Miss Fantasy

Chapter 35: Say Goodbye Part I

December 25, 2013, Los Angeles

3 AM

Stevie rolled over, picking up the phone that interrupted her journaling, her voice groggy after not speaking out loud for a few hours, "Hello?"

"Hey," his voice was quiet on the other line, "Did I wake you?"

"No, of course not," she smiled, sitting up further, "Just surprised to hear your voice at this hour, that's all."

"I wanted to be the first to say Merry Christmas, baby," Lindsey knew he was playing with fire, calling her from the studio of his home in the middle of the night, but he couldn't help it.

"Merry Christmas to you too."

"Did you have a nice Christmas Eve?" He asked, laying back on the sofa in his studio, his legs propped up in front of him as he stared at the ceiling.

"It was very nice actually. We had a full house, excited to do it all over again tomorrow," she smiled. "How about you?"

"Meh, pretty boring. Nothing special."

She bit her lip at his casualness. "Why are you calling me at 3 AM, Lindsey?"

"I told you, I wanted to be the first to wish you Merry Christmas."

"I thought we said no more nighttime calls," she whispered against the phone.

"It's been two weeks and it's a holiday, I thought that this would be an exception."

She sighed, wanting to say that it was an exception and that she was happy to hear his voice again. But she didn't let herself. They'd gotten into an argument two weeks earlier, when one of his weekly calls to her in the middle of the night suddenly became inappropriate very fast. They'd lost themselves in the moment, and once Stevie snapped to her senses, she was furious with them both.

The truth was, she missed him. She tried her best not to, but the fact that he kept calling was making it extremely difficult to move forward. She stood her ground, and they hadn't seen each other since October 27th, the day their plane landed in Los Angeles. But now, they would be reunited in Vegas in just a few days for the final three shows of this tour.

"Steph?"

"Sorry, I'm still here."

"I'm excited to see you soon," he admitted softly.

"Me too. But Lindsey? Please remember what we promised."

"I know. The kids and Kristen will be with me anyway so."

"Right."

He sighed at the change of tone in her voice, "I'm sorry."

"Please don't apologize for bringing your children, Lindsey, don't be ridiculous. How are they? Excited for Christmas, did you set the presents out?"

"Yeah, all under the tree. But they're getting older so it's not as fun, Stella knows Santa isn't real anymore," he laughed.

"Awww, she's getting so big."

"They all are," he sighed.

"I'm sure they'll have the best morning waking up to presents under the tree," she smiled, "Enjoy it, Lindsey. Give them a kiss for me, okay?"

His heart broke. He wanted to scream no, he wanted her to be there with them. But he knew the rules. "I will. You have a good Christmas too? Tell everyone I said hi. Have a glass of Glen's eggnog for me?"

"Of course. Goodnight, Lindsey. And Merry Christmas. I'll see you in four days."

"Goodnight, Steph. Merry Christmas, I love you."