Storms

Was It A Dream?

Carol Ann panicked. Did he really just drop dead right in front of her? She crouched down on the ground and checked for his pulse.

"Shit" She checked again then breathed a sigh of relief. She didn't really know how to save a life, she was only doing what she had seen on tv. She made sure he was still breathing and impatiently waited for him to wake up by lightly tapping his face. Eventually he came to, slowly opening his eyes. A small blonde was hovering over him.

"Stevie?" He asked. "Was it a dream?"

"No, it's Carol. God! Even now, you're so obsessed with her!" She stood up, frustrated. "She haunts me!"

"You made it that way. Funny you wrote a whole book about me and the band but you forgot to mention the most important detail in the whole thing" he said, slowing getting up off the ground.

"And what's that?"

"My daughter!"

"First of all, she's my daughter. You never once tried to contact me after we broke up!" Carol shouted.

"You could have called. Phones work both ways, you know"

"Don't think I didn't try once or twice"

"You should have tried harder! Is this some kind of revenge? You knew I wanted kids."

"It's not all about you. Get over it! You have three now!"

"I won't just get over this! I had a daughter I knew nothing about. She's 32 years old and I've only gotten to know her for a few months. It wasn't until recently I even knew who she was. How could you?"

"You wanted nothing to do with me"

"But I would have wanted everything to do with my child." Lindsey was pacing the floor, unable to look at her. He was angry and hurt. How could she keep a secret like this? "Did you know?"

"What?"

"Did you know you were pregnant when we ended things?" He asked and she turned her face away from him. "Answer me!"

"Yes! Yes, I knew!" She was clearly distressed and she started to cry.

"You bitch!"

"Nothing would have changed your mind. You wouldn't have believed me if I told you anyway" Carol said. All of the years of anger, resentment and sadness washed through her eyes like a riptide.

Silence fell over the room and Lindsey watched Carol's eyes go to the doorway. He turned around and was met by Jenna. She stared at them, confused, then angry. "Jen" Lindsey said.

"So mom didn't really try to tell you and you wouldn't have believed her in the first place. What kind of fucked up relationship did you have anyway?"

"I was always a replacement for Stevie when she dumped him."

"More like a cheap copy" Lindsey scoffed.

"Oh come on, Lindsey!" She shouted. "I'm a person, I loved you! You still talked about her constantly, longed to be around her...followed her around like a lost puppy and there I was, used and tormented daily"

"Tormented? That's bullshit!"

"It is not! Did you ever love me? Did you ever care about me at all? Or did you just use me to make her jealous?"

"Shut up, Carol"

"What does your wife think? Does she know she's second to Stevie too?"

"My wife is none of your business."

"Fine, Lindsey. You always thought you could have it all. I just wanted to show you that you couldn't."

"What does that mean?"

"I'm the one who made Jenna take those pictures. I had her send them to your house."

"You're nuts! Using our daughter to spy on me, pitting her against me."

"We were already against you from the start"

"Stop, mom! You're both wrong, you're both fucked up and honestly, I don't think I'm going to be around either of you for a very long time. Neither of you have grown up. Mom, you broke into my apartment when I was gone and Dad, if you love Stevie so much, you should have been with her and convinced her to stay. You should have tried harder to keep her and treat her like the princess she is. She's warm and caring and kind. You and mom deserve each other. You spell trouble. I love you both, I do, but I can't handle this. I'm going to call Stevie and see if I can stay with her."

"Jenna, no, please..." Carol begs, grabbing her wrist and clinging to her daughter's hand.

"Mom, I need time. Let me go. I need to think." Jenna told her.

"Jenna, you can't run from this." Lindsey didn't want to see her leave like this either.

"Well, I'm going to try." Jenna pushed past them both to gather up some clothes and her toiletries form her bathroom. She was finished in minutes and left the apartment again. They heard the door slam and they both glared at each other.

"We have to figure something out for Jenna" Lindsey said.

"If it wasn't for you finding out, everything would have been fine! You destroyed a perfectly good thing"

"Perfect for who? I had a right to know her and I still do."

"I guess that's her choice now, she's an adult"

"We were bonding." He tells her and Carol softens a little.

"So what do you think?"

"When she's not taking pictures of me and Stevie, she's great" Lindsey says and Carol chuckles.

"She's always been a sneaky little thing. She reminds me so much of you."

"I don't know whether to take that as a compliment or not." Lindsey cracked a smile and sat on Jenna's bed. She pat the spot next to him and Carol sat down. "I'm sorry about all of this. I didn't end things the right way all those years ago and I'm still not doing it right. If she ever speaks to either of us again, I think we should try our best to grow up a little. We have a daughter and though there will be a lot of growing pains, I want her to know my kids and I want us all to get along"

"I'd like that." The blonde said simply.

"She really does look a lot like you"

"You think so?"

"Petite, slim, blonde..."

"She looks like Stevie with your eyes" Carol said with a sigh. "I know I never really did look like her, I know you just like blondes, but it did kind of flatter me. I can understand why everyone would like her and it made me jealous."

"It's the past now."

"Yeah, I guess it is." They sit in the silence again and Carol dares to lay her head on his shoulder. To her surprise he allows it, and he awkwardly places an arm around her.

So many things ran through his head. The silence was awful. As if on cue, Carol straightens back up, gets up from the bed and gathers her things. Lindsey stood up as well, tending to the blown fuse. She smiles her gratitude and they each wave their goodbyes. He looks around the room, seeing how much work it would take to get it back in order and locks up the apartment. This was a mess for another day.