Early the next morning, after another night apart, Lindsey found himself back at her house, sitting in the home office with both Karen and Stevie.
He wasn't exactly sure what she was looking to do, but if she felt like she needed to track down some guy from her past, he felt like he needed to support that.
It was weird, but he wasn't going to argue... That never got him anywhere, anyway.
"I don't mean to sound so blunt..." Karen warned, staring at the computer as she typed in his name for the second time. "But who is this guy and why do we need to look him up?" She wondered as she casually glanced over at her boss, who was hovering close.
"It's... uh," she paused for a second, looking over the edge of her reading glasses. "I dated him for a little while, but it was nearly 40 years ago." She shrugged a shoulder, trying to make it seem like it wasn't as important as it was to her. "I just..." she bit down on her lower lip, shaking her head lightly.
"It's fine." Lindsey was sitting on the sofa, not far away from the two women. "You don't have to explain it to us, Stevie." He assured, bringing his cup of coffee up to his lips to take a sip.
He wasn't exactly sure what she was expecting from this guy, but he had promised that things would be different this time around, and this felt like the first step to make it work for them.
If this was important to her, it was important to him.
"I found him." She announced a moment later, slowly pushing the swivel chair back to show the blonde. "He's in Pasadena..."
~~~
Pulling open the car door, Lindsey helped her into the passenger seat of the SUV. "You alright?" He asked, hand softly falling on her thigh as he watched her pull the seatbelt buckle around herself.
Chuckling softly, she nodded her head. "You're worrying way too much, honey." Stevie brought her hand out, letting it meet his cheek. "I'm okay." Between him and Karen, Stevie had repeated that phrase about a thousand times in the last few days. "I'll tell you when I'm not, I promise." She smirked, hand slipping down to his chest to pat it softly.
He chuckled lightly as he nodded his head. "I'm counting on it." Lindsey pulled away slowly, only to close the car door and head around to the drivers side.
The moment he crawled in, her hand settled on his leg, staring over at him with those deep brown eyes.
"Just don't forget that I'm back here." Karen piped in from the back seat, trying hard not to stare at them too intently. "I'm begging you." She added with a faint smile trailing across her face.
Tossing her head back, Stevie let out a deep laugh.
"How could we?" Lindsey chuckled as well, turning the key before they started down the driveway.
Lindsey wasn't going to let the two of them drive all the way out to Pasadena to meet some stranger at his home... He didn't care how tough Karen could be, it just didn't seem safe enough. And though he wasn't a bodyguard, protector, or anything like that, it would make him feel better just by being there.
"Can we turn up the radio?" Karen was like a kid- slouched all the way down in the middle, already a little bored.
Nodding her head, Stevie reached out to turn up the volume on the radio and then her hand went back to his leg.
The car ride wasn't that bad- actually it was pretty pleasant for that particular group of people. Karen and Lindsey didn't argue over directions, what music they were going to listen to, or where they were going to stop for coffee... It was nice and before they knew it, they were pulling into the subdivision.
It was cute- a lot like Stevie dreamt about. They were nice homes- nothing overly fancy, but still very welcoming and warm.
"We're here." Lindsey announced as they pulled up the curb.
It wasn't the same house- of course, it wasn't but it had the same vibes. It wasn't tiny, but it definitely wasn't huge and it was definitely lived in... It made her smile almost instantly.
"I'll wait in the car." Karen stated, staring out the window, right along with the other two.
"You ready?" Lindsey asked as he slowly pushed open the car door to slip out onto the pavement.
Stevie wasn't far behind, also crawling out to take in the warm afternoon sun. "I appreciate this." She told him as she tangled her fingers in his to head up the cracked sidewalk.
He smiled lightly, giving her a little wink as he brought his hand up to the front door to knock a couple of times.
They stood outside for a minute and then the lock clicked, and the door slowly came open. "Hi..." she was young- late teens, maybe early twenties.
She looked just like David, it was almost amazing.
With a very sweet smile tugging at the corners of her mouth, Stevie's eyes melted into hers. "Hi-"
"You're famous..." she cut her off mid-sentence, not meaning to but also a little in shock.
Laughing softly, Stevie nodded. "I'm looking for David..." she lingered, not interested in staying on the topic for too long.
Swallowing hard, she nodded her head quickly. "Oh, yeah." The brunette pulled open the door, welcoming the couple into the home. "Sure." She was suddenly very nervous... who wouldn't be?
It was casual- very much so. There were family pictures hanging on the wall, shoes scattered around the foyer, dying plants taking up residency on the windowsill and even a couple of articles of clothing dispersed randomly.
It was normal and... kind of even safe in a weird way.
"He's outside, playing football with my brother. I'll go grab him." She motioned for them to take a seat in the living room on the sofa.
"Thank you, honey." The blonde kept the smile on her face as she took a seat, waiting for Lindsey to do the same before she leaned into him.
He sat there totally silent, slipping his hand around her waist as he stared around the room.
This was probably the weirdest thing he'd done in a long time... not ever, because that would be a stretch. But this was definitely on the list, for sure.
"Stevie?" His voice caused them both to snap back into reality.
He was standing in the doorway- a baseball hat, an old tee-shirt and a pair of athletic shorts... He was still handsome- of course, he was.
Pushing herself up to stand, she let out a soft laugh. "Hi..." she greeted him.
"It's so good to see you," he trailed closer, meeting her in the middle of the room for a hug.
"It's really good to see you as well." She assured, eyes scanning over his face. "And your daughter is just beautiful." She added, motioning towards the kitchen, where the younger woman had disappeared to.
He nodded lightly, a soft grin on his face. "Her name is Stephanie..."
