Heart of the Matter

12

April 15, 2019

Karen had called her and told her that she and Stevie had gotten home the day prior, so with homemade chicken soup in a crockpot, she made her way over to her mom's house. Lindsey wanted to go with her, but she made him stay home so by herself she made her way into her mother's house...Several keys may have changed hands since December...Lindsey got his back, Craig got one, and so did Kendall. 

The house was silent except for the sound of dog paws jumping off of something and coming to investigate what was going on. Kendall smiled at the little creature and once she plugged the crockpot in, she collected the dog in her arms. Venturing further into the living room, she saw Stevie sleeping in a leather armchair and the TV was on some stupid quiet QVC channel. 

Kendall made a face and then walked over to where the remote was sitting on the side table next to her mother. It was accompanied by a thing of tea. Once she changed the channel to HGTV, she slid her mother's glasses off her face, and she checked the temperature of the tea and as she was swooping down to grab the glass to go dump it out she made a face at the nasty bruise on her mother's hand where her IV had been.

She had been laid out on the couch for a couple of hours snuggling with Lily when Stevie started to stir. She shifted in the chair and started patting at her body. 

"What are you looking for?" Kendall questions.

"My glasses." She says in a croaky voice.

"They're on the end table...I dumped out your tea, it had gone cold and the bag had split open and I kidnapped your dog." Kendall explains.

"Okay...what smells yummy?" She asks.

"I have chicken soup in the crockpot. It's ready and I can go get you a bowl." Kendall goes to stand up.

"No, I can get it. Do you want a bowl?" Stevie wheezes putting the footrest of the chair down and pushing herself out of the chair.

"Oh, I can get it." She goes to stand up and follow after her mom. 

"Kendall I'm fine." Stevie shakes her head.

"You can barely breathe," Kendall replies. 

"I appreciate your sentiment but I'm okay. I promise you. How's your dad?" Stevie inquires scooping a bowl full of soup.

"He's good. Doing well. He's back to driving now and he's starting to run again. Not very far but he's getting there." Kendall grabs her own bowl of soup. 

"I want to see him, I'm not contagious anymore. I stayed in the hospital until my symptoms are mostly gone. I still can't breathe that well, but I'm not coughing anymore and my chest x-rays are clear. The doctor said I just had to do breathing treatments until I can breathe normally again. I have an inhaler." She defends walking over to the island and sitting down. 

"Mom, when I got here you were sleeping and you look like you were just run over by a truck. When your energy is back and you feel like you're back to a normal way of life we'll come over." Kendall shrugs taking the spot next to her mom.

"Thanks, that's some wonderful knowledge. This is really good." Stevie smiles. 

"I'm glad that you like it. It was dad's idea." Kendall tells her.

"Is he back to work yet?" Stevie asks spooning more soup into her mouth.

"Mom, he...his voice is damaged but it's not bad. He sounds like himself but it's slightly more gravely. He can't sing though. That's why he's going to see some vocal specialists. It doesn't bother him as much as I thought it would." Kendall shakes her head.

"Your dad loves his music and he loves performing but at the end of the day, that's not what's important to him. You are important to him. Right now he's probably focusing on getting better for you and even if he can't sing anymore, as long as he can produce he'll be happy." Stevie tells her.

"Well, he always has a job producing for me." Kendall shrugs.

"I'm sure he'll be glad to know that." Stevie smiles. 

"So what about the rest of the tour?" Kendall looks to her mom.

"Well, you probably heard that we canceled the last part of this leg. All of it has been rescheduled for the fall. We were supposed to be done in September but now we're done in December. Just in time for Christmas...but, with that being said. Now I can devote all of my time into working on your gorgeous wedding." Stevie reaches over and plays with the blonde wavy ponytail of her child.

"So when do you leave?" Kendall asks.

"Last week of July. I can't bring Lily would you and Craig like to take care of her for me?" Stevie rakes her fingers through her daughter's waves.

"I'd have to talk to Craig but I would be more than willing to do it." Kendall grins.

"Alright. Now, I'm keeping the soup, I'll put it in Tupperware before you leave. But since you're here, let's watch a movie together. Some stupid chick-flick we can find on pay per view." Stevie suggests.

"Sure." Kendall nods. 

"Great, go pick out a movie and I'm going to put that soup away and pop some popcorn." Stevie stands up and takes Kendall's bowl.

***

That night when Kendall gets home, Lindsey is watching television and she sticks her crockpot in the kitchen and goes and joins him on the couch.

"How was your day with your mom?" He asks.

"It was good. She really wants to see you, but I told her to wait until she's feeling better. She's not contagious anymore but she's having a hard time breathing." Kendall explains. 

"I'll go over there in a couple of days. There are some things I want to talk to her about too. I'm going to bed, don't stay up too late." He responds kissing her on the forehead and handing her the remote.

"I think I might go up too. I want to facetime with Craig." Kendall nods. 

"Alright. Good night." Lindsey smirks as she follows him up the stairs.