Decades

Strange Are The Ways of a Very Complicated World

He'd had to do a ridiculous amount of networking to make it happen, but he'd secured what he needed. He'd been a pain in the ass, he knew, but no one was ever shocked by that. Finally, he'd made it happen and was quite pleased with himself. He hoped Stevie would be too. He'd be throwing a lot her way, but it was important that he got this right.

He had to tread lightly with Stevie. She'd left, and that could mean she'd stop speaking to him or even would hide from him for years. He couldn't let that happen again. He wanted her to know that he hadn't given up on them. But he had to prove to her that he respected her. He'd matured more over the last few years than he had in the decades prior to it. Losing so much at once had made him take stock of his life and take more responsibility for his actions.

Having finally spoken openly and honestly with Kristen and moving on with the divorce was a relief. He was letting go of the safety net and taking a risk for the woman he loved. Whether it paid off or not, she'd know he did it for her. Finally. Better late than never, he hoped.

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Stevie found her place card and took a seat at the lovely table at the luncheon. Lindsey was seated to her right, Mick was to her left, and John and Christine were seated beside each other. The band was being honored as Person of the Year at the MusiCares event. No one in the band suspected that a storm was brewing that would soon tear them apart.

Scheduled were several events throughout the week to honor them before the actual ceremony. This was a welcome luncheon. Later in the week, there would be cocktail parties and a formal dinner with the entertainers who were performing their hits at the ceremony. The band was going back on the road soon, and Lindsey wanted to push back the dates of the tour, but this was rubbing Stevie the wrong way.

Mick watched Lindsey and Stevie. This was the first time he'd seen them together in a while. He was happy to observe them getting along so well, even with the discord about tour dates. Things weren't always easy between the two of them. Though they were older now, maybe that meant mellower, too.

He'd had front-row seats to their 40-year, slow-motion breakup. He wasn't sure if they were totally broken up now. He was fairly certain they weren't sure either. Never had a couple postponed ending a relationship more, he didn't think.

They'd never been able to hold on to each other, and neither could really forgive the other for that. And they'd never been able to let go of each other either, another thing they couldn't really forgive. They'd spent the bulk of their lives in this weird sort of purgatory where they could never put all of the residual feelings to rest.

They seemed like friends right now. The two were joking and more than amicable. Stevie hadn't even checked to see where Lindsey was staying so she request another hotel, which had been very common after some sort of incident in New York a couple of years earlier where things got prickly between the two of them. Nobody was clear on the details. They showed up for rehearsal friendly enough and did a great show that night. But, at the next stop, things were icier than they'd been in years, and Stevie insisted on a different hotel than Lindsey and kept her whereabouts quiet afterward.

As strange as it sounds, the band was often more surprised when there wasn't drama between Lindsey and Stevie than when there was. The two of them seemed to be addicted to each other and to their own drama. The way they behaved with each other was something other mere mortals couldn't and wouldn't have tolerated from another human. They either had their arms around each other's necks or their hands around each other's throats. So, this new casual friendliness was not to be trusted.

Lindsey was grateful to be seated next to Stevie. She'd been avoiding him like their lives depended on it for too long. Today, though, she was warm and friendly. Lindsey was soaking it up, enjoying being in close proximity to her.