Kevin opened the front door and entered the living room, smiling at Lily who was playing with Jeremy in the floor. They'd returned from Kentucky a week before. And since then, Ann Richardson had called several times to hear from her grandson and daughter-in-law.
"Hey, baby." Kevin said, leaning down to quickly kiss Lily's lips. "I have good news." he said, grinning.
"What's that?" Lily asked, smiling sweetly up at him.
He walked into the kitchen and grabbed a coke from the refrigerator and then walked back into the livingroom and paced in front of her, too excited to sit down.
"The album's almost finished." he said excitedly. "Jive has set a date for the release and they've already begun setting dates and booking venues for the tour."
Lily's smile faltered a little but Kevin didn't notice. "I'm so anxious to get back on the road, Lil, you have no idea. I've missed performing so much." He smiled broadly again as he finally settled down to sit in a chair.
For the first time, Kevin noticed that Lily wasn't as excited as he was. "What's wrong, Lil? Aren't you excited?"
"Of course I'm excited for you, Kevin. It's just that....we'll miss you when you're gone on tour." Lily replied, trying not to sound as melancholy as she felt.
"That's the best part, baby. You and Jeremy will be coming out on tour with me."
"Coming with you?" she repeated.
"Yeah. You have a career that can travel and Jeremy would love coming with us. We'll be traveling the world together, so to speak."
Lily sighed and started to speak but stopped. "We'll talk about this later, Kevin." she said and stood up to leave the room.
"Wait." Kevin said and grabbed her arm, keeping her there. "What's wrong, Lily? I thought you would be happy about this."
"I am happy for you, Kevin. But Jeremy and I can't come on tour with you." she said.
Kevin's face showed the confusion he felt at her words and he said "Can't come with me? Why not?"
The anger that Lily had been holding in check came sliding to the surface. "Kevin." she said slowly "Do you not realize that I have a career and I just can't uproot everything I have to travel with you."
"Lily," Kevin said, starting to get angry himself "You are a writer. You can write your books from anywhere and send them to your editor or something."
Lily clenched her jaw and responded. "OK, fine. I could write from anywhere, IF I wanted to. But I don't, Kevin." Her voice was rising with every word. "I don't see how you expect me to just take Jeremy away from everything he knows."
"Lily, I don't see why you're being so difficult. You and Jeremy would be moving to Orlando with me anyway."
"Orlando?" Lily half yelled, disbelieving. "What makes you think we would move to Orlando?"
"Because that's where I live, Lily." he yelled back. "What? Did you expect me to live here in Atlanta and make the commute to Orlando everyday?"
"I don't know what I expected you to do! But I didn't expect to have to move Jeremy away from everything he knows and everyone he loves!"
"It's a part of my life, Lily! I travel! It's my job!"
"Just because YOU live that way doesn't mean that I have to raise my son that way!" she yelled and crossed the room and picked up Jeremy, picking up various things to put in his diaper bag, alerting Kevin to the fact that they were leaving.
"He's not just your son, Lily! He's my son too and I deserve to have some say in the way he's raised."
Lily paused at the door with her hand on the knob and said "You know what, Kevin? I did fine the first year of his life without you, I think I can handle raising him without you." And with that she was out the door.
***************
"Dammit." Kevin muttered into his glass. He was sitting on a barstool in the same bar he'd came to the night of his wedding. He'd already consumed more drinks than he could count and was working on another.
"I can't believe I was just thinking I loved her." he muttered to himself. It's because you DO love her A voice in his head told him. "Shut up." he responded to the voice and then sat his drink down. Now he was talking to himself.
But he had to admit the voice had a point. He did love her. A lot. He was just mad that she wouldn't drop everything she had and follow him everywhere he went. Through his anger and drunkenness he had to admit, somewhere in the back of his mind that she had a point. That was no way to raise their son, on the road. But he wanted them with him so badly when he went on tour. He sighed. They should at least talk about it.
He got up off the stool, tossed the bartender money. He stumbled towards the entrance but was intercepted half way there as he tried to make his way past the dance floor.
"Hey, baby. Wanna dance?" he heard.
Kevin looked at the voluptuous blonde and considered it. Why not? It was just one dance. He nodded at her and signaled for the bartender to bring him another drink.
***************
Lily quietly opened the door to her house and soundlessly slipped inside. She'd spent the night at her parent's house the night before and had had a lot of time to think things through. She knew that she'd blown up at Kevin unjustly the night before. She should have at least given him enough respect to form a compromise.
That's why she was there that morning to apologize and talk to him.
She walked through the living room and headed towards the bedrooms. It was still early in the morning and Kevin was probably still in bed. She walked to her own bedroom but found it curiously empty. Figuring that he'd opted to stay in one of the guest bedrooms instead of the one they'd shared, she headed toward the guest bedroom closest to hers.
She quietly opened the door and entered, allowing her eyes to adjust to the darkness. When they did, she let out a gasp and felt her heart drop to her knees.
"No." she cried to herself quietly but then said it louder. "No!"
Kevin woke up at the yell and instantly felt his head swimming. He looked toward the door and saw Lily standing there, with a look on her face that looked as if her heart was broken in half.
"Lily." he said and tried to sit up. When he did, two things happened at once. Lily fled the room, in tears and Kevin realized why she was so upset. When he sat up, the blanket around him fell and caught his attention. He looked from the blanket to the naked blonde who lay beside him.
"Oh Shit!" he said and jumped out of the bed. He quickly pulled on a pair jogging pants and went after Lily.
He caught her as she was opening the door. "Lily, wait! Don't leave!" he said as he rushed across the room to her.
"Don't leave?!!?" she screamed at him. "Give me one good reason to stay!!" She quieted down a little bit and said, sobbing "How could you do this to me, Kevin?" He tried to reach for her but she wouldn't have it. "Don't touch me!" she yelled. "Ever again, Kevin. Don't touch me ever again." She opened the door and rushed through it and was at her car and out of the driveway before he could stop her.
Kevin watched her leave and felt the desperation he felt at her leaving eating at him. He turned and looked down the hall toward the bedroom leaned up against the door.
He didn't even remember what the woman's name was. In fact, he didn't remember anything about the previous night after he'd danced with the blonde a few times.
He turned and pressed his forehead to the door and squeezed his eyes shut. "Lily." he cried desperately and punched the wall next to the door receiving nothing but a whole in the wall and bloody knuckles in return.
He knew that they would have been able to get through the fight they'd had earlier but this....this was the end.
