Tango In The Night Part 1: Big Love

But I Couldn't Find A Way

Hollywood Hills, California
Tuesday, May 26, 1987
(8:30 am)
********************

"Happy Birthday to you...Happy Birthday to you...Happy Birthday, my little Teedee-bird...Happy Birthday to you..."

Barbara's voice on Stevie's answering machine, singing her the happy birthday song as lovingly as she had sung it to her daughter thirty-eight times before, was the first thing Stevie heard as she opened her eyes on the morning of her thirty-ninth birthday.

In her sleepy haze, Stevie picked up the phone and heard the long beep as the answering machine stopped recording. "Hi, Mom...thank you."

"My baby girl is thirty-nine," Barbara Nicks mused out loud. With a sigh, she added, "We're getting old, Teedee-bird...you just wait till your bathroom shelves are covered in anti-aging creams."

"They already are," Stevie said, and they both laughed. She yawned, slowly becoming aware of two little dogs wandering around the foot of the bed, awake for the day.

"What are your plans for you big day?" Barbara inquired. Stevie hesitated before answering her truthfully, a lovesick grin coming to her face as she thought of her birthday plans...as well as how they'd been made yesterday morning, before Lindsey went home to do damage control for his relationship...

"I can't wait to see you all dressed up in your birthday girl outfit, all heads turning when you walk into that restaurant because you'll instantly be the most beautiful woman in the room."

Lindsey was standing in Stevie's bathroom, recently dressed to leave after they'd shared a shower and he'd personally washed every inch of her body, stopping here and there to apply his mouth to her skin where his soapy hands followed. Stevie stood before him in her fluffy black velour bathrobe, her long permed hair drying into curls which he tucked behind her ear as she moved closer to him. He grabbed the velvet sash of her robe at her waist to pull her into a kiss.

"Mmmm...and then realizing it's Stevie Nicks," she said when his lips left hers. "On Lindsey Buckingham's arm...are you sure about this, sweetheart? We're really upsetting the apple cart here, you know."

"I will upset all of the apple carts in all of the orchards everywhere if it means being with you and giving you a great birthday, sweet girl." He kissed her again, backing her up against the sink vanity. Still kissing her, he grabbed either side of her waist and lifted her up onto the countertop, the lighted mirror behind her and illuminating her damp blonde curls. Lindsey walked right in between her legs, which she wrapped around his waist, arms around his neck as he continued to kiss her, holding her by the chin.

"Hey..." Stevie knew he had to leave, but she could feel him starting to get worked up again. "Baby...you have to get out of here...you can't be attacking me like this if you plan on going home."

"Then stop being so damn kissable and I'll be on my way," he said, bringing her to him for one last kiss by sinking his hand into her hair and pulling her towards him. He kissed her long and deep and groaned in protest when their mouths pulled apart at last.

"You'll see me tomorrow night and you can kiss me aaaaaaaall you want, baby," she promised him, her fingers crawling up the front of his t-shirt up to his face to stroke his cheek with her thumb. "I'll won't have changed, you know...I'll be just as kissable then, sweetheart."

"Oh I'm sure of that, birthday girl...and you will be handsomely rewarded for being so adorable, too."

"Good...now get out of here so I can take the dogs out and you can turn into a pumpkin," Stevie teased, pushing him gently away and lowering herself off the sink vanity. "Tomorrow night...we party!"