Buckingham Nicks A/U Series: That's What Love Is All About

To Keep The Fire Burning

Santa Monica, California
Saturday, May 6, 2023
(3:00 pm)
************************

"Knew he was a killer first time that I saw him...Wonder how many girls he had loved and left haunted...But if he's a ghost then I can be a phantom, holding him for random..."

Lindsey stood in the doorway of the den, watching with a goofy grin on his face as Stevie power-walked on her treadmill, singing along to Taylor Swift's Reputation album for the third time that week. It had been her routine all year since she'd extended her tour - four days a week on the treadmill while singing so she could keep fit for her own performances. Reputation by Taylor Swift was a powerful electronica sound and perfect for her workout, but he still had to smile at seventy-five-year-old Stevie Nicks proudly singing along to an album that had come out in 2017 and employed such a different, modern sound. He stood in the doorway holding his cup of coffee in one hand and his phone in the other, and all he could think was I love this woman. My God, look at her! She was so adorable that he'd just about forgotten why he'd come into the room.

"Some-some boys are trying too hard; he don't try at all though..." Stevie, noticing him out of the corner of her eye, not stopping her singalong but smiling at him as she belted out along with Taylor's rapidly-paced lyrics, "Younger than my exes but he act like such a man so I see nothing better, I keep him forever like a vendetta..." She shot her husband, who was a year younger than her, a knowing wink. "I, I, I see how this is gonna go...Touch me and you'll never be alone..." In her workout grind, she wore an old purple t-shirt reading Prince & The Revolution with a pair of gray jogging pants and sneakers, hair pulled up into a messy ponytail, looking nothing like the Stevie Nicks the public knew but every bit like the Stevie Nicks who'd been the love of his life since he was twenty-one years old.

"Keep it up, Mrs. Buckingham and I'll just have to touch you and not let you be alone," he teased, using the seductive lyrics of the song.

Stevie, in a mock-dismissive wave, said, "Ah, tell me something I don't know already, Mr. Buckingham!" She giggled and then returned to her rapid walking pace on the treadmill. "What's up?"

Lindsey held up his phone for emphasis, saying, "Julia just texted me to ask if I knew if Jodie booked his tickets for December. I told her I wasn't sure so I'd ask you." His voice strained to compete with the music.

"She can't ask him herself?" Stevie looked confused, slowing down again.

Lindsey shrugged. "I guess they're not talking again. Who the hell knows anymore?" He frowned, shoving his phone in his rear pocket.

Stevie nodded, understanding completely. The war that had been waged between Julia and Jodie over the summer had gotten out of control, as far as both Stevie and Lindsey were concerned, the moment they'd decided to start communicating with each other through messages sent through other members of the family. It had seemed to them, back in May when Julia had sat her parents down just after Stevie's birthday party and given them the news, that their divorce was going to be sad but amicable. After all, they had been best friends since birth, and it had seemed unthinkable that either of them could treat each other with such vitriol as they had been.

"Text Julia back and tell her to talk to her own goddamn husband like the rational, sane middle-aged woman she is," Stevie said. "I'm leaving for Massachusetts next week and I'm too old and too busy to deal with my oldest daughter acting like she's two years old and we can't get her to stay in her crib."

And with that, Stevie washed her hands of the conversation, returning to her workout and her Taylor Swift singalong, belting out, "In the middle of the night in my dreams...you should see the things we do, baby...In the middle of the night in my dreams...I know I'm gonna be with you so I'll take my time...Are you ready for it?"