Stevie smiled, when a pair of arms wrapped around her from behind and Amber pressed a quick kiss to her mother's cheek. "Whatcha doing?"
"Oh, nothing." Stevie sighed, turning a page of an old photo album. "Being a little nostalgic."
"I haven't seen one of the family albums in so long." Amber said and walked around the couch to sit down. She took in the surroundings; the lights were off, the room was only illuminated by candles, a record playing quietly in the corner and a glass of white wine, which seemed to be still untouched. "Are you... having a moment?"
"I'm just-" Stevie shrugged. "Kind of, yeah."
"Who's that?" Amber leaned in closer as she pointed at a picture of a man she had never seen before.
"And old friend." Stevie replied, quickly turning to the next page.
"This-" Amber took over the photo album and looked at the cover. "This isn't a family album."
"No." Stevie shook her head and reached for her wine. "It's from way before I had a family of my own."
Amber studied a couple of photos, then turned to her mother. "You have a lot of pictures of him. Who is he?"
She's not a little girl anymore. "An ex-boyfriend."
"He kind of looks familiar." Amber knitted her eyebrows as she tried to remember.
Stevie hesitated. She then rose to her feet and walked over to her record collection. After looking through it for a moment, she took the one, she was searching for and held it up for Amber to take a look.
"Wha-" Amber now frowned, confused. "Is that the same guy? You went out with a freaking rockstar?"
Stevie chuckled lightly, putting the record back, she returned to her daughter. "He wasn't a rockstar back then. He was trying really hard, though."
"Whoa..." Amber leaned back, staring straight ahead for a second. "You know, you're a lot cooler than I thought. What happened?"
"Life." Stevie realized that wasn't much of an answer, but she didn't feel like getting into all of the details either. "Sometimes being in love is not enough to keep two people together. I just... know, that I don't regret anything. I was happy with him, but I was also happy with your father. For the most part. I wouldn't change a thing if I knew, you wouldn't be here with me." Stevie hugged Amber and pressed a kiss to her hair.
"Do you still think about him sometimes?" Amber asked.
"I do." Stevie answered honestly. "More often than I probably should."
"Hey, you're single now..." Amber nudged Stevie. "Maybe-"
"Come on." Stevie interrupted. "Don't be silly. It's all in the past. Besides, having a man in my life is not my top priority. You, Lily and Dylan are."
"We know that, but do not think that we don't expect for you to eventually start seeing someone new either." Amber assured. "You're still young, you've still got it, mom. Any guy would be lucky to have you."
"Thank you." Stevie smiled, squeezing Amber's hand. Before she could add anything to it, her phone started ringing. "Who on earth could be calling at this time?" She instantly thought that there was a family emergency. Stevie picked up her phone and frowned, she didn't recognize the number. "Maybe they dialed the wrong number."
"Maybe not." Amber argued. "Answer it."
So she did.
"Hello?"
"Stevie?"
Her phone nearly slipped out of her hand.
