Torn

Part 15

Stevie lay wide awake early the next morning. She didn't sleep too well are all that much. She told Lindsey, she was done. With what? Their affair? Him in general? She wasn't entirely sure anymore. It was just so hard. She was happy and she could pretend when they were away from home, but once the tour ended, all of his promises were just that. It had been the same story for years. Maybe it was her own fault. He was a husband and a father, he had created a family with another woman, so how could she compete? No matter what she told herself, the tiniest hope was always alive and that was why she always believed him. What if he came last night to tell her his marriage was over? No, no he didn't. He would have yelled over her to let her know. 

Stevie lowered her eyes and smiled sadly to herself. There she was, another married man in her bed. What the hell was wrong with her? She'd always seemed enough to sleep around with, but not good enough to be with. Yet, Dave created some kind of a safe bubble. There was no history between them, they had never been in love before and in spite of what Lindsey believed, Dave had never made any empty promises. Not that she expected or wanted him to. It was different in that way. Yes, it was selfish, but he just made her feel good. After all, it wasn't Stevie, who forced herself onto him, he made that choice all by himself. 

"Would you stop with the overthinking?" Dave mumbled, moving up slightly to bury his face in the curve of her neck. "I'm trying to get some sleep."

"I wasn't aware that I was voicing all of my thoughts out loud." Stevie brought a hand up to cup his cheek, she pressed kiss to his hair. "I'll just get out of bed, I've been awake for a while anyway."

"Like hell you are." Dave disagreed, tightening his hold on her. 

"Well, you've got to make up your mind. Either deal with my racing mind or no more sleep for you." Stevie chuckled as he groaned. 

Dave opened his eyes lazily and smiled, lifting his hand up to tangled his fingers in her hair, he pulled her to him and kissed her lips. "Good morning then."

"Hey." Stevie smiled back, thinking how absolutely adorable he looked. 

"So, what's up?" Stevie sighed, she didn't want to ruin the moment. "Does it have anything to do with Lindsey showing up last night?"

"Yeah." She nodded, looking away. "We don't have to talk about it, though."

"You can if you want to." Dave shrugged, rolling onto his back. He opened his arm for her to cuddle up to his side and she did. "I know that there's this whole thing between you two."

Stevie couldn't help but laugh. "Yeah, I guess, that's one way to call it. I just- I feel bad. We've never learned how to talk to each other. I don't even really know why he came here, but I was ready for a fight and he just added fuel to the fire. I had a lot I wanted to get off my chest for years now, so I did. Maybe, I could have handled it differently, I don't know." She paused for a second. "We're not finished with the tour yet, we're going to Europe in a couple of weeks and I don't think that I can leave things as they are."

Dave couldn't pretend to understand, so he wasn't going to say that he did. "Do you wanna see him? Are you kicking me out?"

Stevie shook her head, tilting her chin up to look at him. "I think, I should start with a phone call." 

It took Dave a second. "Oh, you mean, now."

"I'm sorry." Stevie apologized, neither of them really knew why. 

"You don't have to be." Dave assured. "Do what you gotta do. While you're dealing with your ex not ex boyfriend, I'm going to make us something to eat."

"You can cook?" Stevie asked surprised, sitting up when he moved to get up. 

"We'll see." Dave joked, laughing and so did she. "I'll see you soon." He said, crawling back into the bed to give her another kiss.

Alone in her bedroom, Stevie kept staring at the door that Dave closed on his way out. Why did he have to be so sweet? Why did he have to treat her the way she believed she deserved to be treated? She shook herself mentally, this is just an affair. Another affair that had the potential of breaking her heart.

20 or so minutes later, Stevie came downstairs. She stood in the kitchen doorway, not realizing that she was grinning like a fool. Dave had turned the radio on that she had there and was singing wholeheartedly to an Eagles, well of course, classic, while keeping a close eye on pieces of bacon, sizzling in the pan. Dave stopped, when she came up behind him and glued herself to his back, he smiled, looking over his shoulder. 

"Well? How did it go?" He asked.

"Uh..." Stevie shrugged, stepping away to make them coffee. "There wasn't a lot of talking, there was a lot of listening to each other breathing. At least he answered. I don't know, we'll see, but I just feel like I needed to do that." That was about as much as she wanted to dwell on the subject. "Was this the only station available on the radio or...?"

"I thought, you were a fan." Dave teased with a smirk on his face. 

"Oh, fuck you!" Stevie replied, laughing.

"It's a great song." Dave said with a shrug, pulling her away from coffee making duty, he walked her over to the table. "Stop fussing and sit down. I was making breakfast." He pointed at himself. "Are we clear?"

"Yes, sir." Stevie nodded, seeing his eyebrows shut up. "God, you men are all the same."

"I'll remember that. That's something we might explore." Dave joked, maybe not, as he walked away and back to his previous spot.

Stevie leaned back in her seat, since she wasn't allowed to do anything, and watched Dave in silence. A sudden pang of guilt. He wasn't supposed to be with her. He was supposed to be at home with his family. Why wasn't he? What did she have to offer that his yet again much younger wife couldn't give him?

"Aren't you going to get in trouble for being here?" Stevie asked. They'd never discussed that. 

"Don't worry about it." Dave simply replied, carrying over two plates. He set them down and went back to get coffee.

Stevie turned her head slightly to the left and then to the right. She looked up at Dave, now sitting in front of her. "Is this supposed to be a-"

"I tried, okay? It didn't work." Dave sighed, picking up his mug for a sip. "Turns out, that's not the easiest-" He stopped, thinking of what to call it. "Material to work with."

Stevie bit into her bottom lip to contain her smile as she stared at the failed sunny side up egg heart.