Taking Chances

18. Having it Both Ways

At her job, Stevie was typing away on her computer, having gotten there early for the sake of her not being there in the last four days.

"Hey, you! Where have you been?" Robin asked with Sharon at her side as they put their things away.

"Oh, my mom was in the hospital, so Lindsey and I have been taking care of her," she assured, mindlessly responding since she was in the middle of typing.

"Wait!"

"Why are you yelling? I am right here, Rob..." the blonde passive aggressively replied.

Sharon smirked.

"You didn't tell me Lindsey was back and how is your mom doing?" she sat on the edge of her desk.

"Mom's doing alright, she just has to stop smoking. She had a stroke because of it."

"Oh, my gosh," she nearly complained.

"Yeah..."

"Okay and Lindsey? When did he get here? I mean, you haven't mentioned it."

"I thought I did," she pulled her glasses off of her face.

"Nope, I think I would have remembered that."

"Okay, well, he got here a few weeks ago. He's sober and he's hanging out---it's been great, quite frankly. He keeps the kids entertained and I get to work longer and we're planning the kids' birthdays on the down low," she shrugged. "He's doing pretty good, but this morning we learned that he has to have a surgery done since he developed a small tumor on his liver."

"Oh, my gosh!" Sharon gasped.

"But it's alright," she put her hand up immediately. "He's gonna schedule today and hopefully we'll get it out of the way soon. He was really wigging out and I know he's stressed about it."

"How is it that I don't know any of this?" Robin complained. "I mean, your whole life is flashing before my eyes---if this is what four days off work does..."

Laughing low, "Get to work and we'll catch up during lunch, okay?"

"For sure---you owe me this," she slid off the desk and moved a few feet away to get to her desk. "Are you behind on anything?"

"No, I've been emailing things in and I'm working on next week's stuff."

"Ugh, I hate you. I'm behind."

"How is that even possible?" she was forced to look up at her.

"I get distracted," she shrugged, "and with the baby and Kim, I don't have time to get to work. It's hard and I wanna rip my hair out."

She smirked, "I bet. I'll help you later if you need it. I will also send you some work-life balance tips. You seem in need."

"I am."

"I know. I did all that in my twenties, if you recall."

As the hour passed, the girls were hard at work, doing their own thing and Stevie was actually waiting for a call from home from her husband because she told him she wanted him to call and let her know immediately.

Pretty soon, her Nokia was ringing and she picked it up, "Hello?"

"Hey, it's me," Lindsey replied.

Robin looked over at her friend, trying hard to figure out what was going to be said.

"What's up?" she moved the phone to between her shoulder and ear so she could keep working.

"So, I scheduled the consultation for next Wednesday at four-thirty."

"Alright, honey..." she then continued with her questions, work and such things.