Sweet Girl (Love Is..., Part 2)

I Chose To Dance Across The Stages Of The World

Los Angeles, California
Saturday, February 17, 2018
(7:00 pm)
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On a rainy Saturday afternoon in June 2004, Stevie had showed up on Lindsey's doorstep and found him and two young children in the middle of utter chaos.

The Say You Will tour had brought them back to California for a show in Irvine the following night, and Kristen had left Lindsey in charge of Will and LeeLee while she'd brought two-month-old Stella with her to her mother's house. From the moment Stevie had stepped onto the front landing and heard what was happening inside, she knew Lindsey was in over his head. It was Will who had answered the door.

"Hi, Aunt Stevie! Mommy isn't home and we're having ice cream for lunch I think." That was his greeting. He was wearing a Pokémon shirt and held an X-men action figure in his hand. His fingers looked sticky.

"Ice cream for lunch? Is your dad really, really cool or really, really crazy?" Stevie couldn't help but laugh at the sight of the little boy who was a carbon copy of Lindsey, looking a little bewildered and very happy to see her. He shrugged at her question.

"I don't know," said Will. "LeeLee and I wanted lunch but he said to wait till he was off the phone so I got the ice cream out of the freezer. I'm tall enough!"

"You ARE tall enough, kid, but ice cream is not lunch food! Can I come in?" Stevie could hear a loud cartoon playing in the living room.

"Okay. Dad said not to open the door for strangers, but you're not a stranger. You're Aunt Stevie."

Stevie tried not to get emotional at those words as she walked into the house. She found the living room an utter disaster, toys and various baby things everywhere, and four-year-old LeeLee, sitting on the sofa in what might have been her pajamas, eating a cookie and watching Hey Arnold! on Nickelodeon. The little girl jumped up as soon as she saw her and yelled out, "Hi, Aunt Steebee!"

"Hi there," said Stevie, looking around with perverse pleasure at Kristen's picture-perfect home a shambles. "I hear you are having ice cream for lunch. Is that what you ordered, Lee?"

The little girl giggled. "It's LeeLEE, Aunt Steebee, I told you!" She brought her fingers to her mouth and giggled. Stevie knew she wanted her to play their little name game.

"What is it?" Stevie leaned in, cupping her ear with her hand as if she hadn't heard. "LeeLeeLeeLeeLee?" She smiled as Lindsey's two children cracked up laughing as if it was the funniest thing they'd ever heard. She had gathered them both up into a hug and was squeezing them both as they laughed when Lindsey suddenly appeared in the room, flipping his cell phone closed and putting it in his back pocket.

"Stevie! Hi! What are you doing here?" He stepped over a mountain of Legos to replace his kids as the source of a hug.

"I actually have a few things of yours I borrowed in Raleigh..." She began rifling through a big black purse. "Some CDs...I thought I'd bring them to you while it was on my mind."

"Did Karen bring you? Seems like a long way for returning some Zeppelin CDs."

Stevie said, "Ice cream for lunch, Lindsey? You can do better than that!" But she hadn't answered his question, and he noticed that.

Lindsey rolled his eyes and said, "That was Will's bright idea. I was actually going to make sandwiches when I got off the phone with Ray." They both looked around at the mess and he said, "Kristen took the baby to her mother's for the day. She's breastfeeding, and I told her she could pump and leave Stella with me, but she said my hands would be full and...well, I'll give her this one."