Lindsay had never seen anything like it before. Back in Montana, there'd been a mall with a Macy's and all the other stores that the average person shops at. This was something else though. Rodeo Drive, Lindsay decided, was the one place every woman should visit before they die. It was heaven for anyone with an incredible amount of money to spend, but even for someone who couldn't spend a dime, like Lindsay, there was still something about the place that caused her to be in awe.
She made sure to snap a photo of her standing in front of the street sign so she could send it home to her parents. After that, she pulled out her map and tried to figure out where to go next. She knew she looked like a tourist with her map and inexpensive clothing, and she knew that the people who passed her by were looking at her like she was the kind of person who would pronounce Rodeo like an actual rodeo. Only she didn't care. How could she when she was in such an incredible place? She was having fun, and that was all that mattered.
When Lindsay's stomach began to rumble, she put her map away and decided to go to the grocery store instead. She knew Elliott and Christina would be home in an hour so she figured she'd make them lunch and spend the rest of the day with them. That way Danny, who was supposed to take them to the dentist earlier that morning, could have the rest of the day to himself.
At the thought of Danny, Lindsay felt her stomach churn. She hadn't told him, or anyone, about what she had seen the night before. She'd wanted to since she thought that he deserved to know, but when she'd joined everyone back at the party and had seen him with Aiden again, she just couldn't. The last thing she wanted to do was hurt him, especially since he really did seem like a nice guy.
She wasn't going to think about that right now, though. After the hell that she'd been through back in Montana, she figured she owed it to herself to relax and not have any drama in her life at the moment. Even though having a life free from drama wouldn't last long, she figured the least she could do was try and have one day without it. So far everything had been going well. She only hoped that the rest of the day would stay like that.
When Lindsay arrived home, she was surprised to hear noises coming from the backyard since the kids weren't supposed to be back for another twenty minutes. She quickly put away her groceries, then she headed out to the backyard to see what was going on. What she saw instantly put a smile on her face. While Elliott was swimming laps in the pool, Danny was standing in the shallow end as he held on to Christina protectively.
"It's alright, sweetie," Danny was saying, his voice calm and soothing, "I promise I won't let go. You're just gonna put your face in the water. It doesn't even have to be for long."
"No, no, no!" Christina said, wrapping her little arms around Danny's neck, refusing to let go. Judging by the amount of frustration there was in Danny's loud sigh, it was obvious to Lindsay that he'd been attempting this with the little girl for awhile. When he turned around and saw her though, all the frustration seemed to disappear as he flashed her a smile.
"Hey."
"Hi," Lindsay responded. She kicked off her flip flops and walked over to the pool's edge then sat down so she could dip her feel in the water. "I wasn't expecting you guys to be here so early."
"Their dentist appointments had to be cancelled. Then we figured that it's such a nice day, we might as well not waste it, so here we are," he answered. "And for the past thirty minutes, I've been trying to teach Christina to swim, which isn't an easy thing to do at all."
"Yeah, it's 'cuz she's a scardey cat!" Elliott yelled from across the pool.
"You say that about your sister one more time, El, and I promise that you'll regret it," Danny said, shooting at glare in Elliott's direction. He quickly shut up and continued to swim while Danny focused on Lindsay again. "You should get in the water with us," he said, smiling at her again.
"I am in the water," Lindsay said, motioning down at her feet. "See?"
"I don't mean just your feet, wiseass. You should get all the way in."
Lindsay shook her head. "I can't. I'm going to fix the kids lunch."
"I let them have ice cream before we got home. They won't want to eat again for awhile."
Silently cursing, Lindsay tried to think of another excuse to not spend time with Danny. She would do anything to avoid the awkwardness. Of course, it was only awkward for her and not him since he still had no idea about what happened last night. And the fact that he didn't know made her feel guilty because she knew and hadn't said anything yet.
"I don't have anything to wear," she finally said. "And I definitely don't think it would be appropriate to skinny dip around the children."
Danny laughed and shook his head. "No, it wouldn't be. But I'm sure Jess wouldn't mind if you borrowed something," he said. "Come on, you don't have any excuse not to come in."
He was right about that. Sighing in defeat, Lindsay stood up. "I'll be back in five minutes."
True to her word, Lindsay emerged from the house five minutes later in one of Jess's bikinis. As she stepped into the pool, she didn't fail to notice the way that Danny was staring at her. When he noticed that he was causing her to blush, he quickly looked away and focused his attention on Christina again.
Lindsay thought back to what Stella had said the night before, about him having a crush on her. She shook her head, still not believing it was possible. He was probably just admiring how she looked, in a friendly sort of way. Just like she was admiring how good he looked without a shirt on...
She quickly shook those thoughts away and reminded herself that he had a girlfriend. Yes, she was an extremely bitchy girlfriend who was cheating on him, but it didn't matter. He was still a taken man. And it wasn't even if she liked him. To her, he was just a friend, and nothing more than just a friend.
