Karen pulled herself up on the edge of the pool. There were some advantages to living in sunny California. Living in a mansion with a built in pool was a definite perk. She had cautiously avoided the crowd in the house and any comments any of them might have on her early morning speech. Even resorting to sneaking upstairs when no one was looking to change into a swimsuit and then making a mad dash out of the front door from the bottom of the stairs that were only a short distance across the entry to the door. Rather than turn and walk through the busy kitchen to the sliding doors that led directly to the pool, she had walked around the outside of the house to get to the pool and spent the rest of the morning swimming in the cool water. Out of the corner of her eye, Karen saw Alex walk out of the glass doors and come across the patio. She watched the woman come toward her but remained facing forward, concentrating on the mini waves created by the ocean wind. Up and over the low wall on the other side of the pool, the mountain fell sharply out of view to expose the ocean view that pounded in the near distance. Squinting in the sunlight, Karen kept her eyes forward even when Alex stopped behind her and crouched down to eye level. "There‟s a party at Bryan Chase‟s house tonight. Izzy just got off the phone with him, he‟s expected, therefore so are you. Izzy wanted me to tell you." Alex hesitated for a minute hoping for some response but got none. "Brave speech this morning." "Do you think it will do any good?" Karen shoulders lost their tension, but she continued her vigil of staring at the ocean.