Twice

XIII

Nothing happened.

They slept through the night holding each other, but nothing more happened; no intimate caressing or kissing. A part of Stevie was okay with that, but the other wasn't. Whenever they hurt or were angry at each other, or really, any other imaginable emotion, they would always take it all out by making love, but she understood that clearly, this wasn't like most of the times, this was serious. They weren't about to fuck their way out of this one.

Opening her eyes, when she heard some shuffling, Stevie was facing the side of the bed where Lindsey slept and now she was seeing him putting his shoes on and getting up on his feet. Frowning, she glanced at her bedside clock and it was barely past seven in the morning.

"Linds?"

He turned and looked down at her, he was hoping to leave unnoticed. "Go back to sleep, it's way too early for you."

The tone of his voice sent chills down her spine. There was nothing there and Lindsey's voice always had something. "You're leaving already?"

"It looks like it, doesn't it?"

"Why are you being like this?" She asked, sitting up in the bed.

"Like what?"

"An ass."

Shrugging his shoulders, he asked back. "How would you want me to be acting? As everything is perfectly fine?"

"Well... you came to me last night."

"I did, because I needed you, but it changed nothing. I'm not about to pretend that we're fine, that we can jump right back into bed and forget all of our problems for a little while, until either one of us fucks up royally once again."

"I wish you hadn't showed up."

"Stevie, I didn't say that we're back together, in whatever way we've been before this. I came to you, because my marriage fell apart and I wanted to be comforted and told that it was going to be okay, because contrary to what you might think - I am human too. I do have feelings."

"I never said you didn't, Lindsey. I-"

He held up his hand, stopping her. "I really, really don't want to get into yet another argument with you, so please, don't say anything more and I'm just going to go."

What could she say? He simply didn't seem to care anymore.

Lindsey wasn't proud of the way he was treating Stevie right now, but he was so confused with everything at the moment, that he wanted to be by himself and get his head straight. 

When Lindsey returned home, he shut his eyes tightly, sighing heavily as he saw another car in the driveway. He knew exactly who it belonged to - he bought it, dammit! He seriously wasn't up for this right now.

Knowing he couldn't just sit in his car and hope the problem would solve itself, he finally got out and slowly made his way inside the house, being met with his soon to be ex wife in the kitchen with Stella, apparently making breakfast.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing?" Despite the fact his youngest daughter was around, he couldn't stay calm.

"Good morning to you too, Lindsey." Kristen replied, going on with her task at hand.

"Stella, leave."

The girl rarely ever heard her father speak like this and she wasn't about to stay and hear more of it, doing as asked, as she hurried up the stairs and into her room.

"What makes you think you can disappear for this whole time, refuse to speak to me, file for divorce and then return here like nothing happened?" 

"I was coming here to explain myself, but I didn't find you. I decided to stay and wait, Stella woke up and I wasn't going to starve her."

"Cut the bullshit, Kristen. I'm so tired of all the women in my life! Ugh..." He grunted shaking his head. "You know what, I don't give a fuck about your explanation. You made a choice - you want out. Good!" Lindsey left for a couple of minutes, leaving Kristen puzzled, as he then soon returned, tossing the file on the kitchen counter, where she stood near it. "Signed it! Now be so kind and get the fuck out of my life!"

It took a moment, before she could speak up. "Aren't you interested why the woman you've been married to for so many years has decided to divorce you?"

"What difference will it make if I stand here and listen to what you have to say?"

"I just thought this would affect you more than-"

"Oh, it affected me alright. But if you allowed yourself to keep yourself away from me for over two months, without any explanation when I asked you for one, don't expect me to hear you out now."

Looking at the divorce papers, Kristen swallowed uneasily, as it suddenly became very real. "You were with her, weren't you?"

"Please, this is not about her."

"It is. After all, she's the reason I'm divorcing you. You can't imagine how all these year with you made me feel, when I would see you two together. When you were angry with her or happy with her, it didn't matter, never did, as you would still look at her with so much passion and love. It took me a very long time, but I realized that I can't compete. I can't."

He knew it was true, so he couldn't deny it, but he didn't want to get deeper into it either. It was done. He and Kristen had both put their names down, both willing to finally end this marriage. What was the point of talking now?

"I'm sorry you fell in love with a man, who belongs to someone else." Lindsey simply said and left her standing, as he just had to get away.