"I should have just told you from the start." Lindsey let out a sigh instantly as his two hands fell on the counter behind him, using it to practically hold himself up.
He had just listened to Penny spend the last twenty minutes explaining to him everything that had happened in between the time she'd found the letter in her purse and that evening that she had just spent at Stevie's home in Laurel Canyon.
She didn't mention every detail of her time with Stevie, obviously... She wanted to keep some things between the two of them, but she did say that they had a really nice, very wholesome talk about the last twenty years of their separate lives and then she admitted that she wanted to build a relationship with her mother.
She wanted to get to know her, and even if they didn't end up being overly close, it was worth it to her to have Stevie in her life moving forward.
"Don't do that to yourself." She shook her head softly, already having been very emotional in the presence of her mom and now feeling like she was going to share a moment quite similar with Lindsey, who was obviously getting a little more worked up than he was before. "She told me that she asked you not to say anything and I don't blame you for playing the fence like that." Penny didn't, not in the slightest.
She was certain that it couldn't have been easy for him to just sit back and watch her bond with the woman that had left them, but she also knew that Lindsey did everything with purpose... Sometimes it wasn't the best reason, but he always had them.
Penelope knew that picking sides wasn't simple for him... but only because he still had a lot of love for Stevie, who he put up a strong front around.
He was scared and if anyone could tell, it was Penelope.
Lindsey brought one hand up to his face, running it from his forehead down to his chin as he took a moment to think. "I'm sorry you're going through this." He shook his head, staring across the island at his favorite girl in the world.
She was everything to him and he had spent the better half of his life protecting her... He felt like he had let her down, which had always been his biggest fear.
Penny frowned instantly, brown eyes growing soft. "I have wanted her to be a part of my life for as long as I can remember." She reminded him, even though she was certain that he didn't forget.
Penelope had always been very fascinated by the idea of having her mother in life, which might sound crazy or weird to someone who grew up with their mom present, but maybe not to someone who also yearned for that kind of connection.... She never, ever took her relationship with Barbara for granted, but she knew it wasn't the same, not really.
"Is she what you imagined?" Lindsey wondered as the tone in his voice shifted to a much softer, calmer one... He wanted to be excited, but he was also way too worried that she was getting her hopes up faster than she should have been.
Penny chuckled softly, nodding her head lightly. "She is so down to earth, dad." she told him as she kept the sweet smile on her face. "She is everything I imagined and more." She assured.
He paused for a second, chewing on the inside of his cheek when he realized that she was waiting for him to reply. "She is actually a very incredible woman." Lindsey agreed, heart growing softer as his mind wandered back to the lady that he had always loved, even at her worst. "But she is also really complicated." He added, not going to water it down for her either.
Stevie wasn't always a walk in the park... but neither was Lindsey, so that's all he was really going to say about that.
Her lips turned up once more, brown eyes still full of tears that she refused to let fall, not again. "I'm just excited that she's ready to be a motherly figure." She shrugged. "And with that comes flaws that I'm more willing to deal with now."
~~~
Stevie was sitting out in the sunroom, having spent the last couple of hours switching between watching movies and writing in her journal. She had a lot to put down on paper- all of it circulating back to her sweet daughter, who she was beyond captivated by.
Their afternoon together went by faster than she anticipated and it left her counting down the days until she was back in her presence... she didn't realize exactly what she had been missing out in.
Anyway, just as she was getting ready to doze off with the pen in her hand, the sound of the house phone ringing caused her to sit right back up.
"Hold on." She mumbled to herself as she slipped off the loveseat and hurried through the room.
By the time she made it to the stand that had the phone resting on the hook, her eyes were beginning to adjust and the clock on the read just shortly after three in the morning.
Creasing a brow, she brought it up to her ear to answer. "Hello...?" She wasn't sure what to expect, not at that hour, but she assumed it wasn't going to be pleasant.
Most people don't call at that hour to catch up.
"I can't believe you did that." His voice came as a bit of shock... how'd he even get her phone number?
Her eyes fell closed as she sank down into the accent chair.
She knew it was only a matter of time until Penny told him and she also knew that he wasn't going to be that understanding... Not like he was in Hawaii.
"Lindsey, it's so late, can't we-"
"Oh, you aren't sleeping." He had a couple of drinks- it was obvious by his tone... that and the fact that he used to play those games all time when they were younger.
He would call at crazy times in the night before Stevie left, trying to start an argument with her over anything he could think of... It was always the alcohol that did that to him.
"Why don't you call me back in the morning, after you've had a little water, maybe." She bit down on her lower lip, heart racing a mile a minute as her tired brown eyes fell to the floor.
"Yeah?" Lindsey chuckled lightly. "Fuck you, Stevie." He didn't meant that, he really didn't, but in the moment, he thought he did.
Nodding her head, she shrugged a shoulder. "I probably deserve that, yes." Stevie admitted, not going to fight with him...
She was too old to do that. They were too old and she knew that when he sobered up, he would feel the exact same way.
"But Lindsey," her voice was still calm... She just wanted to talk. "When she told me that you were leaving, I couldn't not do something." She already had tears lingering in her eyes as her heart sank. "I couldn't let her go and chance not seeing her ever again." She added as she brought one hand up to her face to hide her emotion.
Lindsey grew quiet for a moment, already feeling bad about what'd he had said. "You should have cared that much twenty years ago." He still knew how to break down her walls and get under her skin, and that night he was taking advantage of it.
She pursed her lips to the side, swallowing hard. "I should have, I know." She wasn't hearing something new... She had been telling herself that every day since she left. "But I'm different now... I'm better and I'm not going anywhere." She told him. "So I hope you can at least learn to live with my presence, or else this won't be easy for either of us."
