Start Again

Part 11

A knock on the door caught Lindsey's attention. He had barely left his studio for anything the past few days, slept there too. He and Kristen had yet another fight and he didn't want to be around her much. Although, he had a feeling it was his wife waiting on the other side of the door.

"Come in." Lindsey said, grabbing a few things in an attempt to tidy his studio up a bit. 

"Hey." Kristen now stood in the doorway, hands clasped in front of her. Her expression gave nothing away.

"Hi." He replied, their eyes locked for about a second.

"The kids are in bed and I was thinking about opening a bottle of wine or something." She began, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, looking somewhat nervous. "If you're not too busy, maybe you'd like to join me?"

"Can't." Lindsey's one word response made her grit her teeth. "Going out." He added.

"Where? It's getting late." Kristen frowned as she watched him putting a bunch of pieces of paper, which looked like trash to her, into a bag. Lindsey's silence gave her the answer. "You're kidding right?"

"What!" Lindsey shouted, his eyes now on his wife. "Stevie was busy during the day."

"It's a child's birthday, Lindsey!" Kristen yelled back, throwing her arms up in the air. "How often do you really need to see her because of that? Or are you just using this as an excuse to-"

"To what?" Lindsey interrupted. "To what, hmm?" Kristen was glaring at him, but her lips remained sealed. "I'm not having this argument again." Lindsey shook his head and pushed past her to leave.

Lindsey rushed out of the house quickly in case Kristen had decided to catch up with him. He was tired of fighting and he was definitely tired of fighting about Stevie. His conscience was clean. He hadn't done anything wrong, he was only spending time with someone, who didn't despise him. If he didn't have that at home, it was only natural, he was going to look for it somewhere else.

Having calmed down some on his drive to Stevie's, Lindsey managed to push Kristen out of his mind and a grin spread across his face, when Luke opened the door to let him in. They hugged and Lindsey held his son a little tighter than usual. It felt like he was actually coming home and not visiting and it made him slightly emotional. 

"Aren't you supposed to be getting ready for bed?" Lindsey asked, standing up straight.

"Mom let me stay up late because you were coming." Luke beamed, looking up at his father. "Maybe you could read my comic with me before bed?" The boy asked, his hands put together as if for a prayer.

"Uh, sure." Lindsey nodded, smiling at his son, he put his hand on Luke's shoulder. "Where's your mom?"

"In the kitchen." Luke pointed and ran into that direction.

Lindsey followed behind and then stopped for a second. Stevie seemed busy at the stove, the kitchen smelled wonderful. Sometimes he was amazed how much motherhood had changed her. She was still Stevie Nicks, when she was performing, but there was just something about her, when she was at home, away from thousands of screaming fans and bright lights, wearing the farthest thing from her stage attire, no high heel boots, makeup or expensive jewelry. When she was just Stevie.

"I heared you come in, you know." Stevie teased, glancing at Lindsey over her shoulder.

"Oh, uh... yeah, sorry." Lindsey shrugged, smiling sheepishly as he went over to her for a hello hug. "God, this smells so good."

"Are you hungry?" Stevie asked, licking a drop of sauce off her finger. "Luke begged for spaghetti, but I didn't have everything I needed. I had to ask Karen to run to the store. We started dinner late." She then directed her attention to Luke, who sat at the kitchen table. "You better not be thinking about faking a stomach ache in the morning. Doesn't matter when you go to bed tonight, you're getting up for school tomorrow."

"I know." Luke nodded. "I promise."

Stevie turned away, smiling to herself, she nudged Lindsey, who was still standing beside her. "You two are so alike." She tilted her eyes up to look at him briefly and his heart skipped a beat. "So, should I put a plate out for you, too?"

All Lindsey could do was nod his head, afraid that his voice might break if he tried to speak.

~

AN: I know this is going so slow, bear with me please.