That Blue Gibson

CH 54

"Yeah?"

"Uh... hey?" Dave looked down at his phone screen when Liz answered with an annoyed tone.

"Oh... hey. Sorry," Liz sighed, her voice instantly softer.

"Everything okay?" Dave could hear kids screaming and a TV blaring in the background.

"Yeah...," she said through some thumping and the sound of a door closing until it was finally quiet enough that he could hear Liz's sigh. "Yeah, we're good. How are you?"

"Cause I can call you back..." Dave sat forward on his couch, hoping she wouldn't agree to that. Besides the occasional text, he hadn't talked to her in almost two days with him being busy with rehearsals for the second leg of the tour, her taking intense dance lessons for her next film and both of them trying to be parents at the same time. He had watched the paparazzi video of her at the Portland airport greeting her kids at the baggage claim, feeling only marginally better when he saw how happy she was to see her boys. The image of her falling to her knees to hug them made him wonder when he would get to meet them, if he would get to meet them.

"No! It's fine, I locked myself in my bedroom," he heard her breath escape her lungs as she collapsed onto her bed. "So how are you?"

Bored, uninspired, lonely... "Fine. Just working on setting festival dates," he lied. They had been set up months ago.

"That sounds super fun," she laughed, "Are you planning what kind of flower crown and cut offs you're gonna wear?"

Goddamnit, I miss you, he thought. "No, I was hoping to get your input on those specifics."

"Well... I guess that all depends on the month the festival is in and where it is, doesn't it?"

"Does it?"

"Sure! When is Boomtown?"

"Uh...," Dave slid his laptop across the coffee table and clicked open his calendar. "Beginning of August."

"Sunflowers, but those are kinda big. Lilies, roses, daisies, snapdragons... Ooo! Rudbeckia! You'd look adorable with those."

Dave laughed at her enthusiasm and clicked on another festival, "Okay, what about the Download Festival? That's early June."

Liz sighed deeply and her voice sounded dreamy, "Peonies, Dave. Go with the peonies."

"I don't know what those are, but you sound like a fan," he quickly googled them as he spoke, squinting at the large blossoms when they popped up in the image search.

"Oh dude, I love them. Peonies and English roses are a weakness for me," she sighed again and craned her next to look out the large bedroom window to her garden. "I'm a little pissed I'm going to miss mine blooming when I'm in London."

"Doesn't England have English roses?"

"Oh my god, Dave," she giggled.

"What?"

"I'm willing to bet they have at least a few," she said, her laugh fading, "There's so much I want to see in England, but I just don't have the time."

"Like what? I'll take you," he sat back into his couch and ignored the red blocked-out dates that covered his summer calendar.

"Yeah, don't you have some things going on this summer? Like an entire European festival circuit?"

"I'm in a big, rich rock band, Liz. I can do whatever I fucking want," he couldn't help but laugh, knowing the opposite was true.

"Your band would just love it if you bailed to stand in a garden with me."

"If you want to go look at sticks, I'll take you to look at sticks, Elizabeth."

"I can't tell if that's a euphemism or not, David," she feigned seriousness.

"Both," he said simply. He'd take her to every garden in England if that's what she wanted. "So, what did you do today?" he asked, worried she would hear a lull in the conversation and find a reason to hang up.

"Drove," she groaned. "A lot. The studio I'm training in is in Portland and apparently the great state of Oregon decided to rip up all the bridges across the Columbia at the same time."

"So you had to swim?"

"Damn near."

"Did Ally call you?" he had been working up the nerve to ask her.

"Yeah, she apologized profusely. You didn't have anything to do with that, did you?" she asked with suspicion.

"Surprisingly, no. She called me right after to say she was sorry and asked me to stop giving Taylor the silent treatment."

"Dave!" Liz laughed, "You're so mean!"

"Well, don't try to knock up my girlfriend and there won't be a problem," he couldn't help but smile at the sound of her laugh. He heard a door crash open and little footsteps stomp across a wooden floor.

"Hey, buddy," Liz greeted Jack. She sounded so tired.

"Mommy, Owen ate my snacks!"

"Did you leave them on the couch where he could get them?"

Dave chuckled at that, he had just refereed this same argument that morning between his youngest daughters.

"But they're not-"

A happy screech from far away and a door slamming made Dave jump a little.

"Daddy!" Owen's little voice yelled and Liz gasped.

"Dave," her voice was urgent, "I'll call you right back."

She ended the call as Dave sat frozen on the couch, his phone still to his ear. Fuck.

A/N: Thank you all for the likes and votes! Comment and let me know what you guys would like to see!