Buckingham Nicks A/U Series Part 7: Say You Will

Somebody's Got To Sacrifice

Santa Monica, California
Friday, June 21, 2002
(7:00 pm)
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"This isn't a request, Aaron. You're coming with us to Phoenix for your grandfather's birthday and the Fourth of July. I'm not asking you to like it."

Stevie stood in the middle of the upper level deck in the backyard, wine glass in hand, staring her son down. She had spoken to her mother on the phone a few days before and they had decided to uphold their usual tradition of turning Jess' birthday on July 2 into a holiday week for the family in Arizona. She knew that her two older children were not children anymore at twenty-five and twenty-three, but she also knew that Jess was not going to live forever, especially in light of the congestive heart failure that had slowed him down considerably in his seventies and relegated him to using a cane to get around. She had heard the sense of urgency in Barbara's voice, her desire to have everyone together, but Aaron was not on board.

"I don't see what difference it makes if I'm there or not," Aaron told his mother. "It's not like there aren't enough grandchildren - Julia and Sara and Amber and Jessi will all be around."

"Yes. They will. Which is why you will be joining them all, group cousin photos and all." Stevie was unwavering. She looked at Lindsey, who was on his way through the sliding glass door with two beers in his hand. "Lindsey, will you please tell your son that this is a family thing and he is family and therefore he is going to Phoenix with us?"

"Your mother is right," Lindsey said, handing one of the beers in his hands to Julia, who sat at the table in front of her empty dinner plate. "Your grandfather isn't getting any younger, and your grandmother wants us all around."

Julia took a sip of her beer and said, "It's not prison, Aaron, for Christ sake. Jodie and I are leaving on the fifth. You can come home with us."

Aaron turned sharply towards his sister. "Jesus, Julia, you never back me up with them! We're adults, you know...it's not like they're keeping score on us!"

"The hell we're not!" said Stevie. She set her wine glass down on the table rather roughly. Lindsey and Julia knew from the blaze of anger in her eyes that Aaron was not going to get the last word with his mother. She meant business. "You may not be an actual kid anymore, Aaron Morris Buckingham, but you are still our kid, and Jess and Barbara Nicks are the only grandparents you have left on this earth. Therefore, you will be coming with your family to Phoenix, and you're going to watch the goddamn fireworks and eat your hot dogs off of Uncle Christopher's grill and thank him, you're going to sing happy birthday to Grandpa Jess, you're going to entertain Jessi when she and Sara corner you and ask you to listen to the songs they make up in the pool like they do, you're going to hug Grandma and tell her thank you for having you over and that you love her, and you know what? I amend what I said earlier, kid - You are going to like it! You will be polite, you will smile, you will keep the drinking to a minimum and only smoke pot away from the house with Dad and Uncle Chris...and you're going to do it all with the smile on your face that you inherited from your father. Do you understand me?"

Lindsey stood off to the side of the table, and his eyes found Julia's in the light of the jalapeño-shaped string lights Stevie had enlisted her daughter Sara to help her hang along the wooden deck walls a few summers before. Stevie had always walked a fine line between allowing her children to be their authentic selves and still honoring traditional values and rituals that were important to their family, and of her four children, it had always been Aaron who'd come at her with the most resistance. Lindsey recalled the night in late 1997, when they were touring with The Dance, when Aaron and Olivia had stolen the car in the middle of their parents' concert to joyride around Hollywood. He could still see Stevie, hugely pregnant with Amber and still in her trademark Stevie Nicks concert attire, cape and all, storming into the Hollywood police precinct and screaming at Aaron for stealing his father's car and taking Olivia around town doing God knows what. Aaron had tried to defend his actions while poor Olivia cried quietly at his side, and Stevie had not let up. Months later, in England for Christine and John's wedding, Stevie and her only son had finally talked it out, and they were in a good place.