"Aunt Chrissy!" AJ threw his arms around her as he opened the door - one of the only people he ever seemed genuinely excited to see.
"Hello, handsome."
"What are you doing here?"
"I've been summoned. Where's your mum?"
"Chris." Sheryl appeared in the kitchen doorway and moved to greet her, hugging her tightly. "Thank you for coming."
"What's happened? Is she ok? Where is she?"
Sheryl glanced down at AJ who was watching the exchange with interest.
"She's ok - I'll go and tell her you're here." She turned and ran up the staircase. Chris watched her go, concerned, before turning to AJ and brightening immediately.
"Why don't you show me how you're getting on with that?" She nodded over to the piano. "Have you practised what I showed you?"
He grinned and ran over to the stool, beginning to play a jazz standard comfortably, his small fingers dancing across the keys. Chris smiled broadly as she joined him on the seat, picking up a second part and playing along.
It was several minutes before Sheryl returned. Christine glanced up at her and looked into her tired, bloodshot eyes as she walked dejectedly down the stairs to them.
"This boy's got the knack, you know."
Sheryl managed a smile at her son.
"He has. He's started guitar too. We love jamming together, don't we bud?" AJ nodded without looking up, not quite confident enough to take his eyes off his hands as he played. "She won't come down, Chris. She's mad I called you."
"Right, well there's a way around that, isn't there?"
She got to her feet and patted AJ's shoulder affectionately before winking at Sheryl and heading past her. She stopped halfway up the stairs.
"Isn't it midday?"
"Hm?"
"Lunchtime. Why don't you take the kids out?"
Getting the hint, Sheryl nodded and went off to round up Grace.
~
Stevie pulled the blankets further over her head as she heard what she knew was Christine's knock at the door.
"Steves." Getting no response, Chris walked in and moved directly to the side of the bed. "Oi."
Stevie's fingers curled over the top of the blanket and she pulled it down low enough so that Christine could see her eyes and know she was scowling.
"Come on, get up. We've both got flights to catch later."
"Not going."
"Right. Move up then, if you're not getting out, I may as well get in." She kicked off her shoes and Stevie scooched across the bed. "And I'm not into women so don't get funny either."
"You wish."
She lay facing Stevie. She could feel the warmth of the pillow on her cheek where Stevie's head had been. It was damp with soaked-in tears.
As the two women looked at each other, the years melted away and they were girls huddled together under the blankets in Sausalito again, giggling or sharing secrets, or crying together, or holding their breath and waiting for the drunken, drug induced pleading and hammering on the door to stop.
Tears pricked Stevie's eyes again at the memory of that time. Christine reached up and carefully wiped one away with her thumb.
"What's the plan, then? Just rotting in here is it?"
"You don't understand."
"No, I don't, you're right. Do you remember when I left Mac?"
"Vividly."
"I thought I just needed a break from it all. 30 years I'd been part of that jamboree. I thought, 'I'll take a year or so with no pressure, no one to please but myself, and see how I feel'. Had to say I was leaving altogether because Mick wouldn't have pissed off and left me be otherwise."
"But you didn't - we wanted you back for Say You Will, that was what, 5 or 6 years later."
"Yes I know. Because by that time I couldn't come back. Not if I wanted to. Christ knows how many air miles I'd racked up in my life, but I couldn't talk myself down about this paralyzing terror of flying I'd developed. I'd gotten so settled into my safe little bubble, I couldn't leave it."
"Chris, look -"
"I don't have many regrets in my life. Hardly any, in fact. Do you know what I do regret?"
"Letting them talk you into pulling Silver Springs from Rumours?"
Christine jabbed her in the ribs and they smirked at each other.
"Alright, yes, that. But also...I wasn't there for you. When you were in the hospital for weeks on end, everyone was there, you know that?"
"Yes."
"Except I wasn't. I tried so hard, just to buy a ticket. I was livid with myself. There you were, fighting for your fucking life, and I was fretting about making the same journey I'd made a million times without trouble. You needed me, you...you needed me."
Now they were both crying. Stevie couldn't believe she even had any tears left.
"Chris...I didn't care, I was in a goddamn coma."
"All the more reason to be there. I could have talked to you without you answering back for once."
Stevie threw her head back and laughed, for the first time since the night before. Chris sensed her physically soften and knew she was on the right track.
"I can't stand you."
"I know. I can't stand you either." They smiled at the joke they'd shared so long they'd forgotten who had started it. "The point is this; something that seemed so insignificant in the grand scheme of things spiralled so quickly that I missed so much and I can never get it back. Recording with the band, your wedding, the kids being tiny...thank god Sheryl knows how to do the face calling and showed me otherwise they wouldn't have known who I am. It probably surprised you that I flew over for the party, but the reality is I'm so wracked with guilt at missing so much of Grace's life I'll take any chance I can to visit with both hands."
Stevie smiled as she listened to her best friend and sighed.
"I understand what you're saying, Chris, I do...but it's different. My life is in danger."
"Is it? Objectively, rationally, is it? Any one of us could be gone tomorrow, Steves. We're not spring chickens anymore, and given the life we've led it's pretty miraculous we've even made it this far. You could just easily drop dead here in your own home. Don't live with regrets, darling. Don't let him take that from you. Looking at the facts, you're probably as likely to die at the hands of a maniac as I am to die in a plane crash. But we carry on despite the odds. That's what we do."
"But how do I get over the fear?"
"It's a 3 step program. Step one is you stop festering in misery and get in the shower." She climbed out of the bed, dragging Stevie to her feet and across to the en suite. "Step two, you tell me where the good wine is and I'll have a glass waiting for you when you're dressed and downstairs."
"The door to the cellar is just off the kitchen."
"Right. And step three...step three is you just learn to live with it. Some days will be worse than others, but you grit your teeth and get on with it, and you revel in the defiance of living your life despite the danger. Let me go and open this wine."
"Chris?"
"Yes."
"I'm glad you're here."
"So am I, love. So am I."
