Heartbroken

Leaving

Karen told Stevie it was time to leave and very reluctantly the whole family got into the SUV, Karen as the driver, Taylor sat in the passenger's seat and in the back, Lindsey was attached to Stevie, who had Lynn on her lap and Alice by her other side, holding hands.

"You can still back out of this."

"Lindsey it's ten shows! I'll be back before you know it, you won't even get to miss me." 

"That's a load of crap. I'm missing you already."

Stevie smiled sweetly at him, pecking him on the lips as they all chattered the whole way to the airport, until they had to get out of the car. Lynn and Alice held onto Stevie's hands, as Karen, Taylor and Lindsey carried her belongings that she would take on the plane with her.

They entered the airport, from where she would get on a private jet to Chicago. Stevie had left out one major detail about the flight and when Lindsey noticed, he was far from happy. "You didn't tell me Don would be joining you here."

"Oh? Didn't I?"

"Stevie, you know you didn't." He said, not exactly angry, but he wasn't delighted either. 

"We have things to go over, so we thought we could use this time to discuss everything."

"Is that right?"

"Yes." She insisted, letting go of the girls, embracing Lindsey. He didn't hold back, giving her a proper goodbye kiss, that left her smirking as their lips parted. "Show off."

Lindsey shrugged, still holding her. "I'm sending out a little message."

"I'm sure he's not even interested anymore, no reason to get jealous, honey." 

Don approached the group at last, debating whether he should, deciding it would have been rude if he didn't. "Hello." 

"Hi, Don." Stevie smiled, giving him a hug. 

He shook hands with Lindsey, said hi to Karen as well as Alice, who he had met a couple of times before, since Stevie remained friends to most of her past love interests.  "Taylor?" Don asked unsure.

"That's me." Taylor replied, receiving a handshake too.

"Wow, you've changed. You've grown!" 

"Well, yeah." He shrugged, with a half smile.

"And this little gorgeous girl?"

"She's my daughter. Lynn."

"So, you're a grandmother, huh?" Don grinned, but Stevie didn't take it to heart.

"Get it all out now."

"No worries, you don't look like it." Lindsey didn't like the comment, trying not to make it obvious. 

After ten or so more minutes of awkward chatting, Karen informed that they had to get moving. Lindsey of course made a small scene, sucking out air from Stevie's lungs, causing her to almost bend backwards. She gave tight hugs to Alice, Taylor and Lynn, kissing each of them on the cheek. Her family left and Stevie suddenly felt very lonely. She hadn't been away from them for a long time, it had to just be that, she thought.

Once they boarded the plane, Stevie opened up a magazine, but Don took a seat right next to her. "Nice family you have, Stevie."

"I know. Lynn is such a ray of sunshine, she makes me so happy! Taylor is doing so well with his life as is Alice in school. I'm so proud of them." It all poured out of her mouth. "What about you?"

"Oh you know... Wife, kids, all the same." He shrugged, clearly not wanting to talk about that. "So, you and Lindsey, huh? I haven't heard you two were back together."

"Yeah. Umm... After Ryan's death, I realized that I don't want to lose any more loved ones. Life is too short to be spent arguing, holding grudges and hating each other."

"I'm so sorry about your son, that is just tragic." Stevie gave him a little nod, indicating that she wanted to skip that. "Things seem pretty serious between you and Lindsey. I received the message loud and clear." Don laughed, as she half smiled. 

"You know... Serious trust issues are still there, more on his part of course. But you've met him, you sure can remember how he gets sometimes."

"Oh, I do." He nodded, traveling back to the mid 70's in his mind. "Even though you and I were dating, I felt guilty looking at you or getting near you."

"Lindsey put that fear in every man I had been seeing after you too. I guess, he made sure I could only marry him, because everyone else was afraid to stick with me." She said, jokingly. "It could have turned out worse of course. You have a beautiful family as do I. Things are pretty great, I say."

"Maybe a wedding somewhere in the horizon too?"

"He asked the question, but I left it at that for now. I'm not ready for it yet."

"Right." That answer intrigued Don. It was quite obvious Stevie wasn't at the same point in her relationship with Lindsey as he was already. "We said we'd talk about our shows."

"Yes!" Stevie now tossed her magazine away, turning to Don. "I was thinking, we're obviously singing Leather and Lace, but what if we also did a duet on one other of your songs and mine too? I used to love singing Hotel California with you."

"Fun times." He nodded, then shrugged. "I can't see why not, that could be interesting."

"We don't have to do mine if you don't want to, but I do want to sing Hotel California with you."

"Of course, I'd love you to and I would be more than happy to sing something of yours also."

"You're not just saying that, right?"

"I wouldn't say it if I didn't mean it."

"Good, that's great!" She said, excited. "Oh, it's going to be so much fun! It's a shame it's only ten shows."

"We can do this again some time in the future if this tour goes well and you don't get sick of me."

Stevie rolled her eyes, smacking his arm not in a way to harm, as she kept her hand there. "I should be saying that. I'm the Diva." She said, as they both started laughing. 

"God, I really missed you, Stevie."

"And I missed you." She smiled, sighing contentedly, as she lay her head on his shoulder.

~

Well... Was Lindsey right about old feelings, perhaps passion, resurfacing? ;)