Why Should It Matter?

11. Mystery Man

When the following morning arrived, Stevie woke up to a knock on the door.

She opened her eyes immediately and turned her head to see that Lindsey was gone. She then popped up and looked around, seeing that the duffel bag he had was gone. Throwing her legs over the edge of the bed, she remembered she never changed. Smoothing down her hair, she started trailing toward the door. She then opened it, only to see Christine on the other end.

The tall blonde had one hand on her hip and the other propped against the doorframe and all her weight was on one side.

"Good morning, love---" the woman greeted. "Mick and I are gonna grab breakfast, wanted to know if you were joining?"

"Uhm," she kind of looked down at herself. "I'm good---I'll just order in," she shrugged. "I'm gonna meet up with Karen and then we'll meet up for the Jazz Fest later in the month---that fine?" she asked.

"I'm okay with it," she assured with a shrug. "And by the way..." she lingered.

Stevie then gestured for her to come in so that she could get changed. On her way into the bathroom, she picked up her robe and left the door open a crack so she could hear her friend.

"You went home rather early last night," the woman added.

"Yeah, just wanted to veg," she assured. "I've been kind of tired and I think I have a head cold. Just the weather change is killing me," she stated honestly, revealing herself after a few minutes. She came out with her clothes, hanging them up so they could be dry cleaned. "Did you stay at the party long?"

"We did, but we weren't around too long. There was no point to be there if you weren't."

"Well, I appreciate it---had a great time, though," she smiled.

"Speaking of you not being there... You left early and you were pretty eager to get here and it didn't go unnoticed, you were looking for somebody in the audience."

Stevie started to feel a tad nervous because she knew she was blushing and she knew she was caught somehow.

"So, who's the lucky man?" Christine finally asked.

"You mean, you don't know?" she asked, starting stress less about it.

"No," she shook her head, crossing her arms. "I just figured it out last night and today thought I'd drop by. But it does look like he's gone already," she arched a brow.

"Yeah," she looked around. "He had to go... Listen, don't tell anybody. This is a major secret, Chris and we don't want anybody to know," she assured. "We're trying to make things work and if things go well, we plan on going public."

"Alright... Sounds good," she agreed. "I won't tell anybody."

"Thank you," she sat down on the edge of the bed, crossing one leg over the other.

"Do I get to know who he is?" she had to then ask.

"Possibly," she agreed. "But even that's a secret."

"I'm almost appalled---you're not gonna tell me," she had to laugh a little. "After all these years, Steves?"

"Well, he told me not to tell anybody, either," she smiled. "But in due time---you'll learn."

All of the sudden Stevie's phone buzzed and they could both hear it.

"Probably Karen," Stevie reached to grab it. She clicked it to light up and she read the lockscreen, seeing it was a text from Lindsey.

Felt better if I left sooner, just so you didn't have to worry. Have fun and I'll probably see you soon? he questioned.

She started typing as best as she could without her glasses. That's fine ~ I'll be in town soon. You should have woke me, I would have liked to say bye.