Lindsey's alarm went off at six in the morning and Stevie grumbled from beside him burying her face deeper into his neck.
"Come on Steph, I have a six-hour drive ahead I need to make some headway." Lindsey chuckles
"It's so early and I've only had four and a half decent hours of sleep." She pouts nuzzling his neck. "You promised me an Omelet though." Lindsey pokes her side causing her to jerk away from him.
"Damn promises." She groans sitting up and getting out of bed.
Lindsey laughs and follows her out of the room. Stevie motions with her finger towards Anna's room and he quietly opens the door. Anna is laying on her stomach her head perched firmly on the dog's chest, who is still laying on his back with his paws in the air and tongue hanging out of his mouth. Anna has her arms wrapped tightly around him and almost protectively they notice that one of his paws is on her head.
"That is too cute," Lindsey whispers.
"Do you think I could go run and grab my camera?" Stevie asks peering over Lindsey's shoulder.
"I think so, it takes a lot to wake Max up. You'd think he'd be a guard dog but he's really not." Lindsey lightly laughs
Stevie smiles and lightly grazing his arm she books it down the hall into her room. She grabs the camera and makes her way back to Lindsey. She ducks under his arm and slowly walks towards the bed casually snapping a picture. The flash is on, due to the darkness of the room and it startles Annabelle who jumps awake which then notifies Max who also jumps and starts loudly barking.
"MAX!" Lindsey warns and the dog stops looks around and gathers his boundaries and trots over to Lindsey jumping up and placing his giant paws on his chest, his I have to go out signal.
"Come on, let's go get the monster and take her out too." Lindsey sighs.
"She's on my bed Linds. Just grab her, she won't bite you." Stevie assures.
"Are you sure?" Lindsey questions.
"I am. She's cuddly when she's sleepy." Stevie smiles.
Lindsey makes his way down the hall and into Stevie's room. It is so not like what it was back in their tiny apartment or the mansion they lived in, in Beverly Hills. This room was all white. There were a few colored things, the mahogany dressers, headboard, and vanity. The sheets were tan, but the bedspread was white. The walls were white, there were three white shag rugs adorning the mahogany flooring. She had shawls draped over the lamps, which was normal. Their lamps in their other homes were covered and rarely on. What caught his eye though was the picture on the vanity of him and her.
Their families had taken a joint vacation to the beach one summer, they rented a beach house and everything. They let the two young lovers share a room and Jess, Stevie's father had snapped that picture during a barbecue on the beach. After all these years she still had that picture displayed. Not for everyone to see but at least for her to see. He walked over to the small hairless dog and gently took her in his arms. She growled but eventually tucked her head into his neck and started licking it.
"I still think you're a rat mop." Lindsey states as he heads downstairs to let the dogs out.
***
As they were eating their omelets and homemade fried potatoes, Annabelle turns towards Lindsey.
"I don't want you to go. I had so much fun last night and even though you got me up at this god awful hour I'm going to miss you." Annabelle pouts.
"You have to get up this early for school," Lindsey states looking at the clock on the stove reading 6:45.
"I don't get up until 7 for school." Annabelle states
"You better not spend a school night at my house then because I have to be to school by seven." Lindsey laughs.
"YOU WHAT!" Annabelle gasps.
"Students start to arrive at 7:30, teachers need to be there early so they can prepare for the students in case someone needs help before school. I also don't normally get to leave until five." Lindsey explains.
"Ugh." The women groan at the same time.
"You two would not make good teachers." Lindsey laughs.
"I would've been had this singing career didn't work out." Stevie crosses her arms.
"I know. English if I recall." Lindsey smirks.
"Correct. English and Psychology." Stevie smiles back.
"Just the thought of getting up that early terrifies me." Annabelle groans.
"Any job you get will most likely start prior to nine in the morning. What do you want to be when you graduate?" Lindsey questions.
"I want to be an art teacher." She pouts.
"Good luck," Lindsey smirks.
"Do you have to go to San Francisco?" Annabelle pouts laying her head on his shoulder. She hasn't done that before and it kind of takes him by surprise.
"I do, I'm sorry. Maybe this summer I can take you there and maybe show you some of our old stomping grounds." Lindsey shrugs.
"I'd like to come to." Stevie looks down sheepishly.
"Aren't you working?" Lindsey looks at her.
"Well, touring but I can take a week or two off and we can go." Stevie states.
"You're touring this summer. But you toured last summer. We were going to do Europe this summer for my sixteenth." Annabelle sits up straight looking at her mother.
"I know, and I'm sorry baby, but I don't make up the rules my management does." Stevie sighs.
"Sure," Annabelle states getting up and going upstairs.
"Anna!" Stevie calls.
"Steph, don't. She's upset and if she's anything like you, you need to give her a bit to calm down." Lindsey warns finishing his meal.
"I hate disappointing her like that." Stevie looks down.
"I know you do but you can't help it. You have a job that demands a lot out of you. I'll go talk to her and then I'm going to hit the road. She'll be okay." Lindsey smiles going towards the staircase.
