Tango In The Night Part 2: When I See You Again

If She Sees Him Again

Hollywood Hills, California
Sunday, September 20, 1987
(8:00 pm)
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"I got the moves, baby...you got the motion...If we got together we'd be causing a commotion..."

Stevie was dancing around her kitchen, singing her heart out to Madonna on the radio and twirling around the island countertop as she brought out the ingredients for a sandwich. The car from the airport had dropped her off at home an hour ago and she was greeted by her two little dogs, who'd had dropped off at the house by Karen Johnston that evening after being fed and walked so they'd be all ready to greet her with barking and twirling and licking when she walked through the door. Stevie had immediately gone upstairs to quickly shower and change, and now she was dancing around the kitchen in a black t-shirt with the cover art of Cyndi Lauper' She's So Unusual album on the front and the tour dates in the back, and a pair of gray cotton pajama pants, her hair held back by a banana clip. She'd found a bag of bagels on top of the fridge and some turkey and cheese inside of the fridge, along with a few other moderate groceries, and she knew Karen had shopped for her.

She knew then and there she was going to offer that amazing, thoughtful woman the job as her personal assistant.

"Then we can keep our love alive..." she belted out, dancing in place as she sliced a tomato on the cutting board on the counter. "...and when it goes we won't let it die...It doesn't matter if you win or lose...it's how you play the game so get into the groove..."

Sara Belladonna was barking and dancing up on two paws, looking cute to get food from her mom. Stevie bent down to feed her tiny pieces of turkey from her hand, and she gave some to Ginny, who sat calmly on the floor next to her little sister. Ginny had grown more blind over the past few months and she took arthritis medicine daily now as well as a thyroid medication hidden in her breakfast and dinner bowls, and Stevie tried every time she fed her not to think of the fact that she was seventeen now and she would not be around forever.

"You're wasting time...make up your mind...get into the groove..."

Stevie had just reached into the refrigerator for a can of Pepsi when she heard the doorbell ring from across the house. Assuming it was Mick, who'd told her he might come over and check on her after she got settled in at home, she wiped her hands on a dish towel and walked through the dining room and living room and opened her front door.

No one was there.

Stevie looked to her left, to her right, and it wasn't until she looked down at the small bench she kept on the landing that she saw a long, skinny box that was unmistakably from a flower delivery service. She smiled and picked up the box of flowers, her free over her baby bump as she stepped back inside. The dogs had barked at the doorbell and had followed her, and she said, "Look at this, ladies! Mommy got flowers! Let's see who sent flowers to Mommy!"

She took the box, which was weighted on one side meaning a vase was included, into the kitchen where her sandwich sat half prepared on the counter. Tearing open the box, she could see the flowers were red roses. She felt her eyes instantly fill with tears, knowing who'd sent them before she even read the card inside the box.

With a trembling hand, her other hand over her baby, Stevie pulled a tiny pink envelope out of the box and then used both hands to open it, revealing a little pink card. She could barely see through her tears to read it.

Stephanie,

These roses are your 10-minute warning. I officially cannot take another day without you and your doorbell will ring in 10 minutes so I don't have to. I understand if you won't let me in, but if you don't, you'll be missing out on the world's biggest apology and a lifetime of me holding you and treats you like a princess to make up for the most awful thing I've ever done...but at least you'll have these roses.

Love,
Lindsey

(P.S.) Please let me in, if just for a moment. I miss my sweet girl so much I can hardly breathe.

Stevie stood in the middle of the kitchen in shock for a long time, and then sprung into action. She put away the food, took a quick look in line mirror and shook her hair out of its clip and tamed it, took a few deep breaths. Suddenly she looked down and thought with terror, The baby! He doesn't know...he's going to see!

Then, right on schedule, the doorbell rang. Stevie took a deep breath, wondering if she should have changed clothes, and she pulled the door open wide. Standing on her front landing, illuminated by the porch light which had come on at dusk, was the moment she had been dreaming of for so long it almost felt unreal. Lindsey.

"So I take it you don't just want to be left with the roses," he said with a grin.

That was all he managed to get out before Stevie burst into tears and lunged towards him, throwing her arms around his neck. Lindsey lifted her off the ground and carried her that way into the house, kicking the door shut behind him.

"Oh baby..." Lindsey held onto her tightly as she cried into his shoulder, clinging to him, her fingernails raking through the back of his hair. "Baby, you don't have to cry...I'm here...I'm sorry, angel, I'm so, so sorry..." He couldn't possibly hold her close enough; he held her as tightly as she was holding onto him, a sense of relief over just being able to be near him again washing over her.

"I'm so sorry," she muttered into his neck as he felt her tears on his skin. "I said such terrible things...Lindsey...I love you..." And she broke into a fresh set of sobs.

"Sssh...angel, I'm the one who's sorry...I'm so sorry I hurt you, baby...your face...my God, Stevie, your beautiful face!" The image of himself slapping her across the face was something for which he could never see himself getting over, nor could he ever forgive himself for the other painful memory - his hands closing around her throat. He began to kiss her hair, her face still inaccessible to him as she cried into him. They were standing in the foyer where several months earlier, he had stormed out in a huff on her birthday but left her presents behind, and slowly, he lowered her till she stood on her feet again, but they hadn't let go of each other for a second. When they finally stood face to face, he looked into her eyes wet with tears, and he brought a hand gently to her cheek to wipe away a tear that was falling there. His lips curled into a sweet smile and he said, almost like the answer to a prayer, "Stephanie..."

His hand was still cradling her cheek as he leaned in and brought his lips to hers for a kiss.

Everything they hadn't said to each other in months - in years - was said in their kiss. He was holding her face in his hands, eventually sliding his fingers back into her hair, and the crying stopped as she surrendered herself completely to the warm, familiar feeling of home that she had honestly never thought she would ever feel again. A little whimper of relief escaped her as she felt his tongue dragging tentatively across her lower lip and slide gently into her mouth, and she kissed him back eagerly, hungrily, attempting to tell him everything she had spent every moment since their terrible fight wanting to say without saying a word. Finally, when they pulled away, panting, barely an inch apart as they stood in each other's arms, she said, "I never stopped loving you. You know that, right?"

"I never stopped loving you either..." He was stroking her cheek again with his thumb. "My sweet girl..." He smiled as his thumb dragged over her lips, and she kissed it.

"Lindsey..." She couldn't believe he hadn't seen - or even felt - the big news she had yet to share with him. In her loose t-shirt and pajama bottoms it must have been easy to miss, she surmised. She took his hand in hers as it dropped naturally from her face. "There's something I have to tell you...it's good news...at least to me it is...will you sit down with me and I'll tell you what's been happening? Before we go any further...there's something you need to know."

"I'm all ears, angel," Lindsey said. He brought her hand up to his lips and kissed her fingers. "But...can you tell me upstairs in the bedroom? It's been so long since I've gotten to lie down with you and feel you lying in my arms...honestly, it's all I've been thinking about."

"Me too, actually," she confessed with a small giggle, and she had tears in her eyes again as she looked up at him again. She held his hand firmly in hers and said, motioning with her head towards the staircase, "Come on, sweetheart. Let's go home."

Lindsey smiled and they ascended the stairs to the bedroom, following the love of his life to a destiny he had no idea yet that awaited him.

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