Why Should It Matter?

2. Heading Home

Now here they were in February of 2019; a new line-up for Fleetwood Mac, devastated fans, more than just two broken hearts for herself and Lindsey and nobody could tell what the future would hold next.

Peeling herself from her chair, Stevie went over to put her comfy boots on and just make sure she had everything before going to the studio to meet with the band. "Come on, little one---" she grinned at her dog before picking her up to tote around.

...

"Everything was settled and you should be getting a call soon," Karen ensured quietly in her ear so the band couldn't hear anything of her business.

In the few months they had been together, the band, she had learned to keep her personal life just a little more private. She couldn't handle Mick recounting what she had to say, Christine and John asking if she was all right, and of course, she didn't want to make Neil or Mike feel bad because they did, in fact, have the love of her life's place. She just wanted to be left alone in her own swarming thoughts of it all even if it killed her. The only person she felt she could talk to was Sharon and Karen, sometimes Minnie. But the whole truth was, she did feel guilty so she didn't want to talk about it and have them tell her it wasn't a mistake when it was.

Stevie nodded gently with a smile. "Who'll call?" she then kind of whispered as she handed over her dog.

"I'm not sure, but I'm assuming whoever is listing for them," she assured.

"Okay, sounds good."

As the band went forth with their rehearsal, it was never truly as bad as she seemed to dread it to be. But it was full of laughs and a good time despite the situation that led to them having these questionable times.

As far as Mike and Neil, they were having a good time, but sometimes they didn't know if they were supposed to enjoy it as much as they were because it felt weird to them, too. They were both good friends with Lindsey and they respected him highly and all of the sudden, they were supposed to be him and in the midst of all of it, they were getting negative feedback for trying to replace him.

"Stevie, you have a call," Karen addressed, raising her brow a bit.

"Right, excuse me---" she left the stage and when over to follow and speak to the caller.

Karen gave her, her phone and went off to watching the band.

The band mates kind of looked at each other, but then just continued on other songs that she wasn't needed for.

Stevie stayed on the phone, talking to the person back and forth and settling agreements.

She didn't want Lindsey to ever know who the buyer of his home was, but there was a small chance he would have an idea and, or learn anyway. But as far as could take it, she would.

"Stevie? Stevie," Karen's voice filled her ears with slight concern.

"Hang on a sec," she whispered with a small nod and creasing her brow just a tad. "Yes, I'm here---" she turned to chat with the male.

"Stevie, it's Lindsey... It's important," she cut her off again.

Picking her head up, she read the woman's eyes, knowing it truly was. "I'll have to call you back," she told the person on the other line. Handing over her phone, "What?" she kind of whispered, scared to learn what happened.

"Here," she handed back the phone, showing her the recent message and posts all over social media; spreaded throughout the fandom and everything.

"Oh, my God..." she mumbled to herself, her heart dropping into her stomach---just feeling herself want to collapse. "I gotta-- I have to go," she assured. "I need to get home," she said, tears growing in her eyes.

"Stevie, you can't. You have a show tonight," she stated.

"I don't care," she shook her head. "I need to see him," she assured.

"Then right after tonight's show, you can go home. You have the next few days off."

She nodded her head, knowing that was probably a better idea than just dropping the last show of this week. "I have to call him or... What does it say? Anything else other than the fact that it was a surgery," she moved forward to stand by Karen and look over her shoulder.

"Just says that he underwent emergency open heart surgery," she kind of mumbled through the rest; talking about how the passed year had been stressful and how heart complications ran in the family and how they thanked the fans.

Though what sent Stevie off was where Kristen signed it off with an XO symbol.

"Alright, so he's fine. There was no actual heart attack, but I need to see him and I don't care if I'm not supposed to, I have to," she moved passed her to get back to the stage to finish with rehearsal.

In the back of her mind, many things were happening because she could only think about the photo that was posted all over social media, but in the same time she was thinking that was so not a Lindsey thing to do either. He would never share something like that at all because, as the message said, he wanted to put it behind him.

...

"Love, alright?" Christine slung an arm around the shorter blonde and guided her off the stage.

"Yeah, I'm fine..." she trailed, having stated a little hastily.

"Is it the Lindsey thing? If it is, you know he's gonna be fine," she assured.

"I know," she nodded. "I just have something really important to do," she assured. "I'll meet you guys in the next city. I'm taking my jet this time."

-
At the time of writing this, it wasn't clear if he had an actual heart attack ~ it wasn't said till like months after I wrote this. But I know now so don't comment about that error.
~Raine🌙