Kind Of Woman (Mirage Era: Part 1)

And Yes, She Matters To You (Finale)

Venice Beach, California
Valentine's Day
Sunday, February 14, 1982
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Stevie had been wrong in thinking sleeping without Lindsey beside her would be hard...or maybe she was just that exhausted...

It was three o'clock in the afternoon when she stumbled out of bed and carried her little white poodle, her baby Ginny, down from the bed and brought her down the the kitchen for some much-needed refreshments - a Milk Bone and fresh water in the bowl for Ginny, a huge mug of black coffee for her mom. She'd also snorted two lines at her bedside table and she hoped cocaine plus coffee would be the perfect antidote to the physical and emotional exhaustion that had plagued her since she and the band had stumbled like zombies off of the plane at L.A.X. on Friday evening, Stevie herself traveling directly to the hospital where Robin was on the road to recovery, fever down and eating dry toast and tea, pressing her best friend for details about her experience in France. Stevie was bursting at the seams to tell her about Lindsey, but she held back...she was not even sure how to explain it herself yet.

Jimmy was flying in from New York tomorrow and had kept his word and booked a studio for The Wild Heart. He told her they'd go out to dinner afterwards, belated Valentine's Day celebration, and she'd agreed, telling him she was tired and she missed her little dog. Her little baby, Jennifer Barbara Nicks, was going to be eleven this year, eating the senior-formula dog food now, and she had to admit, she was starting to fear her dog dying after Robin. Then there'll be no one, she thought. No one from the old days...except Lindsey.

She wore blue pajama pants and a big gray fluffy robe and slippers, and her most prized possession...the Rolling Stones t-shirt Lindsey had stolen some time during the Tusk tour, most likely that night in St. Louis when he'd knocked on her hotel room door and they'd smoked pot and looked out at the early November snow out the window...and he'd spent about a minute talking about how beautiful she'd looked dancing like a 1930s dance hall girl at the end of "Angel" before they'd just about flung themselves into a passionate kiss that led to a night of wild, deep, intense sex in every position, screams and moaning they were sure woke the whole hotel, and Stevie had given him the t-shirt to wear the next morning to answer the door to the room service pancakes as she'd examined bruises and hickeys sitting up in bed and he'd told her after breakfast that he'd examine the situation further. He had, and they had been late for sound check after he climbed on top of her and her squeals at his "examination" had made him so hungry for her again that he had left the t-shirt on, no time to waste.

He had put it in her suitcase on Friday morning while she was packing, and she had not discovered it until last night, rifling through her still-unpacked luggage for something clean to wear to bed. She had sat on the edge of her bed and sobbed into the shirt, Ginny looking up at her very confused, and she had put it on immediately, remembering the site of it lying on her pillow neatly folded as his peace offering after the disaster that had been Aspen in 1974, the trip in which she'd come home with strep throat, a baby growing inside of her that had not been meant to be...and "Landslide".

The doorbell broke through her thoughts. Leaving Ginny at her water bowl in the kitchen, she went to the door, her slippers scuffing along the wooden floors, and when she opened the door, no one was there...but an enormous bouquet of red roses already arranged in a ceramic vase and a little box wrapped in shiny red paper sat on her doorstep. She looked all around her property as far as her bad eyesight without her glasses and tired eyes could see...no one.

She carried her mystery gifts inside, locking the door behind her. Jimmy, she thought. It's Valentine's Day and he is my boyfriend...good job. There was a folded note stuck between the flowers, not a card, and she held it up to read. As soon as she saw who'd written it, her eyes filled with tears.

Stephanie,

I don't know how you managed in bed alone when you got home on Friday, but I fully admit I missed falling asleep to the sound of your breathing, your hair spilled across my chest and smelling like green apples and home. But I do hope you slept well, angel, and that if you had any nightmares, that you were able to get back to sleep and be okay. It's all I've been thinking about.

I hope you saw Robin and she told you how much better she's feeling - yes, I called her and she told me she was doing better. I hope Lori dropped off Ginny at home and you came home to your baby and took her upstairs to bed and let her cuteness make you feel better for awhile even though so much is wrong right now.

Here is your Valentine, angel...just in case you thought I washed my hands of this whole thing when the plane landed and I had forgotten. I could never. I love you, Stephanie Lynn Nicks, and I'm not going to say the corny "we'll always have Paris" line here...that means it's a memory, but for me it's still very real. I told you I'll be there for you and I will. Those beautiful nights I spent holding you in the French countryside was just the beginning.

Love,
Lindsey

(P.S.) Open the box. Something tells me you've been craving what's inside after so much time outside the country. xoxo

Stevie dropped the note onto the coffee table and picked up the small red box. She noticed Ginny toddling into the living room as she tore into the paper, and she sobbed once out loud, muffled into her palm, when she saw what was inside.

A box of Animal Crackers.

Stevie held the box in her hand as she sank onto the couch in tears. Her favorite snack food, better to her than traditional chocolates for Valentine's Day. He remembered. He knew. And he really did love her.

"Mommy has a real problem now," Stevie said to her little white dog, lifting her into her lap. "Your dad still loves your mommy, and now Mommy has no idea what to do."

Her red roses standing where she could see them on the coffee table, Stevie gathered her coffee, her Animal Crackers and her dog and turned on the TV, finding An Affair To Remember on a cable channel for the holiday and lying down on the couch with her dog under a cashmere blanket - her latest indulgence with her fortune - and only got through half of the old movie before crying herself to sleep with the dog in her arms.

It had been over a decade since Lindsey Buckingham had taken her into his arms in a motel room in Los Angeles and told her he loved her and would always keep her safe and warm, and now, despite all they had been through, despite her being the one to say they should "go their own way," so to speak, she was more in love with him than ever.

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THE END...

Of Part 1, that is. Mirage Era Part 2 coming soon...

Thanks for reading! <3