Say You Love Me (Double Love Trilogy Conclusion)

And You Say That You Love Me

Penn Castle
Dorset, United Kingdom
Saturday, February 11, 2023
(10:30 pm)
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"Come on, ladies...it's freezing out here!"

Karen was holding two leash handles in one hand - the pink one that connected to Luna's matching harness, and the red one attached to Lily's. This would be their last official walk of the night before everyone settled in. Both dogs were paper-trained because they were so tiny, Lily following in her big sister Sulamith's paw steps and using a pink wee wee pad on Stevie's terrace at home, but they walked the dogs too when they could for the fresh air and exercise while they did their business. Karen was thinking back that night to her little baby Mana, a tiny yorkie that had been frenemies with Sulamith at first but then had become her friend. Mana had never quite taken to training; many hotel floors had known that on tour years ago.

As she waited for Lily to sniff a spot on the castle grounds upon which to pee, Karen decided to check her phone for notifications, scroll social media both for her own personal accounts and for the Stevie Nicks pages. A few die-hard fans were posting stories on Instagram that were pictures of Stevie and Lindsey, some with Christine and John as well, using hashtags like #buckinghamnickswedding or #fleetwoodmacwedding or the one that had made Stevie laugh the other night when she'd told her...
#rumorsofadoublewedding. Karen smiled as she saw that a fan who went by @enchantedstevie77 had posted an Instagram reel that was a montage of pictures of Stevie and Lindsey young, all the way back to Fritz and Buckingham Nicks, working their way through Fleetwood Mac, Rumors, Tusk, Mirage, Tango In The Night, The Dance and Say You Will to the sound of "Crystal", Stevie's 1990s version. Another obviously huge fan who called themselves @golddustdreams2000 had made a reel that was a beautiful compilation of footage of Stevie and Lindsey dancing to "Tusk" on the Say You Will tour, and it was set to "Stephanie". Karen made a mental note to show it to Stevie later.

Luna had begun to scratch around the patch of grass now that Lily had finished, and Karen sighed, her breath visible in the freezing winter night air. Her hands were occupied with leashes and her phone and she wished she'd zipped her North Face jacket up higher. Using her thumb skillfully as she balanced her new iPhone 14 in her palm, she opened the Mail app to check her accounts - her personal one, her business one, as well as both of Stevie's. She thought about what had happened earlier that day, and her failed attempt to tell Stevie about Joe Walsh's email. Her eyes grew wide when she saw Joe's name appear at the top of Stevie's personal emails. Did I mark it as unread or is this another one?! Her grip tightening on the leashes, she opened the message...

Hey Stevie,

I'm sorry if it seems like I'm a stalker. I'm not. It's just that you've been on my mind a lot since I read you were marrying Buckingham. I promise I won't bug you anymore but...

Do you remember that night - man it was like 30 years ago - when Kristin Casey and I were an item and we all went out to eat and then you came to my house and we all hung out till like 6 in the morning? Kristin and I and some guy (I was high so my memory fails me here) fixed it so your limo driver got you to leave? I was watching that Harry Styles kid on Howard Stern tell a similar story about you and I was remembering how you never wanted the party to end. That's what made us a good team, kid.

I'd really like to see you, Stevie. It's been years...a whole pandemic and then some. My number is the same as it's been for years. (Before he died Eddie Van Halen told me his ex-wife, Valerie Bertinelli, is like that. Number never changes with time.)

Call me, kid. I miss hearing your dirty laugh, especially if it's directed at me because I'm being a weirdo.

Joe.