Time Makes You Bolder (Sequel to No One's A Fool)

Chapter 2

The next morning Stevie helped Wrenna pack up her hotel room and move to the house that her and Mick had on the island. Lori and Mick's plane came in the middle of the night, so Wrenna and Wolf took Aurora out to the beach while the others slept. Stevie crawled into bed next to Mick, who, barely awake, put his arms around her and said, "Go back to sleep, Stevie. We can deal with Wrenna's childhood trauma later." Stevie had to laugh at the casualness at which Mick approached the situation. He had an unshakeable faith in Wrenna, and he had told Stevie when she'd called the night before that she would still come out okay from this.

By afternoon, the group had all rested and met up for lunch. There was an easy feeling as they all chatted, enjoying being together, even though there was an unspoken knowledge of why they were all there. Wrenna had decided not to share her pregnancy with the group yet, and she asked Stevie to keep the secret. After lunch, Wrenna put Aurora down for a nap, and then the adults convened in the living room.

"Okay, before we start, I want to ask: will there be any mention of my grandparents having sex? Because if so, I'm going surfing." Wolf said, only half-joking. Stevie smiled.

"No, I think we can leave all of that out, for everyone's sake." She laughed.

"Okay, great. Then I'll stay."

"Who said you were allowed to?" Mick asked him.

"Wrenna did." Both Wolf and Jessi answered in unison.

"Y'all are about to tell her some really deep shit. Wolf and I are here for moral support. We're not leaving." Jessi said, crossing her arms. In that moment, Stevie thought the girl looked more like Lori than she ever had.

"That's fine with me." She nodded, looking to Wrenna, who also agreed.

"So? Where do you start?" Wolf asked.

"That's a good question." Stevie sighed, looking at Wrenna. "You've read the article – you know that Joe and I fell for each other fast, on tour in the early 80's. I was hooked the first time I saw him. It was like a drug. And then in 1986 we broke up. We were both heavy into cocaine at that point, and he was sure we would take each other down. So I went to rehab, and he left for tour. But – as you know – that wasn't the end of it."

~~~~~~~~~~

1986. LA.

"Is this a joke?!" Lori asked, bursting through the door of Stevie's room.

"Is what a joke – you coming in here without knocking?" Stevie retorted, pulling a t-shirt over her head. "Jesus, why are you even awake? It's like 10am."

"Joe Walsh just left. Why was he here?"

"He just got back into town. He came over to get his things."

"Stevie, he came over at midnight. It doesn't take ten hours for him to put his clothes in a bag and go home." Lori responded. Stevie just smiled, laying back down. "So it's not a joke? Are you getting back together with him?"

"Oh, no way." Stevie laughed.

"Then why did he spend the night?" Lori asked, crossing her arms. Stevie smiled again, trying not to laugh.

"Because every time I break things off with Joe, he ends up right back over here to get his things... and then we have sex." She answered, pulling the blanket over her face.

"Well at least you're aware of this, yeah. You do know that Tom and Dave wrote an entire song about you throwing Joe out two years ago, right?"