Love Is... (Part 1)

Do You Know What This Is

Radio City Music Hall
New York, New York
Friday, January 26, 2018
(10:00 pm)
********************

"I'm going to kill him. I swear to God, Karen, I'm going to fucking kill him, and no jury will convict me!"

Karen had seen Stevie angry before. Karen had seen Stevie angry at Lindsey before. She had never seen her this angry at him. Of course, she did have a right, Karen thought - Lindsey had engaged Christine in a mock slow dance behind Stevie right in the middle of her heartfelt speech about Tom Petty's death breaking her heart, about Tom working right up to the end of his life and not letting on how sick he was, about how thankful she was that Fleetwood Mac fans and their children and now grandchildren were there to appreciate their music and their message...and that had been after his childish attitude earlier, and his bitching and moaning about the fact that the sound engineer had cued up "Rhiannon" for the band to walk onstage to instead of "The Chain". Lindsey's behavior this evening had given plenty of reason for Stevie to be angry, but Karen knew better. She knew why Stevie was angry.

She was angry because a little over six years ago, Lindsey had kissed her goodbye on a cold, rainy morning in Paradise Valley, Arizona and sworn she would never be alone, that the time they'd just shared together had been only the beginning, that he loved her and wanted to be with her forever...and what had ensued after that was another six years of him being married to Kristen despite two major world tours in which they'd been so close and so romantic on stage they'd done everything but strip down and make love in front of the audience, with no sign from Lindsey that he intended to keep his promise.

Karen was angry with him too.

"Look, Stevie, no one was in the greatest mood tonight," she tried to explain to keep things calm. It was true. John wasn't feeling well, Mick was upset that Lynn hadn't let the twins fly in to be there for the event, and Christine was getting a migraine. The evening had had a shadow cast over it from the beginning, as if it were jinxed.

"This isn't about a mood, Karen! This is about that asshole blatantly making fun of me while I was pouring my goddamn heart out...trying not to be typical Stevie and burst into tears talking about my dead friend...and there he is, twirling Christine around and being a jerk...and drawing all the meaning away from the whole thing! And why? Because he had a bee in his bonnet that 'Rhiannon' was playing? What a tool!"

Karen could hear the anger in Stevie's voice, but she heard something else - She heard a very hurt, very broken little girl who was trying hard to sound powerful and strong, but inside she was just heartbroken and lonely and wondering why she'd just been disrespected in public by the love of her life.

"I know...but look..." Karen had her head in her hands, feeling a headache coming on herself. "Stevie, there's nothing we can do about it tonight...let's just get in the limo and go back to the hotel, okay? Get in the tub, get yourself in pajamas and grab the dogs and tell your journal all about it."

"Brilliant advice, Karen," said Stevie, rolling her eyes. Almost immediately, she realized her tone and said, "I'm sorry, hon...I'm not mad at you, I'm mad at Lindsey. I'm sorry. You're right...let's just get in the limo and go back to the hotel so I can lock myself up with the dogs and forget all this shit ever happened." She shook her head. "You know, if Tom were here, he'd kick his ass for this."

"If Tom were here, he'd tell you to confront him and get to the bottom of this all because you know this anger you're feeling isn't about tonight's little mockery...and his mockery was not because he wanted to disrespect you or Tom. You know that."

Stevie could feel tears beginning to start in her eyes but she blinked them back. "Karen...don't go there...or I will be angry with you."

"Forget I said anything," Karen said. "Let's go."