand in his, he carefully tangled their fingers together."I would do anything for you, baby." He had never missed her as much as he had in the last couple of days... When she called him, it felt like a breath of fresh air.
Slipping her other arm around his waist, her head met his chest instantly. "I know." She admitted as they headed back towards the car. "I've missed you." She whispered, sinking into him as much as possible to be held for a moment.
Of course, she'd missed him- they had been each other's everything for five decades... It would have been impossible not to.
But that didn't take away from the fact that she was very disappointed... He had really let her down.
"I've missed you more." He said as he pressed a gentle kiss to the side of her head, before he pulled open the passenger side door.
Stevie patted his back lightly as she slipped into the car, wrapping her blanket around herself immediately. "How have things been at Levy's?" She wondered as soon as he crawled into the drivers seat.
He shrugged a shoulder as he leaned back in his seat. "It hasn't been too bad." He admitted, even though it was far from ideal. "I've gotten really used to the couch..." he had to make a joke, even though neither of them really laughed.
In fact, instead of finding it funny- it actually broke her heart a little.
"Linds..." she sighed, creasing a brow as she lazily sank into the leather seat.
"Oh, come on, babe." He chuckled softly, staring into her suddenly very sad eyes. "I'm only kidding..." he assured with a faint nod.
She bit down on her lower lip, finding it so hard to be annoyed with him in that very moment. "You know how much I love you." She had tears in her eyes as she reached out to take his hand in hers. "It's been so hard here, without you." Stevie wasn't planning to admit that to him, but she couldn't help it.
She had grown so accustomed to having her husband to fall back on, she forgot that there could actually be a life without him and that scared her... She didn't like it, not at all.
"It's been terrible." Stevie half whined as she wrinkled a brow. "Everleigh and Crosby won't even acknowledge each other, let alone have a conversation about what's going on..." she shook her head, totally defeated and a little distraught.
"They're both stubborn..." Lindsey lingered, not sure why she was so upset by that... there had to have been something else bothering her. "They get that from you." He added with a very weak, sympathetic smile.
She was so upset- he just wanted to cheer her up a little, that was all.
She laughed lightly, nodding her head in agreement. "I could say the same thing about you." She whispered as she looked right into those eyes.
He scanned over her face, knowing that something else was sitting heavy on her shoulders."What happened?" He had known her for too long to let those emotions just linger... If he could take away some of it, he had to at least try.
"Oh," she shook her head, waving her free hand in the air. "Nothing..." even she didn't believe that when it left her mouth.
He slowly brought his hand up to her face, gently tilting her chin towards him to look at her a little better.
With tears streaming down her cheeks, she leaned in slowly, forehead meeting his. "I'm just so tired of this." She closed her eyes softly, feeling the tips of his fingers trail along her jawline. "Come inside..." she let it all out at once- all the tears, all the emotions, and all the built up sadness... It was overwhelming.
Using the pad of his thumb, he carefully dabbed under her eyes. "I think you're just upset right now, Steph."
"You aren't gonna come home?" She mumbled, moving to the side to feel his cheek pressed to hers.
He shook his head lightly, still holding her close. "I don't think we've actually worked through our problems, baby." Lindsey hardly ever talked like that... In fact, it was usually her with the voice of reason, but not this time. "I'll come in for awhile, but then I think it'll be better if maybe we go out to dinner, or...." He paused for a second. "Or maybe we can go down to the beach and just enjoy each other's company." He added, running his fingers through her long hair. "It's been forever since we took some time for just the two of us."
He had thought about that a lot lately... They had always been so good together. For a long time, before life seemed to spiral out of control, they had really found comfort in their marriage.
They were best friends, but with time, it felt like that special bond had started slipping through the cracks.
Sometimes it felt like were losing one another and that scared him more than anything.
"I would like that."
~~~
"Have fun, sweetie." Stevie was standing in the foyer, leaning against the doorframe as she watched her daughter slip into her shoes.
"Love you," Evee waved lightly, hurrying towards the front door, where Lucy was waiting.
"I love you," she replied, a soft smile trailing across her face. "Can I speak to you?" She waited until Ev was outside, before she caught Lucy's attention.
Turning back around, she nodded her head, reluctantly. "What's up?" She wondered in a low tone of voice.
Shifting all her weight from one foot to the other, she raised a brow. "I don't know what you're telling Everleigh, but I would really appreciate it if you would stop." She was stern when she said that- she was serious and really not happy.
Lucy chuckled lightly, shaking her head immediately. "You shouldn't be so ashamed of the truth, Stevie."
