With a dozen red roses in hand, Lindsey knocked on the front door of her home.
He hadn't seen her in two weeks, not since she'd asked him to leave the hospital the day she'd woken up... He didn't want to- he really didn't, but after Barbara assured him that Stevie was fine, and that it would be better to give her some time, he half heartedly did as he was asked.
He went home, but he called Karen every day for weeks to ask if he could come up to visit her, but she refused. She didn't want to see him, or even speak to him...
It was a little defeating, but that didn't really stop him... Lindsey never got the hint, or maybe he did, but he always choose to ignore it.
The front door crept open a moment later, Karen greeting him with an arched brow. "I was wondering when we were going to be blessed with your presence." She cracked a soft smile, not at all surprised to see him.
"I just wanna see her, Karen." He admitted in a soft tone of voice.
Nodding her head, Karen pulled open the door a little further to welcome him into the foyer. "She's in the living room, watching some old movie." She wasn't sure if she was making the right decision by letting him in... She was actually certain that she wasn't, but for some reason, that afternoon, she didn't really care.
She knew they both needed it, even if Stevie wasn't ready or willing to admit it.
"Thank you," he appreciated it- he really did, considering normally she'd just lock the door and turn the lights off in hopes he'd leave them alone.
"I'll be outside." She stated in a quiet tone of voice as she headed through the foyer and snuck down the hallway.
With a faint chuckle, Lindsey slipped out of his shoes before he trailed towards the living room slowly.
He could hear the sound of classic music echoing through the house, and as soon as he made it to the doorway, his eyes fell on Stevie.
She was sitting on the sofa, a blanket wrapped around her legs, with her dog curled up next to her. Her long blonde hair laid in natural waves, not a trace of makeup and still in her silk pink robe that she'd thrown on earlier that morning.
She was beautiful... Always.
"You can come in." Her voice filling the air around them caused him to flinch, lightly.
"You have eyes in the back of your head?" He smirked, putting one foot in front of the other to venture further into the room.
"Magic." She teased, a very weak smile trailing across her sweet face. "I could see you through the screen." She admitted as her deep brown eyes instantly met his soft blue ones.
She couldn't stop thinking about him- not since she'd woken up, yet for some reason, she just wasn't ready to face him... But there he was, standing in the middle of her living room, not willing to let her get away with words unspoken.
He chuckled softly, nodding his head as he paused for a second. "I... uh," he motioned towards the vase as he carefully set them down on the coffee table in front of her. "I was gonna get you some wildflowers, but I figured these were a little more fitting for an apology..." his voice was soft and a little sad... she could hear it.
Biting down on her lower lip, she grew quiet as her eyes left his. "What happened?" She asked after a moment of silence had come and gone.
With a deep sigh, he slowly backed into the accent chair to take a seat. "We were arguing and-"
"No, Lindsey..." she shook her head, creasing a brow as the tears filled her eyes. "What happened to us?" She whispered, staring at him very intently.
She knew what happened that night- she remembered everything when she woke up.
They were fighting and she'd gotten herself so worked up, she'd taken a couple of steps without thought and fell... That was it, that's all it took.
She didn't need to be reminded of that... She wanted to know where they had gone wrong with one another.
Shrugging his shoulder, his heart sank. "I don't know, Steph." He said with a soft, weak shake of his head.
"We could have been really good together, Lindsey." Her emotions had completely taken over at that point and the tears were almost uncontrollable.
His knee had started bouncing up and down as he rubbed his forehead lightly. "I know, baby." It took everything he had not to stand up and wrap her in his arms, but he couldn't... he knew better than to try to love her when she was in that mood.
Bringing her hand up to her face, she tried to wipe away from of the tears. "Something that I've realized in the last few weeks, is the fact that you're one of the very few people, who really knows me..." she had said that before, but it felt more deep this time around.
She really meant that and he knew it was bothering her.
Creasing a brow, he leaned forward to let his elbows rest on his knees. "I feel the same way about you."
They had known one another before they had anything... They lived in small apartments, worked dead end jobs and struggled for a long time. And then, suddenly they had it all.
They had everything they could ever dream of, yet something was still missing.
"I remember when all we wanted to do was make music, make money, get famous..." she threw her hand in the air lazily, proving that they had done all of that... They'd figured that part out, but sometimes there's more to it than that. "Why didn't we put as much effort into our love as we did our work?" Her question went far beyond anything he could answer and she knew that.
It wasn't that easy... they weren't that easy.
He stared at her for a long second, and then he shook his head. "We can't change the mistakes we've made, Steph." If he could, he would have already. "But I can promise you that I'll do everything I can to make this right." He didn't know what else to offer her... He didn't have a time machine.
She raised a brow, nodding. "So you're telling me that now, in our fifties, we're going to suddenly just make it work?" She wasn't being sarcastic- she was being serious.
"I would love nothing more." He assured.
She grew quiet again, staring at him for a long minute before she held out her arms.
She believed him. She had faith and apparently, so did he, and that's all they could really do to prove one another at that point.
Pushing himself off the chair, Lindsey was quick to get across the room and wrap her up. "I've missed you." His whispered, gently running his fingers through her long strands.
She laughed softly, head in the curve of his neck as her eyes closed. "I have a favor..." she lingered, still holding onto him as he fell onto the couch next to her.
"Anything." He said as he left a soft kiss on her head.
"I need you to help me find my old boyfriend."
And that just wasn't what he was expecting.
