The Mistakes We Made

Part VIII

Four hours later, it was late afternoon by now, Stevie and Lindsey were on their way to Downtown Los Angeles. They were sitting in Lindsey's car, listening to an oldie radio station, Stevie quietly harmonizing with the singer and bobbing her fingers to the rhythm of the song, when Lindsey reached for her left hand. He had watched her for several minutes, absolutely enthralled by how relaxed she seemed to be around him lately, especially after they had shared a light slumber on the couch, which he mostly spent watching her sleeping, occasionally kissing and cuddling her. The need to be near her was great. The feelings he had bottled up for her for so many years were coming on strong, overwhelming him.

Stevie winced when she felt his hand enveloping hers, not being used to this kind of affection anymore.

"Sorry.", Lindsey muttered, having witnessed her reaction, "Is that okay?"

Stevie looked down at their entangled fingers, a pretty unusual sight for her, "I..I guess so. Yes. God, I'm sorry, Lindsey.", she looked up at him and hid her face with her other hand, her cheeks turning light red, "That's so embarrassing.. I.. Of, course, this is okay. It's really nice, actually. I'm just not used to things like that anymore.. I'm sorry."

"Oh, Steph!", Lindsey chuckled, finding her babbling to be super cute, he pulled her hand up to his lips and kissed it softly, "There is no need for you to excuse yourself for being startled by me taking your hand."

"Up on stage, you hold my hand all the time", Stevie went on, "And I've always liked it. It's just different when I know it's not just for the show, you know.. It's been so long since anyone held my hand because they actually meant it."

"I've always meant it.", Lindsey said sincerely, "Of course, it was part of the show but I've always wanted to hold your hand."
That caused Stevie to smile, "Really?"

"Yeah, really. Ever since we broke up, I had this strong need to be close to you. And whatever one of us did to the other one, no matter how much it hurt, this need never went away. Sometimes, holding your hand was all I got from you, besides a screaming match, of course.", he chuckled lightly, "and till today, it's always been a sign of comfort for me. It calms me down, I guess..."

Stevie looked at him with tear-dimmed eyes, left speechless by what he had just said, "Wow..", she whispered, blinking away her upcoming tears, "I had no idea it meant that much to you. I thought it was just for the show, for the fans, you know. To keep up this illusion that we still had feelings for each other, to sell more records.."

"That was no illusion, at least not from my end.I've always had feelings for you. It didn't matter how much you hated me at times, I've always loved you nevertheless, Stevie."

"God, I've never hated you, Linds.", Stevie said, squeezing his hand, "Never."

-

Twenty minutes later, Stevie and Lindsey had entered the gallery in Downtown Los Angeles, slowly walking from painting to painting, examining the work of the young artist from San Francisco.

When Lindsey once again grabbed her hand, Stevie turned around and gave him a frightened glance, "What the fuck are you doing?!", she hissed, looking around in panic, "What if somebody recognizes us?!"

"So what?!", Lindsey replied, "I'm divorced. I can do whatever the fuck I like. And right now, I want to hold the hand of the woman I love."

"Lindsey...", Stevie tried to reason with him but got interrupted by him.

"No! This is okay, Stevie. Neither of us needs to feel guilty because we visit a gallery together and hold hands. This is totally fine."

Stevie exhaled heavily, "But nobody does know of your divorce yet, except of me, your wife and your children. Don't you think..-"

"No, I really don't, Steph.", Lindsey interrupted her once more, taking her hand again and dragging her gently to the next painting, "And now, let it go and enjoy this day with me. Everything is fine."

Stevie shook her head in disbelief. How could he be so careless. If somebody saw them and took a photo, they would have a lot of explaining to do.

"If someone takes a picture, I'll tell Karen to kill you not me!"

"I can live with that.", Lindsey chuckled.

"You drive me crazy, already..", Stevie couldn't help but laugh, relaxing some when realizing that they were almost all alone, except of an even older married couple that was standing a few feet ahead of them.

"You better get used to that."

About fifty minutes later, they reached the last painting, Stevie stopping dead in her tracks, abruptly.

"What's wrong?", Lindsey muttered, turning around to look at her.

There, she was standing, her eyes absolutely glued to the painting in front of her. Lindsey had to smile, Stevie looked so beautiful with her big brown eyes widely dilated and her lips slightly parted, completely mesmerized by what she was seeing. Quietly, he approached her from behind and embraced her, laying his head on her right shoulder blade, "Do you like it?", he whispered in her ear, placing a kiss on her cheek.

"I love it.", she nodded, "Oh, Lindsey, it's so beautiful."

"Yes, it is.", he agreed, taking another look at the painting of a young, blonde woman in a long, white dress, who was slowly becoming one with the dark ocean in front of her, "It kinda reminds me of you.."

"Why is that?!", Stevie chuckled, tearing her eyes away from the painting to take a look at him.

"The long, messy blonde hair, the endless ocean, the dark sky with the moon and all those stars up there and the mystical atmosphere in general... This practically screams your name!", he laughed.

She nudged him, blushing slightly, "Am I really that predictable?!"

"No, you're not.", he said softly, "You just haven't changed at all. I mean, sure, you've become older and calmer over the years, but deep inside here", he petted the spot right were her heart was beating inside her chest, "you're still the same bubbly gypsy girl that I fell in love with about fifty years ago."

Stevie smiled, "That's such a nice thing of you to say, thank you.", she lovingly caressed the side of his face.

"You're welcome.", he rubbed her shoulders, then took a look at his watch, "Say, are you as hungry as I am?"

"I could eat a horse!", she admitted laughingly.

"Good!", he took her hand again, wanting everybody to know that she belonged to him, "Let's go have dinner."