"I just...I feel like the worst mother ever...it was my fault I lost our two babies and it's my fault that I'm hurting her but I can't take time off because time off means no money and I want her to have everything she ever wants." Stevie cries into her hands.
"Oh Steph, no you're a wonderful mother. Our two babies had nothing to do with you. That girl is amazing and it's all because of you." Lindsey sighs wrapping his arms around her.
"I just feel so horrible." She sobs into his chest.
"I know Angel." He can't help but call her that nickname and it just slips out.
***
He gently knocks on her door and a soft "go away" follows.
"Anna it's me." He says quietly.
"I guess you can come in." He hears her sigh.
He opens the door and takes in his surroundings. He caught a glimpse of her room that morning, but he didn't get a good picture until now. Her room was what he expected Stevie's room to look like. What their room at one point did look like. The walls were a deep red. The mattress was on the floor, a black bedspread laid across it. On the wall above her bed was a red, gold, purple, and black tapestry. There weren't any night stands just a dark brown dresser and a dark brown vanity. The walls were covered in pictures of her and her friends, and she and her mother, and the only source of lighting was the fairy lights dangling from the ceiling.
"Hey, kiddo," Lindsey coming in and making his way over to the bed, where he gets on his knees and crawls onto the mattress. A move he's perfected over the course of his life with Stevie and sits cross-legged on the bed.
"Hi." She sighs.
"Your mom feels really bad about all of this." He states.
"She's never here. I'm starting to think that her being home is what makes her feel bad. Sometimes it feels like I was a disappointment to her. She said before me she'd be in the studio from ten in the morning until two in the morning." Anna sighs.
"You're right. She was. She didn't even take time off for me. There would be times that I wouldn't see her for ten days at a time and I'd come to learn that she was New York. But don't you ever think that you're a disappointment to your mother. She's downstairs in tears because she thinks she's the worst mother on the planet because SHE'S disappointing YOU." Lindsey says.
"She's not crying. I've never seen my mother cry." Anna scoffs pulling her knees up to her chest. "Yes, she is. If you don't trust me, sneak downstairs." Lindsey points.
"No, I'm okay." Anna sighs.
"Hey, look at it this way, maybe she'll let you stay with me while she's on tour." Lindsey nudges her shoulder.
"I hope so. I'll at least get to spend my birthday with one of my parents." Anna states.
"I don't think your mom will miss your birthday. But, I've always wanted to go to Disney so what do you say I take you to Disney for your sixteenth. I know it's not Europe or anything fancy like that, but it's close we could make a day out of it." Lindsey suggests.
"I've never been to Disney, I think I'd like that." Anna nods.
"Alright, talk it over with your mother. I have to get on the road though." Lindsey groans standing up. Maybe that's why Stevie's mattress isn't on the floor anymore, she is a year older than him.
"I don't want you to go." Anna pouts for a second time.
"I know." He takes her into his arms.
"Bye, dad." She whispers as he kisses her head.
"Bye baby." He smiles leaving her room.
Downstairs, Stevie is still sniffling at the kitchen table, Max's head on her lap.
"Steph, I have to get going," Lindsey says grabbing Max's leash and walking over to the table.
"Is she okay." Stevie sniffles wiping at her eyes.
"She's fine. I told her that while you're on tour she could stay with me and I'd take her to Disney for her birthday. She seemed to like the idea. But, maybe and you don't have to agree to this but next year for Christmas...maybe...we could take her to Europe. We get two weeks off for Christmas break. Hell, I could ask for the Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday off the week before, so we'd have about two and a half weeks." Lindsey suggests hooking the leash to Max.
"I think that's a great idea my tour should be done by then and I won't go into the studio until the new year." Stevie smiles.
"Alright, it's settled." Lindsey smiles.
***
He's loading everything into his old Chevy when the two girls join him outside. He closes the passenger side door when Max jumps in and opens his arms. Anna immediately goes into them and he holds her closely, gently rocking back and forth.
"Merry Christmas Anna, I'll see you in a couple of weeks at school," Lindsey says smoothing her knotted blonde waves.
"Merry Christmas daddy. I love you." She says truthfully and Lindsey smiles.
"I love you too kiddo." He states kissing her head.
She pulls away and tightens her light grey sweater around her covering the long sleeve pink tee-shirt and black and white plaid pajama pants. Stevie mimicks their daughter wrapping her white silk robe tighter over her white silk nightgown. She walks into Lindsey's arms and closes her eyes. Never in a million years did she think that Lindsey would be wrapped around her ever again and she's cherishing it.
"You better call me when you get to Ruth's. Do you understand Lindsey Buckingham?" Stevie scolds.
"I will. I was going to tell them about Anna unless you want to be there too." Lindsey states.
"As much as I do, I don't know when I'll get myself back to San Francisco for more than 36 hours. And I don't want you to keep her a secret. I want you to embrace being a dad." Stevie smiles up at him.
"Okay." He nods. "Goodbye Lindsey. Thank you, for last night." She whispers into his ear.
"You're welcome." He smiles kissing her head and pulling away.