Our Last Dance

13.

Lindsey would eventually take off and when he got home, he had his overnight bag and as he was getting in, so was Shelly.

"Hey, daddy..." she came over to hug him as they walked up the driveway. "Morning..."

"Morning, sweetheart," he smiled. "Where'd you go?" he wondered.

"I took Leo to the airport," she sighed.

"Oh, right..."

"Where'd you go last night?"

"I went to Stevie's..." he mumbled.

"Well, that was quick," she smirked.

"It's not like that..." he shook his head, unlocking the door to let them both in.

"If you're trying to make me feel better, it really doesn't bother me. Stevie is the greatest and you need a woman like her in your life. Somebody to balance you out," she added, heading for the kitchen.

"I appreciate the go-ahead, but it's really still not like that," he assured, settling his overnight bag by the stairs in his home.

"Care to enlighten me? I wanna know. Looks kinda suspicious, if you ask me," she came back with a spoon and a carton of cookies and cream ice cream plus cheese Doritos.

"I'm not asking you..." he smirked, taking her bag of chips.

"Well, if you were asking," she chuckled, plopping down on the couch. "I'm hungry, dad... Can we go eat?" as she ate bites of ice cream.

"Sure," he shrugged.

"I was thinking a doughnut shop. I could really go for a doughnut, a bagel... Some milk..."

"You know, I would have never even been able to tell if that was pregnancy cravings or just my genes, because you've always been a garbage disposal like me."

"I know, right?" she laughed in return. "Anywho, if you were asking my opinion, it would seem that you and Stevie were secretly seeing each other..."

"I know how it looks, but it's not what it is... You should have seen Trevor this morning when he came by. I'm sure it looks bad, but Stevie's got a point; as long as we know the truth of what's going on, we shouldn't care what others think."

"That's good..." she nodded in agreement. "Did Trevor freak out?" she wondered.

"No, but he looked uncomfortable, maybe confused," he sighed. "I feel bad for the kid, all he does is look out for her."

"Is she in bad shape? She's always happy to share her advice with me and she's always smiling..."

"Well, she is happy and she adores you, but her husband died five years ago today... People keep coming by to almost give her their condolences and she doesn't like it. That's why her son came, he wanted to take her out of the house and keep her busy."

"Hmm... I don't think I would like that much. Quite frankly, if something ever happened to Leo, I don't think I'd be mentally well for a bit."

"Right... Anyways, during dinner, she got a little reserved and so that's when I offered to take her home. Then from there, she asked to know a little more about me and then she asked me to stay the night. She didn't want to be alone..."

"That's kind of sad, daddy..."

"I felt really bad. She's so vulnerable, it's crazy to me."

"She never lets that show when she's with her students or with me, so that's incredible," she sighed. "That's nice that you stayed with her... I'm sure she appreciated it."