For the next hour, Lindsay ended up having a pretty good time in the pool with Danny. Much to her surprise, she found it easy to forget about what had happened with Aiden last night and just focus on her time with Danny and the kids.
The two of them had given up on trying to teach Christina how to swim awhile ago so they'd put her water wings on and let her float around the pool on her own. Elliott was happy about that since now they could focus more and him. And that was exactly how they spend most of their hour. They watched as Elliott showed them how he could dive into the pool, how he could do handstands under water, and how he could hold his breath for a really long time. Eventually he got tired of showing off and went back to swimming, leaving Danny and Lindsay time to talk. They decided to sit on the pool steps, that way they could watch both of the kids and make sure nothing happened. At first, there was a comfortable silence between them, but soon Danny was the first to speak.
"I broke up with Aiden," he said. Lindsay looked at him, shocked.
"Are you okay?" she asked. He nodded, and she tried to think of something else to say. She didn't know how upset he really was about this, so she decided to just say the truth. "You deserve so much better than her," she said, her voice barely above a whisper, as if she was unsure about whether or not she should of said it. He looked at her, though, and he gave her a tiny smile.
"What makes you say that?"
She took a deep breath, not sure if she should tell him or not. It could hurt him, but it couldn't possibly do that much damage. After all, he wasn't even with her anymore. After a few more seconds of thinking it over, she just let it out.
"She was cheating on you." When he didn't respond, she continued, "I caught her last night. She was with some guy from the party. I wanted to tell you, but I didn't know how. I'm really sorry."
There was no immediate response from him. For a minute, the only noise was that of the children splashing in the pool. That minute felt like an eternity for Lindsay though as she waited for some kind of response from him. Finally, he let out a breath and nodded.
"I kinda figured she was," he said. "Our relationship wasn't the best. In fact, you could have told me last night and it still wouldn't have bothered me."
"Well you're a lot stronger than I am. If someone I loved cheated on me, I'd be heartbroken."
"I didn't love her," Danny responded. "I thought in the beginning I could love her, but she changed a lot. And when I say a lot, I mean a lot. She used to be really great, but as soon as she started using drugs, she was a completely different person. I guess that's when the relationship went from good to bad."
Lindsay nodded as she tried her hardest to imagine Aiden as anything but a bitch. She figured it was possible. People did change, and she knew that from personal experience with her last relationship.
After Danny finished with the story of his relationship with Aiden, she noticed herself moving closer to him. She then placed her hand on his arm and gave him a warm smile. "You're going to find someone else, you know. Someone who you will want to love and someone who will love you back just as much."
Danny looked at her and smiled. Her eyes met his, and she felt a connection that she'd never felt with anyone before. She knew now that what she thought before was wrong. There was definitely a part of her that liked him as more than a friend. Still, she didn't know if she was ready for anything to happen yet, so she stood up.
"Are you getting hungry yet?" she asked, stepping out of the pool. "I'm thinking about fixing the kids that lunch now."
She watched as Danny sighed and stood up himself. "Yeah," he said, "I guess that's a good idea."
Nodding, she grabbed a towel and quickly headed inside, wondering to herself if she really had just seen a look of disappointment on Danny's face or not.
"Kraft macaroni and cheese?" Danny asked as he passed Lindsay the box. He watched as she dumped the noodles into the boiling pot of water. "You made it out to seem like you were gonna be makin' some fancy lunch, and you end up making macaroni and cheese from a box?"
"You think you could do better?" she asked, smirking at him.
"Yes, yes I could," he teased. "In fact, I could knock you off your feet with my chicken parmesan."
"Would I be knocked off my feet because I'm dying from it?" she joked, laughing at his fake upset expression.
"That's not funny, Montana."
Lindsay shook her head, wondering how long him calling her Montana would last. She sort of hoped he kept the nickname. Not that she was about to admit it, but she sort of found it cute.
"Seriously though, I can cook," he continued. "Maybe one of these nights I'll make something for you. We can add a bottle of wine and call it a date."
She looked away from him, unsure of how to respond to that. She didn't know if he was joking or if he was actually asking her out on a date. His next sentence let her know which one it was.
"It doesn't have to be that fancy. We can do something more casual, like go to a movie or something. You can pick." When Lindsay gave him a confused look, he said, "I'm asking you out on a date, just in case you didn't know."
Lindsay couldn't help the laugh that escaped from her.
"Oh, is that what this is?" she asked. "I think you can do better. If you really want an answer out of me, you're going to have to do this properly."
Danny thought about it for a second, then he suddenly took her hand and pulled her to him.
"Would you, Lindsay Monroe, like to go out on a date with me this Friday night?"
She seriously thought about his question. If she was going to be honest with herself, she didn't know how ready she was for a new relationship. But, if she was still going with the whole honesty thing, she also knew that she wanted to go out with him.
And that was why her answer was yes.
A/N: I feel like I'm writing a Nicholas Sparks novel by starting the relationship out this early. But oh, what the heck. We all love Danny and Lindsay together, so who cares?