Say You Love Me (Double Love Trilogy Conclusion)

Just When I Thought It Was Over

Santa Monica, California
Tuesday, February 7, 2022
(7:00 pm)
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"Because I'm not taking a chance that the planes won't land in the goddamn snow, Howard! What am I supposed to do...airbrush every person I know into the photographs?"

Stevie's voice on the phone from inside the kitchen was the first thing Karen heard when she used her key to enter her boss' condo at around seven o'clock in the evening after a frantic phone call about flights to England being delayed due to inclement weather. Karen, Stevie, Lindsey, his children and all of the dogs were leaving on Thursday night to fly into Heathrow for the wedding weekend - the other happy couple already there since yesterday - and Stevie was as close to a full-on panic as Karen had seen her in years...possibly ever.

Lindsey was sprawled out on one of the off-white sofas in the living room facing the TV, Lily the dog dosing in his lap and the remote in his hand while he watched Jeopardy! and quietly mumbled mostly correct answers to himself as the questions appeared on the screen. He looked up when Karen entered and they both looked at each other and rolled their eyes; neither of them were a stranger to Stevie in this mood.

"If you want to get stoned later I'll bring you out to the terrace," Lindsey offered Karen with a raised-eyebrow grin, and Karen burst into laughter.

"Hey...it's not too late to change you name and move to Mexico and not show up at the altar on Tuesday," Karen teased, but Lindsey almost couldn't even joke about it.

"I love you, Karen, but...that's my baby girl in there." He smiled, and then added, "Albeit having a fucking fit about the weather at the airport..." He sighed. "I'm the calming-down guy. You're the arrangement person...we've got this."

"I'll meet you on the terrace in fifteen," Karen said on her way into the kitchen, and this time it Lindsey who burst out laughing.

Dealing with Stevie Nicks in preparation for a tour, a television appearance or a vacation was a piece of cake for Karen Johnston; she'd been doing it for close to thirty-two years.

It was dealing with Stevie Nicks in preparation for her wedding that was driving her up the wall.

Karen found Stevie standing in the middle of her kitchen on the corded landline phone she insisted on keeping connected, arms flailing dramatically as she tried to get her point across almost as if the person on the other end of the call could actually see her. She wore the threadbare Rolling Stones -t-shirt she and Lindsey had been trading back and forth for decades, now with a few small holes in the hem and on one arm, gray pajama pants and a worried expression. Her long blonde mermaid waves were swinging along with her with each grand arm gesture. When she saw Karen standing in the doorway, she held up a finger which meant for her to wait a moment.

"Well look, my assistant just came in, and she's been keeping track of everyone's flight information so I'm going to sit down and figure this shit out before I need to call a therapist," she told the person on the phone. There was a pause while the other person spoke, and she said, "Thank you, Howard. Name your favorite restaurant in the Los Angeles area and dinner for two is yours...someone's got be able to taste their food because I'm worried sick and that person isn't me!" Another pause. "Thanks again, Howard. Call you tomorrow."

"Why am I here, Stevie?" Karen asked, pulling a chair out from the table and plopping down into it as Stevie hung up the phone. "You know winter weather is a distinct possibility...we'll just work around it. People will land, you'll see."

Stevie uttered a frustrated sound that was almost a growl and dumped her face into her hands. "Ugh...fucking snow!" She lowered her hands to look at Karen directly. "Nothing good in my life ever happened in the snow. My groom-to-be in there ditched me in Aspen in the snow with no money and strep throat, my brother broke his leg skiing on the first day of our trip and I had to get out there and ski and keep company with his strange girlfriend, Rod Stewart kept me in the snow for hours on end playing that damn 'if you like my body and you think I'm sexy' song until I learned to ski properly but caught pneumonia...I broke a kneecap in Chicago in the snow at the height of Covid...I'm so over snow I can't even begin to tell you." Stevie followed Karen's lead and plopped down into a chair at the kitchen table. She turned to her assistant and friend of over three decades and placed her elbows on the table, placed her chin in her hands. "Karen...be honest with me. Am I Bridezilla?"