Chapter 26

It was a beautiful morning, six am, here on the water. I was still doing good and the doctor still said I could surf so long as I was careful and didn't over do it. I still practiced all my basics so I didn't get lazy. I figured after the baby was born I could go back to competing, then maybe go pro. That would help support the baby and I could still get my own place.



As I sat on my board, floating, moving hypnotically up and down, as the waves moved by me, I reflected a little. I chose not to tell Bret because of that episode in Vegas. I just assumed we were over, though I never gave Bret a chance to explain. Maybe in the future. I didn't want him to stay with me if he really didn't love me any more. And I didn't want to trap him with the baby now that his career was taking off. He didn't need that kind of media attention. I sighed. Maybe everything will just work out.



I was done for the day as it had started to get crowded. As I waded out of the water onto the sand, that chick from the other day came up to me.



"Karen," She called out.



"Hi," I said tentatively.



"I'm Donna. We met last week."



"Oh ya, how are you?" I replied politely.



"Good. I am glad I ran into you again. I wanted to talk to you about something."



I frowned as I really didn't know her too well and couldn't possibly know what she would want with me. We got to our cars before she spoke again.



"Karen, I work for Surfboarder Magazine and we wanted to offer you a job. We want you to do some modeling and some ad work for us. Promoting and advertising," Hollywood said, smiling, holding out her business card.



I was a bit stunned to say the least. And speechless. How cool was this? Everyone wished for sponsorship or of getting an ad deal. "Uuumm....why me? I entered my first event and got blown out of the water," I said.



"Well, the little bit you did do was impressive. First time out and by your second run you were in second. And we are confident you will bounce back and we wanted to be the first to sign you....with us," she replied confidently.



Oh....God...I didn't know what to say.....all these feelings and thoughts started through my head. I wanted this so bad, but I wasn't about to lie to this lady. Better to put the truth out there now. My eyes sparkled with unshed tears of disappointment, thinking she would not want me..…



"Miss Donna," I started.



"Donna or Hollywood is fine," she interjected.



"Donna, I'm pregnant. I want you to know. I didn't want to misrepresent myself. I didn't want to work for you and then all of a sudden become a hippo. But if it would still work out and you still want me, I guess I could do it till I started to show. Or maybe there would be a place for me at the magazine," I finished with a big sigh and a tear falling down my face.



Donna, showing how generous she was, said, "K, you have my card. Call me and we will set up an appointment. Come to my office and we will see what we can do." She patted my shoulder and said, "Congratulations on the baby."



"Thank you," I said with a smile. I watched as she drove off. She seemed to be OK with my condition, and it gave me hope that if I could work for them I could get my own place...sooner. I put my stuff in my truck and drove home.



{ { } }
Diane and the girls were on the road, rolling along, on the bus. The people of our crew loved all the gossip magazines and rock and roll magazines. They were strewn all over the buses. I had a stack of them in front of me.



There were pictures of us with guys and pics of Crue with girls. Looking at all the pictures, reading about all the hell raising Motley Crue was doing, kinda made me mad, raising my jealousy. I know in my head it's all part of fame and fortune, as we were experiencing the same thing (accounting our pictures with other famous guys from other bands we met along the way).



Parties, famous people, picture taking. But my heart was sore. I wanted to be the one with Nikki in all the photos...to be the one hanging on his arm. I missed him so much. We had talked only once in the last two weeks, and we really didn't talk about much of anything. It's hard to let things out over the phone. We mostly talked about our successes and how much we missed each other. We did have plans to get together at our next gig. We were going to be in Cleveland at the same time. I closed my eyes, thinking of Nikki. And I must have fallen asleep, cause the next thing I know, Laurie is waking me up.