"Careful..." the blonde held out her hands, following behind the one year old as she scurried down the hallway. "Here she comes." She added, a big smile on her face as they emerged into the small living room.
Lindsey was sitting on the floor, holding out his hands for Constance as she other baby sat next to him, watching. "There's the sweet girl." He chuckled lightly when she fell into his arms, hugging him tight.
Stevie was right behind her daughter, a very sweet grin on her face. "Good job, angel." She giggled lightly, watching her clap her hands, happily.
"We've got a walking baby." Lindsey picked her up, tickling her tummy to allow deep baby laughs to fill the room around them. "That deserves some ice cream for the girls." He swooped down, taking Becks with them as his eyes met Stevie's. "Mama gonna come with?" He wondered, seeing that she was still sitting on the carpet, just staring.
Sometimes it was captivating... He would have been such a great dad to her twins and every time she saw him with them, it just reminded her of that. It reminded her of the mistakes she'd made.
Nodding lightly, she pushed herself up. "Of course," she gave them a gentle smile, wrapping her arm around Lindsey's waist as she leaned in to pinch Constance's cheeks.
~~~
Sitting at the old vanity, staring at herself through the mirror, she let out a gentle sigh. "What are you doing...?" She asked herself in a low tone as she carefully began brushing through her long blonde locks.
She'd asked herself that a million times in the years that had led up to that moment. She wondered why they still did this every summer; even when she got married, even she had babies, even when he was moving on... Nothing ever stopped them from meeting, even when it didn't seem logical.
This was one of those occasions. Stevie was right on the cusp of marriage, yet she was in Hawaii with another man, falling in love like she did every summer before...
With a heavy sigh, she pushed herself off the chair and picked up the glass of wine she'd been sipping.
She was wearing a long spaghetti strap silk nightgown that went down to her ankles, and her long hair was pulled back into a loose clip, with just a few curls framing her face.
It was almost ten at night and after having sat outside together for most the evening, Lindsey finally decided to make dinner.
He wasn't a great cook, but over the years, he had gotten a lot better and it part of their routine. They took turns cooking each night and usually, the very last evening of their summer together, they went out to the restaurant they'd been going to forever.
It always had this hint of romance about it- the whole thing.
It was romantic to sneak away from their lives, even though for many years, they had to lie to people they loved in order to do so.
Nothing had ever been able to come between them and that house, which is why Lindsey thought it was so out of character for her to decide to sell it... She'd fought for all the memories and those four walls for so many years.
"It smells good." She announced as she stepped into the kitchen.
It wasn't anything overly fancy- it was old and creaky. It had chipped wooden floors that had once been brand new, and pots and pans hanging over the island. It had old lace curtains, and a circle table with only four chairs.
"Do you need help?" She wondered, setting her glass down on the marble counter top.
He was already in sweatpants and a t-shirt, leaning back against the counter as his eyes followed her through the room. "I got it." Lindsey's lips turned up softly as his hands fell back to push himself up on the counter. "I'm really going to miss this." He was sitting on top a second later, legs dangling over the bottom cabinets.
She nodded lightly, pulling open one of the drawers to grab a lighter. "Why don't we just focus on having a good couple of weeks together?" Stevie couldn't handle that- the sad part of it.
It wasn't going to be easy by any means, but it was time. It was time they started doing things properly in their real lives, not just the one they created away from reality.
"Can we do that?" Stevie's voice was gentle as she lit the tall candles on the table, readjusting the candle sticks to sit perfectly in the center.
He let out a soft chuckle, nodding in agreement. "We can do that." Lindsey didn't want to do that, but he would try... He would try to enjoy their couple of weeks, but he would try harder to change her mind.
"Good," she moved back through the kitchen, coming towards him. "I need some plates..." she motioned towards the cabinet right behind him, a small smirk on her face as her hand met his knee.
He grinned lightly in return, one hand falling down to her hip to feel the fabric of that soft silk. "You just keep getting prettier..." Lindsey looked deep into those big brown eyes, wanting to lean in and kiss her so badly.
She tossed her head back, a deep laugh escaping her. "You're so full of it." She patted his leg. "I need two plates, Lindsey." She repeated.
He raised a brow as he let out a chuckle. "It was worth a shot." He meant what he'd said, but sometimes it was easier to go with it.
He turned around, reaching up to pull two glass plates off the top shelf before he handed them to her.
Everything in that house had a story it seemed... everything was special. All the dish wear had come from an old store that used to be downtown. Stevie had yet to ever buy fine china at that point in her life, so it was a big deal for her.
She walked around the store for hours, trying to decide on what color, and what style she thought would be perfect. She paid a lot for it at the time, and was so proud of it. But by then, of course, pieces had been chipped and she'd bought plenty of much finer dinnerware since.
Now it was just old dishes that would go with the old house.
"I was thinking," Lindsey was sitting across from her at the table, staring at her over the flickering candle. "Maybe tomorrow we could go down to the beach for awhile? I heard there's supposed to be a band...?" He lingered, not certain she'd be on board with that.
It was hard, especially at that point in their lives to go out together, anywhere...
She thought about it for a moment and then she shrugged. "We'll see..." her eyes grew gentle as she glanced down to the knitted table cloth.
She had to be careful... She couldn't risk ruining the relationship she'd created with George, which was exactly what all of this could do.
