#esme stevens

Julliet spoke softly and calmly, “For quite some time now, I have known something was going on. Your father would often come home much later than usual, and his behaviour changed, too. He was suddenly buying new clothes and using products in his hair…”

“I noticed that!” Esme interrupted, “I just figured it was part of some midlife crisis thing.”

Julliet nodded, “So did I at first, but something wasn’t adding up. Two weeks ago, while he was in the shower, a message came in on his phone. I noticed it by accident; it was from ‘Linda’, and she said, ‘Have you figured out an excuse for your wife? I can’t wait to see you.’” Julliet shook her head, “Those words have been dancing in my brain ever since I saw them…” She bit her lip and then continued, “So, when he got out of the shower, I confronted him about it. We had a fight because he felt I shouldn’t be looking at his phone, which, of course, wasn’t the issue here. He denied Linda was anything more than an acquaintance, but as time went by and we had more discussions about this, eventually he had no choice but to admit the truth; Linda is someone he’s met through work and…” Julliet paused and closed her eyes. It was clear she was fighting back a lot of pain and sadness. “…they have fallen in love and want to be together…” A tear rolled down her cheek as she spoke these words.

The Hot Wings are performing their first big outdoor Summer concert in their hometown. Teen friends Joel, Kyra, Joshua and Malik are determined to go and they're not the only ones. But life isn't all about the show...

'Out in the Open' goes live starting tomorrow, Friday 13 September from 13:00 / 1 pm (CEST) onwards.

Julliet smiled lightly, “Sometimes, my loves, strength isn’t in fighting. Strength can also be in taking a step back, in acceptance. Sometimes your heart just needs to cry for a while and then it can start healing.”

The sisters looked at each other, neither really knowing what to say.

“Well…” Sadie then said after a few moments of silence, “Then… maybe… we should go do something to take your mind off it? Go for a spa day or something? I can go on holiday a day later, and we can have a girls’ day tomorrow?”

Esme nodded, “Yes, let’s do that. Cheer you up a bit, mum!”

But Julliet shook her head, “I really appreciate you girls wanting to do this for me, but at the moment, I just need to be in my own space for a while.”

Esme sighed, and Sadie nodded.

She wiped it away and looked at Sadie, “The timing was, of course, awful, my love, with your concert coming up today. Please don’t blame your father for not coming. He really wanted to be there, but I… I can’t see him right now, so he stayed away to give me space… We also agreed I would tell you what happened. He’s still your dad, and he loves you girls. He wanted you to know you can always call him…”

“Oh, I’m going to call him alright and give him a piece of my mind!” Esme snapped angrily. “Is he totally crazy? What the actual fuck is this? You don’t give up on nearly 25 years of marriage for some crush!”

“Es, please…” Julliet said softly, her eyes brimming with tears.

"Oh, come on, mum!” Esme snarled, “Aren’t you pissed? Are you just planning on giving up on nearly 25 years of marriage just like that?!”

Julliet said nothing but just bowed her head in silence.

Esme gave Sadie a worried look, and Sadie sighed.

“I do think Esme has a point, mum…” she said, with as much calm as she could muster, though she was also fuming on the inside, “You’ve always been such a strong woman; why are you not fighting? Why are you taking this lying down?”

"Mum..?"

“My girls.” Julliet smiled somewhat sadly, “You have no idea how happy it makes me to see you both.”

“What’s going on, Mum?” Sadie asked, looking concerned.

“Wait, let me get you some tea first, then I will tell you all.”

Summer 08: Out in the Open

Live music, strong emotions, and some things brought to light; The night The Hot Wings performed in their hometown turned out to be quite eventul...

This chapter has been posted to Tumblr in parts over the past week. If you want to (re-)read the entire update in one go, you can do so here, on my WordPress blog.

“Hey,” Sadie smiled lightly at her sister, “I thought you’d already be home.”

Esme shook her head, “No, I was with Martha, but Mum texted me to come home saying she had something important to discuss with both of us”

“So you don’t know what it’s about either?” Sadie asked, somewhat surprised.

“No, I have no idea, do you?”

“No, except I know it has something to do with dad, because he wasn’t at the concert.”

“Oh…” Esme said, “Right, then maybe…”

“What? Do you know something?” Sadie asked.

“They’ve been having some arguments. It has always been very hushed, and I don’t know what it was about exactly, but yeah, I know that…”

Sadie sighed, “Well, let’s just go in, we’ll hear what’s up…”

Esme nodded, “Yes, no use speculating.”

“Oh, by the way, great show.”

Sadie stopped in her tracks and gave Esme a surprised look, “Um, thanks…”

Esme chuckled, “Don’t look so surprised; I can be nice. When you deserve it.”

Thank you for the ask, lovely! 💕 I really enjoyed doing this.

It was hard too, because for the longest time, my story was 90% third person narrative. So I couldn't go way back for quotes. Most of these are therefore quite recent.

Anna: “Has my father gone completely mad when I was away?! What’s this nonsense about ‘greenify Honeycomb Valley’? What do we need more trees for? We’re not freaking rabbits, are we?"

Esme: “These people are crazy, I tell you. Crazy! I’m actually not surprised she ran way. If anything, I’m surprised she stayed as long as she did, to be honest! She was totally repressed there! Her dad would flip out over a skirt! Isn’t that like child abuse or something?”

Leona: “Damn you, James Wyler. Who gave you permission to be on my mind for a month?”

Martha: “Oh yes, you two have exams coming up. So you should definitely make sure to… study… hard…”