Decades

Love is a Battlefield

Don and Stevie on stage together would always rub Lindsey wrong. Admittedly, they sounded great together and had excellent chemistry. But Lindsey didn't think it was nearly as good as his chemistry with Stevie. But he wasn't exactly impartial. He just thought their voices were made for each other the way they, themselves, were made for each other.

But, the reason he wanted things to wind down the show tonight was so he could finally understand why she left on the plane with Henley all those years ago. That was one of the biggest turning points of their lives. Of course, there were several. But he never had answers as to why she'd left that time, and tonight, he'd finally get them. He was going to her hotel room after the show to ask the questions he'd been carrying for so long.

Lindsey and Stevie walked off stage together, with their arms around each other. It was a strange habit for a strange life. Not many jobs meant that you were so physical and in your emotions each night with your former lover. Then, you'd walk away and have a break for a couple of years, only to do it all again. Their lives had been complicated for so long that they barely saw it as anything except their normal.

When they'd left the stage, Lindsey held onto Stevie. "If you want to change first, that's fine. I'll wait so we can share a car back to the hotel together," Lindsey directed, not allowing any chance for her to find an excuse not to go back to the hotel to talk. She was nervous, almost queasy. This was a conversation she didn't particularly want to have. She didn't have an answer that would satisfy him, she didn't think. But, it seemed that he needed this conversation to clear the air between them.

She loved him and didn't like to imagine him torturing himself over the past. She'd let him go. Though she thought he probably had let her go, too, things just got stirred up when they were together. If he needed this to move on, she'd suck it up and do it. Hopefully, they could put their past to rest once and for all.

"Okay, give me a few minutes," she told him as she walked into her dressing room. She'd never hyperventilated before, but it felt like there was a good chance that tonight might be the night. Nothing inside her wanted to revisit one of the stupidest things she'd ever done. She'd panicked. Plain and simple. Her impulsive behavior altered the course of their personal history, and there was really not a good way to defend it.

When she left her dressing room, she'd changed into some leggings and her Uggs and an oversized, off-the-shoulder tunic, all black. Typically, she felt comfortable in her black, but tonight, she felt like she was in mourning. Maybe she was.

Lindsey was waiting for her and gave her a genuine smile when he saw her coming. Neither of them spoke on the way to the car. They held hands, and Stevie found herself leaning into Lindsey. He relished moments like this. It was as if their bodies knew how to behave with each other without holding back if they'd allow them to. She climbed into the car first while Lindsey followed her into the back seat. He could tell she was nervous and wanted to make her feel less so. She wasn't sure what to say. So, intuitively, he put his arm around her and pulled her closer.

They were quiet the entire way there, only making occasional polite conversation. They hadn't been this physically close in a long time, offstage anyway.

Yet it didn't feel unnatural to either of them. Crossing boundaries, sure. But, they were never more comfortable in their own skin than they were when they were together. The boundaries they set for themselves, if anything, were what felt unnatural.

When they entered the room, Stevie went straight to the bar, searched for a bottle of whiskey, and poured them each a generous amount. She walked across to the sofa carrying both glasses and handed Lindsey his before going back for the bottle. She placed it on the end table in front of them and sat beside him on the sofa. He took a sip from his glass, closely watching her as she turned her glass up and took a big swig, making a little face as she felt the burn.