***

With the presentation ceremony over, Karen walked into the hotel room alone, having left Isaiah to continue on to the auditorium to prepare for the evening's show. She fell exhausted to the bed. It was only the first day of the tour, and she felt like a limp rag already. The cell phone in her purse had run completely dry after attempting, every hour, to call Annette. She had been trying for days to no avail. She would feel much better about the entire situation, if she could just hear her voice.

Picking up the bedside phone, she dialed the numbers once again, knowing it was useless. She listened to the ringing, it made her feel lonely and desolate, an empty ringing deep in her soul where her daughter used to be.

***

The buzzing startled her. Looking about the dark room, she realized she must have been asleep for hours. "Shit." Karen pounded on the alarm clock by the side of the bed, either it had failed, or she had turned it off and rolled back over, she couldn't remember hearing it, it didn't matter anyway; she was late. She jumped to the floor before she realized the buzzing was still there. Jumping to grab the phone, she picked it up and hollered into it. "Annette?" "No, it's Leo." Karen squirmed hearing the sharp edge in his tone. She grunted as she pulled up her jeans and struggled with the button and zipper while trying to hold on to the phone with her shoulder and look around the room for her shoes. "Izzy would like to know where the hell you are." Karen was pretty sure those were Leo's words, not Isaiah's, but she let is slide; she was late. She mumbled a quick apology into the receiver and slammed it down as she continued to hurry about the room. Sighing in disgust as the phone rang again. "I said I'd be right there." "Hello?" The timid voice on the other end seemed frightened that it had dialed the right number. "Is this Karen Highland?" "Maybe." She hoped on one foot, putting on her shoe as she spoke. "Depends on who this is." Finally she sat down on the bed and took a deep breath to calm down. "Well?" Silence had taken over, and for a moment, Karen thought the phone had gone dead. "Who is this?" She hesitated, waiting for an answer. "I'm running late. If you don't say who this is, I'm going to have to hang up." "Karen," The voice on the other end faltered, Karen could hear the quiver in the soft, feminine voice. "This is Joanne." The voice on the other end stopped to give her a chance to search for the name. "Do you remember me?" Karen remembered. That was the problem. She remembered.