Down All Your Darkest Roads

Epilogue

April 1995

For the first time in eight years Stevie Nicks was firmly anchored to one place. Her nomadic gypsy ways discarded, she felt safe, hopeful and quietly optimistic in her Phoenix home. Those cocaine-and-brandy fuelled nights and blurry Klonopin days seemed a lifetime ago and as cheesy as it sounded, Stevie knew she was about to embark on a wholesome new journey in her life.

She loved every room in her house but her bathtub was where she retreated to when she needed to think or write. She reclined there now, lazily watching the rose scented water lap over her creamy skin as the candlelight cast a sensual glow across her face. She lifted a foot and wriggled her toes, admiring the apple red nail polish she had applied earlier. Stevie loved giving herself manicures and pedicures, the only other people she had ever let paint her nails were Robin and Christine.

Christine. Oh Christine. Even eight years later the memories were still so vivid and sensory. Relaxing in their cosy Beverly Hills home, her much more daintier foot lithely extended for Christine to glide the brush over her nail. The way Christine furrowed her elegant brow and bit her lip while she examined her work. How she bent down to plant a soft kiss on Stevie's ankle bone before trailing her lips upwards to...

Stevie's skin heated up and she quickly submerged her foot back in the water. Those days were long gone and Christine would probably rather die than give Stevie a pedicure or anything else ever again.

She thought about the dinner she had shared with Tom a few nights ago. Those life-changing hours where he shook some sense into her, pulling her out of the murky depths of self-pity and misery she had let herself sink into since Street Angel completely bombed. She had felt fat and ugly and stupid and she needed Tom to write something for her because she sure as hell couldn't.

He had told her to get over it, to go home and write because she was a writer. She was alive and okay and that was something to celebrate. So she had taken his advice and went home and penned Trouble In Shangri-La and that was the beginning of the end of her crippling writer's block.

Stevie opened her journal to a fresh page and began absentmindedly sketching. She and Tom had also discussed other reasons for her blocked channels, one of which being Christine. He had casually suggested she get back in touch with her ex but Stevie had visibly bristled at the thought. But hours later, she had predictably found herself obsessing over the idea of speaking to Christine again.

Drawn out of her reverie Stevie realised the pen in her hand was moving of it's own accord. She looked down to find a pair of striking almond shaped eyes staring back at her. She knew those eyes; they had a history with Stevie. They used to intently gaze at her every time she told a story, genuinely enraptured with her words. They would try to see past her Klonopin haze, searching for the real Stevie who seemed lost for good. They were the same eyes that shone with hurt upon the discovery of Stevie's horrible infidelity, never to look at her the same way ever again. And now they stared her down, daring Stevie to ignore her siren call, daring Stevie to pick up the phone and call her. Call her.

She closed her journal and placed it on the stool next to the bathtub before picking up her cordless phone. With her heart beating rapidly she began dialling the number she knew better than her own. She felt a rush of anxiety and her thumb froze over the last digit. The last time they spoke was nearly a year ago when Christine had called Stevie to wish her good luck before she went on tour.

Stevie remembered a time when their conversations weren't limited to good lucks and well wishes. It was both a lifetime ago and yesterday at the same time. Their relationship had a timeless quality to it; and she had taken it completely for granted. Her commitment overtaken by pills, depression and short-term satisfaction. Stevie would never forget the anguish on Christine's face when she discovered Stevie had cheated on her a year into the Shake The Cage Tour.