Auld Lang Syne: A Millennium Love Story

Prologue: And It's Been Like Dying

Mandalay Bay
Las Vegas, Nevada
New Years Eve
Friday, December 31, 1999
(1:00 pm)
********************

The first thing Stevie thought as the plane touched down in Las Vegas was that this horrendous rain had to be out of the ordinary.

The second thought was that it would likely drive people away from the show tonight to avoid the roads or towards it to stay dry.

The third was that the rain would surely freak out the Y2K conspiracy theorists.

Her last thought before Karen called her name was that she wondered what Lindsey was doing for New Years Eve tonight.

"Stevie?" Karen's voice broke through her thoughts and she was both happy and unhappy for the distraction. She turned her head to face Karen, who sat next to her on the plane. "Do you want to keep Sulamith with you while I take the paparazzi shield out? I might not have enough hands."

"It's cool. I've got her." Stevie's little dog, Sulamith, lay perfectly still and content in her lap. She was half yorkie and half Chinese crested, and Stevie had begun dressing her in cashmere sweaters almost immediately when she'd brought her home last year. Her other yorkie, Sara Belladonna, slept on Karen's lap. "In fact, give me Sara too when we get up. I don't want people photographing me looking like such shit, so keep a good grip on that thing."

Karen had told her she was being crazy, that she looked fine, that the tint in her glasses hid the puffiness of her eyes she'd gotten from her night of crying before they woke up and headed out to the airport, but Stevie knew better. Everyone had told her she looked beautiful at thirty-one even with her eyes swimming in water from nights turned into days around the cocaine table, but at fifty-one, a night spent in tears made her feel like she looked ancient, tired, and like she was losing her mind.

Two of those things, she knew, were true.

"The rain will keep them away," Karen told her later on, as she prepared to shield Stevie from photographers at the airport with a large square of white plexiglass. Stevie walked behind her, two little dogs in red sweaters in her arms, two men behind her with the luggage. "Waddy got in earlier today and he said it was like a ghost town, considering it's New Years Eve in Vegas!"

Stevie rolled her eyes even though Karen couldn't see her. "Great," she said. "That sure fills me with confidence about tonight's turn-out!"

Karen just laughed as they made their way down the sterile white shiny corridor to the ExecuJet exit and out to the parking lot. Something told Stevie this Millennium was going to be nothing at all like the last one...or at least the fifty-one years of it she'd seen...especially because this millennium, she would not have Lindsey.

********************

L.A.X. International Airport
Los Angeles, California
Friday, December 31, 1999
(1:00 pm)
********************

"Final boarding call for Flight 1023, non-stop to Las Vegas, Nevada."

Lindsey stayed in the first class lounge as long as he could before boarding his flight. He'd been served a few gin and tonics and had to use the bathroom before he got to the gate. He stood in the men's room at the sink, washing his hands and remembering how his father always used to have to be earth for everything - first to a party, first one awake in the house, first to board a plane or bus. He'd never understood that...nor did he understand Stevie's chronic need to do the complete opposite.

He took a last look in the mirror before leaving the room, studied his face. He had turned fifty in October, and the surprise party Kristen had thrown him - which he'd known about - had done little to quell his fears about the decade ahead of him. He was about to become a father for the second time, he was trying to record new material, and Kristen had been pressuring him to make things official. He'd seen the brochures for beach destination weddings in the kitchen. He'd also seen phone numbers and business cards of contractors, which he knew were all because of her grand plans to build a newer, larger house on the property - his property. He'd bought it shortly after returning from the Mirage tour, with grand visions for the future. Robin Snyder had just died, Stevie was a wreck, and he'd had plans to show up at her door with a dozen red roses, the deed to the property in Brentwood, and the engagement ring he'd bought in Palm Springs.

His plans had gone out the window...and into a bottle of whiskey that night...when he'd called her house to be sure she was there and Kim Anderson had answered the phone.

He settled into his seat in first class and closed his eyes for the short flight. He made a mental note to inquire about florists in Las Vegas as soon as he landed.

********************