Fix it

Stay away

When Stevie returned home, she told herself not to overthink her problems with Lindsey, nor the argument that caused her to leave for some time. She went to the kitchen to make herself a much needed herbal tea, looking through the window while the water was boiling. Don's words still lingered on her mind; he said some heartfelt and beautiful things, allowing her to see him as a completely different man from when she knew him at the beginning of their friendship. She realized sleeping around with him wasn't the right thing, but she needed him. She was only getting older, yet she still looked after herself, she did considered herself to be beautiful, as much as those nail and hair appointments, spa days were for her, they were for Lindsey too. She wanted him to be proud to call her his wife, just that he didn't appreciate her effort at all. The other thing Stevie couldn't quite forget was when she asked about Don's feelings, he completely ignored it and left. No, physical affair was one thing, she couldn't get involved emotionally too. Although, she felt the grip she had on this barrier, starting to loosen. That weekend away he suggested? Lindsey hadn't done anything like that in... well, she couldn't even remember, how could she decline such a lovely offer? And how was she going to go through with it?

After enjoying her quiet moment with the cup of tea she made, Stevie was on her way to her own music room, it was what she called it, near Lindsey's home studio, where she had her grand piano and everything else symbolizing her achievements in her musical career. But the closer she got to it, the quicker her heart was beating. She could hear Lindsey playing Landslide on his acoustic, as she stood by the open door listening, it seemed like he was picking the chords over and over again. Should she go in? He was obviously dealing with his emotions the only way he knew how. What if her presence would ruin it? 

She sighed louder than she thought it would come out and the melody stopped. 

"Stevie?"

"I, uh... I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt." She turned around to leave, but...

"It's fine. I was wondering when you were going to come back. If you were going to at all... I'm... I'm glad you're home."

"You are?" She asked it with such genuine surprise it broke his heart.

Lindsey put his guitar away, asking her to come in. "I wanted to apologize, about earlier." Stevie sat on the couch in front of him, rubbing her hands together nervously. "I'm sorry I called you a stubborn bitch... And I'm also not over anything, not us."

"I'm sorry too." Was all she could think of. It was almost as if she didn't know how to speak to her own husband of twenty years anymore. 

They fell silent.

"Uh... Well, I was working on this-"

"Oh my God, are you fucking kidding me right now?" Stevie jumped to her feet, yelling. "Thank you for the apology, but is that all? Are we not going to talk about our problems? Or you still think we're perfectly fine?"

"I don't know what to say about it! From my point of view, our marriage is just like any other. What to do you expect from me? Am I supposed to buy you expensive gifts, bring you flowers and take you out to dinner every night? We've never even been like that and you know it!"

"You're supposed to love me, Lindsey! Is that too much I'm asking of you?"

"You know that I love you." He exhaled deeply, putting his head in his hands. 

"Just that you fail to show me."

"I don't, honestly, I do not understand what it is that you want from me."

"Yeah, apparently. Good thing I have someone who does." She said angrily and was in the middle of her storming out, but Lindsey stood up, grabbing her hand. 

"Hold on a second. What did you just say?"

"You heard me. I didn't get what I wanted from you, well I found someone who knows just exactly how to treat me!" There had been allegations of Lindsey's violent nature from his past girlfriends, not that Stevie had really ever experienced it herself, yet she thought whether she was taking this too far, especially with this kind of attitude, as if she was proud of her infidelity.

"Who?" His breathing got heavy, as his grip on her got tighter. 

"Oh, so now all of a sudden, you care?!"

"Who is that bastard?" The calmer he was, the scarier it was to her.

"Don. Don Henley has been fucking me for months!"

A sharp pain shot through her, when his hand flew, slapping her across the face. 

Neither one could really believe that just happened, as Stevie's eyes filled up with tears and Lindsey's got wide, unable to believe he would do such a thing. "Stevie, I'm so sor-"

"NO!" She pulled her hand away from his touch, rubbing her wrist, visible red line around it. "YOU STAY AWAY FROM ME!" She ran out, stumbling as the tears rolled down her cheeks. 

Lindsey remained in the same spot, like he was paralyzed, without a clue of what to do now. He had his moments of violence back when they were always drunk and high on drunks, but he was completely sober and aware of his actions as he hit her. Never did he ever think he was capable of raising his hand against the woman he loved more than anything in the whole world. The same woman who just told him she had been cheating on him with one of her ex's and she seemed so proud to had been doing that.

Now Lindsey realized, now he understood they're marriage was on the rocks to say the least.