With the pink envelope in hand, Stevie trailed down the winding staircase of their home.
It was just shortly after ten in the morning, so she was still in her nightgown, hair pulled up, and glasses on the tip of her nose... She had been too busy writing the letter that she was getting ready to put in the mail box to worry about getting ready.
"Good morning," He met her in the kitchen, a soft smile on his face as he watched her travel through the room.
"Morning, honey." She cracked a grin, brown eyes still sleepy as she set her letter down on the island so that she could get a much needed cup of coffee.
"Did you sleep well?" Dan wondered, looking up over the edge of the newspaper at her for just a brief moment.
She looked like she'd been up all night and chances are, she was.
"I slept fine." She shrugged a shoulder, a deep sigh escaping her the second she heard the sound of arguing moving through the house. "Too early for this, Dan." She shook her head, bringing her cup up to her lips as she waited for the girls to argue their way into the kitchen.
"She stole my earrings, dad." Macy held out her hand, motioning to her older sister, obviously very annoyed.
"Give them back, Holly." He never looked up at them- it was so typical, he didn't want to deal with it.
"I need them for my date tonight." The eighteen year older threw her hands out to her sides, looking over at Stevie for her to back her up.
The blonde tried not to roll her eyes as she set her cup down on the marble top. "I have to put this in the mailbox and then I'll find you a different pair."
~~~
"Your 21st birthday and you wanna hang out with your boring old dad?" Lindsey had to tease her as they sat across the dinner table from one another at her favorite restaurant in Phoenix... The same place he took her every year.
She chuckled lightly, shaking her head as she kept her chin resting in her hand. "Having you in town is always the best birthday present of all." Penny had always considered that the most important gift- his presence.
He came to town as often as possible and he was always very active in her life. He was at every big event- proms, dances, competitions, championships, recitals, and graduation, but he also lived out in California full time, so there were some occasions when he was missing out on important life events. But never, not ever had he missed one of her birthdays.
He was always there for his daughter and in a lot of ways, he was always there for Jess and Barbara too... Penny's birthday brought some grief along with it and even though they had figured out a way to parent Penelope as best they could, there was obviously someone very important still missing in her life.
He grinned softly, so proud of the woman she had become. "What are you doing for the weekend?" He was sure that she would be going out with friends in Arizona, or maybe even heading to California to meet up with that group... He knew she would be celebrating.
"We're just having a small dinner party at Cassie's this weekend and then after that, we might go out." She shrugged lightly- excited for that, but more excited to be with her dad.
It had been about two months since they'd seen each other, which was a long time, but she had been busy with school and Lindsey was working on an album. So, things had been too hectic for him to make the trip, which meant they had a lot of catching up to do.
"That'll be a lot of fun." He assured. "Just make sure you're safe and if you need a ride, I'll still be in town." He was the typical slightly overprotective, but also lenient parent... He wanted her to experience things but he also wanted to keep her safe from everything bad in the world.
There was no way he could live without his daughter and as she grew up, it was very difficult for all of them- Lindsey, Jess and Barbara, to learn how to let her go.
"I appreciate that so much." She nodded, brown eyes growing soft as she shifted in her seat. "Carol Ann called me this morning to wish me a happy birthday." She announced a second later, feeling very sentimental about that.
She called her every year on her birthday, even though they had broken up when Penny was just five or six years old. Carol Ann was still pretty active in her life though- she was at a lot of her big moments for many years, even far after that had ended, so Lindsey wasn't shocked to hear that she'd reached out.
"That's sweet of her." He admitted as he brought his glass up to his lips to take a sip of the brown liquor.
"I thought so too."
Penelope was someone who was very humbled in life. She was one of those people that realized, very young that you aren't promised anything and for someone to randomly think of her on any day meant a lot. And that didn't mean that she mentioned it to get Lindsey interested, because that was the last thing she wanted... They were not good for each other anymore, but it was a kind gesture and to let that go unnoticed wouldn't have seemed right.
"So I was thinking," Lindsey waited until they had gotten their food before he brought it up, even though he was kind of excited. "In a few weeks, after you're out of college for the summer, we could take a trip?" He wondered, chuckling softly when her eyes lit up.
"Where to?" She was all smiles, also growing very excited.
Nodding his head, he paused for a second, worried already that he was about to dampening it for her. "Erin and I were gonna leave that up to you to decide where we go." Lindsey mentioned in a more gentle tone of voice than before.
He knew that Penny wasn't Erin's biggest fan, but they had been dating for almost a year and all he wanted was for them to get along.
"Yeah," she nodded her head softly, taking a quick sip of her drink as she shrugged her shoulders. "We'll figure it out."
