Stay With Me a While

Part 4

Passing through the gates, Kristen immediately spotted the unfamiliar car. She gritted her teeth and gripped the steering wheel tighter. She was here. Kristen tried to appear like she was just fine with the whole thing, but she couldn't help her true feelings. Of course, she plastered on a smile, when Lindsey asked her again and again if she was sure about it. It's only a few days, she kept repeating to herself as a mantra.

Leelee and Stella jumped out as soon as Kristen stopped the car. The girls were excited about seeing Aunt Stevie, they had no clue about her and their father's past nor would they ever, at least not to full extent. That was another thing that irked Kristen. 

"Daddy! Is Aunt Stevie here?" Leelee called out for her father the second she stepped through the door.

"In here, sweetheart." Lindsey replied from the family room, to which the girl ran, her little sister following close behind. 

"Hey!" Stevie smiled, standing up. She hugged both girls as they attached themselves to her. "Oh, it's so good to see you two again."

"Daddy said, you're going to stay here with us?" Leelee wanted to make sure her father really meant it.

"For a little bit, yes." Stevie nodded, she then lifted her eyes up, seeing Kristen in the doorway. "Hello."

"Hi." Kristen replied, a polite smile on her face. "Glad to have you here."

Karen had to suppress a laugh as her eyes remained glued to the screen of her laptop. "Thanks for having me." Stevie said, then turned away and walked back to take her seat next to Lindsey.

"You found everything you were looking for?" He asked, without giving his wife a glance. He kept his head down as he was skipping through a photo album Stevie had brought with her. "Oh, God! Look at the mustache." Lindsey pointed to a picture of himself from the Buckingham Nicks era. 

"Is that you, Daddy?" Stella asked, her eyes growing wide. 

"If you can believe it." He laughed lightly. 

Lindsey had some memories stashed away, but the majority was in Stevie's possession. He regretted asking her to take everything and most of what she'd left behind, he threw away after their breakup. It warmed his heart that she'd kept, what they'd once shared. Especially, the fact that they were able to go through it together after so many years.

"You looked ridiculous, Dad." Leelee giggled, occupying the empty space on his left. 

Kristen felt invisible. She opened her mouth to capture Lindsey's attention, but it didn't seem like she was, what he cared about right now. Sulamith came up and sniffed her. Kristen looked down and the dog growled at her, then ran back to its owner.

"We all used to look like that back then, honey." Lindsey replied, turning the page. "Aunt Stevie here used to love my mustache."

"That's true, but it tickled." She nodded.

"Tickled how?" Leelee asked in a very innocent childlike way.

"When we'd hug, it would tickle her cheek." Lindsey quickly came up with a lie, when Stevie clearly didn't know how to reply. He found the terrified look on her face quite comical.

"Is this... us?" Lindsey asked, glancing at Stevie.

She leaned slightly against him to take a better look at what he was showing. "Oh, yeah. We were asked to perform at a wedding, remember? Looking sharp, Linds." She chuckled and he smiled, looking at his velvet suit. 

Kristen had left the room by now, but she couldn't escape the sound of their voices. She didn't want to make a scene, but she really didn't appreciate Stevie using a nickname for her husband.

"I've got a couple more." Stevie said, when Lindsey closed the photo album and handed it to her. 

"I'd love to see, what else is there." 

"Maybe we can go through them later." She suggested, knowing for a fact that some of the Buckingham Nicks cover photographs were in there. 

"Sure." Lindsey agreed. "Why don't we head to the studio? I'm dying to show you, what I've been working on."

Picking up Sulamith, Stevie looked over at her assistant. "Are you coming with, Karen?"

"Uh, no. I've got some work left to do. You go ahead." Karen replied, but she wasn't about to stay in the family room and risk bumping into Kristen. "I'll be upstairs if you need me."

Wrapping his arm around Stevie's shoulders as they walked out of the room, Lindsey leaned in closer to whisper in a much deeper voice than earlier. "You used to love my mustache." He smirked as she looked at him.