We'll Always Have Hawaii

Chapter 8

First of all, I'm terribly sorry for not updating for so long. I was really busy and not at home but I read all of your nice comments and it warmed my heart so see how much you enjoy my stories. So, thank you all for your patience, I promise to upload more often again from now on. :) Much love, Lara

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He knew she was going to regret their current closeness. They had broken way too many of their rules in the past few weeks but that she would throw him out of the house after he had held her that night in Arizona, he hadn't expected.

Now, one week later, he was back in LA with his family. He had locked himself once again in his music studio, escaping Kristen and her damn questions. He just couldn't take it anymore, couldn't take her anymore. And as many times before, he asked himself again, why he had ever agreed to marry her. Tomorrow was Barbara's funeral and Kristen insisted of going there with him. He had no idea how Stevie was going to react. She hadn't answered one of his thousand calls. Apparently, she needed space but he knew she was miserable and he wanted nothing more than give her comfort, hold her and tell her that she wasn't alone but all she did was pushing him away. Sure, he knew she did this to protect herself from more heartbreak but why couldn't she finally see that he was serious with what he was saying? That he actually wanted her back and wasn't fooling around or trying to break her heart again. He truly loved her, always had, always will, but she kept on shutting him out. It was frustrating!

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It was Saturday afternoon when Lindsey and Kristen arrived in Phoenix. The weather was just like the atmosphere itself – wretched. The sky was dark gray and it rained.

The driver pulled into the driveway of the cemetery, Barbara's final resting place, and Lindsey stood in awe. He had always known that Stevie's mother had been loved by a lot of people but the huge crowd standing there overwhelmed him. Never before had he seen such a gigantic funeral. There were so many people, a lot of them Lindsey knew but also a lot he had never seen before.

Kristen took his arm and approached the grave that was already covered with bunches of red and white roses and white lillies. Kristen threw her flowers into the dark hole in the ground while clutching at Lindsey's arm and hiding under her big black umbrella, trying hard to not get completely wet by the rain.

Lindsey searched desperately for Stevie in the crowd and finally discovered her hidden^in a corner between her brother and Lori, her niece Jessica holding her tight while she was crying.

She looked absolutely awful. The skin around her eyes were two dark circles of smudgy mascara and eyeliner, her hair damp and curly from rain, her clothes wet from rain, her eyes puffy and red.

He let go of Kristen's arm and walked through the rain right into her direction. He didn't care about getting soaking wet, didn't care about Kristen whose eyes went wide in embarrassment because of her husband leaving her alone at his ex-girlfriend's mother's grave, and he certainly didn't care about all the people watching him running right into Stevie's arms and pulling her close.

Jessi let go of her and Stevie instantly clung to him for dear life, her nails digging through the black jacket on his back.

There was so much he wanted to say to her, so much she needed to know but he couldn't. There were way too many people watching them and he didn't want anybody to know what he wanted to tell her. So instead, he pulled her even closer and placed a kiss on her damp hair.

"I got you, Steph..", he whispered into her ear, "I got you.. I'm here.. You're not alone.."

She clenched up by his words, then her eyes opened up and she saw Kristen awkwardly standing only a few feet behind Lindsey's back and it took all the strength she had within herself to push him away.