Fleetwood Mac-Part III of Fritz Series

Baby Girl

The next day true to my word I call during a break in rehearsals. It's mid afternoon at home and the kids are home from school for the holidays. Discreetly I made my way back to the toy store and had Sara's doll house shipped to LA along with Nova and AJ's presents. I wish we could be home to watch them unwrap their gifts, but we'll have to settle for a phone call on Christmas day. The house phone rings twice and I stare off at the stage while Mick and John banter back and forth about a party they both attended back in the sixties. Mick swearing up and down that he never slept with some girl named Molly, John damned and determined that he did.

At this point I would have thought Mick would have lost count of his bed partners. They come and go from his hotel room as often as the maid can change his sheets. I have notice a little less tension in my bandmate since he's no longer at the purse strings. We hired an accountant, a real one, to watch our money and we have weekly budget meetings which we all have to attend. That was my idea. At home Stevie and I got through our bills every week together checking each other's numbers and balancing the books. One of the few hang ups of my childhood, my dad made sure we all knew how to run a household without having to live pay check to pay check.

The phone clicks and I mumble a terse hello to Robin, sensing her irritation with me through the phone I ask for Sara. After a few moments I hear my daughter's voice on the other end of the line "Hello?" regardless of how furious I am with the situation I can't help but smile when I hear her "Hey baby girl" a chair squeaks on the kitchen floor "Hi daddy" I'd rather not jump right into things so I ask about her day, then about what she did yesterday. She goes into her Stevie like ramble and for about five minutes I listen as her story takes one tangential turn after another until finally arriving at the end.

"Did Robin talk to you about Kit?" she sighs on the other end "Yeah" she sounds deflated, and I feel awful for hurting her but I have to do "It's not because I don't like her, I'm sure she's a nice girl. But mom and I think you should hang out with girls your own age. There's no need for you to grow up so fast" especially while we're not around to protect her "I was just trying to make friends, she didn't have anyone to talk to" that's the sweetness in her talking. I don't doubt she befriended Kit out of a genuine desire to be inclusive.

"I know baby girl, but sometimes people aren't who they say they are on the inside. I wouldn't want you to think you had to do favors for her to make her happy or prove you're her friend." Speaking of favors, the nearly empty pill bottle springs into my mind once again "Sara, I want you to tell me the truth about what I'm about to ask okay? Even if you think I'll be mad, just tell the truth" silence again so I press on "Did Kit ask you to take something from mine and mommy's bathroom cabinet? The one above the sink"

Another pause "Sara?"

"She said she had a prescription for it, but she left it at home. She said she'd get really sick if she didn't have it-I thought she needed it" of course she needed it "Sara honey, her mother's a doctor if she needed medicine she'd give it to her."

"Did I do something wrong daddy?" my heart breaks a little at that. She sounds genuinely disturbed at the thought that she may have broken a rule. Stevie's better at this than I am, at least with Sara. I don't have a problem telling AJ or Nova if they've been bad. But Sara never gets in trouble, she's responsible and smart and caring, and sweet "You know you're not supposed to take things that don't belong to you baby girl, daddy's medicine can be dangerous. You remember before my surgery how I had to take it a lot and it made me sleepy, and put me in a bad mood?" I hear a sniffle and I want to reach through the phone and give her a hug. The very idea of someone takin advantage of her sweet nature sets off all of my protective tendencies, and to be honest it makes me angry enough to rage at someone. Kit's parents are the likely target of that rage.