I Can't Stop

Part 14

"I'm glad you changed your mind after all." Don said, holding Stevie's hand as they sat in the back of a car, on their way to Mick's home in Maui. "We're all going to have a lot of fun." 

"Yeah..." Stevie forced a smile, turning to look out the window.

A month had passed since Stevie and Lindsey's tearful goodbye after the last Fleetwood Mac show. She promised she would and she thought about him every day. This time their separation had been the hardest yet. She didn't want to admit it, but she fell in love with Lindsey again and it hurt being away from him. She wondered if he felt the same.

Several days ago, Mick called Stevie and invited her together with Don to his Maui estate, along with Lindsey and Kristen, John and his wife too. Don wanted to go, he and Mick had no problems with each other, the thought of Lindsey bothered him, but the wife would be there too, so Don didn't focus on that too much. Stevie was the one, who had doubts. Of course she wanted to see Lindsey, but she didn't want to be around him, while Kristen was there too. However, if she told Don, no, he'd have questions and Stevie wouldn't have a good reason as to why they shouldn't go.

"Welcome!" Mick greeted Stevie and Don with open arms and a big smile on his face. "I'm so glad you've decided to come."

"Hey, Mick." Don shook his hand and Stevie gave him a hug. 

"Missed you." She said, pulling back. 

"Oh, me too. That's why you're here right now." Mick smiled, laying his hand on her back, showing her inside as Don followed. "Lindsey and Kristen aren't here yet." Stevie felt slightly relieved. "But someone else is."

Stevie raised an eyebrow, unsure of who Mick was talking about. Second later, that smooth British accent reached her ears and Stevie gasped, rushing over to Christine, pulling her in for a big hug.

"Oh my God!" 

"I know!" Christine laughed, giving Stevie a squeeze. 

"How did you... you got on a plane?" Stevie had a lot of questions, but she had to ask that one first. 

"Yeah, not without some encouragement, but..." Chris shrugged. "Well, I haven't seen you all for such a long time and Mick reached out to me, I couldn't say no."

"I'm so happy you're here, Christine." And she was. There were a lot of things Stevie couldn't say to Don, without explanation, but now that she had Christine there with her, Stevie believed she could survive. 

Once Stevie and Don got settled in their room, they returned downstairs and Mick had the first batch of drinks ready for everyone. While the men chatted among themselves, Stevie sat down with Christine. There was a lot of catching up to do. However, besides the how are you's, they didn't get to talk for long, when the doorbell signaled the arrival of the last of Mick's guests. Stevie instantly became nervous.

"Hello, everyone." Stevie heard Lindsey's voice from behind as he came in, accompanied by Mick, and she turned around, their eyes locked on each other. "Sorry I didn't bring my plus one to this couples retreat. Kristen couldn't come, something came up."

"Ah, well." Mick patted Lindsey on the back. "Plenty of company here."

The time flew by, while the group caught up with each other. The chef from Mick's restaurant was there to cook dinner and it was time to sit down outside on the patio. Things were going a lot better than Stevie had expected, but she still longed to be close to Lindsey. They weren't able to spend any time alone, all they could do was glance at each other, when they were sure nobody was looking. 

"Compliments to the chef." Christine said, putting down her cutlery onto the plate. "The food was delicious. Now... if you gentlemen allow me, I'm going to whisk Stevie away for a bit. Girl talk."

"You do that and I'll take you inside for an exquisite bottle of whiskey." Mick stood up and nobody protested, following after him.

"Spill it." Christine said, taking a sip of her wine, once she and Stevie found a private spot to talk. 

"What are you talking about?"

"Don't do that, Stevie." Chris shook her head. "I know you too well. You and Buckingham are back together, aren't you?" Stevie sighed, looking away. "You can't keep your eyes off each other, because you can't get your hands on each other."

Stevie trusted Christine completely and she truly wanted to talk to somebody about it. "I swear, Chris, things are so different this time."

"I've heard that before." 

"No, seriously. Lindsey's being so sweet. We haven't had one fight. Don surprised me on my birthday and we didn't talk for a couple of days, but we worked it out. We sat down and talked things out." Stevie emphasized. "He's so loving, he tells me such beautiful things. He took me on a date, Chris, on the roof of a freaking hotel."

Christine laughed lightly, shaking her head. "You're in too deep."

"I know, we both know. But..." Stevie shrugged with a sigh. "I can't change the way I feel about him."

Stevie went on to tell Christine about how it all started. She talked about how they were just spending time together at first, how they reminisced, how they drifted closer together again. It felt great getting everything off her chest and Stevie was glad Christine was there for her. She didn't judge, she knew their history too well to do that. 

"You said, you two spend a lot of time talking to each other." Christine spoke up and Stevie knew it was going somewhere. 

"Right."

"Any chance you also told Lindsey that-"

"No. No, Chris." Stevie shook her head. They sat facing the ocean and Stevie spent a moment looking out into the distance. "Nobody can know, you're the only person, who knows, Chris."

"Stevie, you kept it from him for all this time. You know my opinion, I said that you should have told him back then. If Lindsey found out, he'd be hurt, but there is still time to fix things. You know that if God forbid, you kept it to yourself until you no longer had a chance to tell him the truth, you'd hate yourself for it."

"I can't." Stevie said. "I would ruin everything." Stevie finished off her wine, wishing there was more nearby. "I just can't tell Lindsey that Alice is his daughter."

"Alice is my daughter?"

Stevie swiftly turned around to find Lindsey standing just a few steps away from her. Her whole body went numb and her throat closed up. She opened her mouth to say something, but the expression on Lindsey's face, the hurt in his eyes rendered her speechless.