2010
Karen sat on the hospital bed waiting for the doctor to do some final tests before she could go home. She was starring at her boots while thinking about everything that happened the past two days.
How could I be so stupid, she thought, if I didn’t want to catch my stupid sunglasses I still had my baby.
Tears appeared in her eyes. She was really scared that Jimi would be mad at her but he didn’t blamed her anything. He’s been with her all days and nights in the hospital.
‘’Mrs. Fairchild?’’
‘’Oh, yes. Sorry.’’ Karen looked up, the doctor walked into her room.
The two shook hands.
‘’I don’t expect anything weird, you can go home after I checked your heartbeat.’’ Dr. Harris looked around him. ‘’Were is your husband.’’
‘’Jimi? Oh, he’s getting some coffee downstairs. He’ll be here soon.’’
‘’Alright. Shoot, I forgot my pen. I’m back in less then two minutes.’’
‘’Sure.’’
When the doctor walked out of the room Karen started to feel a bit sick. She closed her eyes and tried to relax but out of nothing a painful sting in her stomach like someone stabbed her.
‘’Oh my God.’’ She whispered, she could barley breathe because of the pain. Another sting came and she laid back down on the bed, she started to scream.
‘’Mrs. Fairchild!’’ the doctor ran into the room. ‘’I need a nurse! Nurse!’’
‘’What’s going on here?! Karen!’’ Jimi ran to his wife and grabbed her hand. ‘’What’s wrong?’’ he yelled.
‘’It’s her stomach.’’ The doctor said to Jimi and turned around to two nurses. ‘’Give her something what makes her calm and we’re doing a scan.’’
‘’I’m going to die, Jimi, die.’’ Karen laid in the hospital bed. Again. Like the other days, Jimi was by her side holding her hand.
‘’Of course not, silly.’’ Jimi was horrified by the things Karen said about her death.
They were waiting for the results from the latest test.
‘’Are you feeling better?’’ Jimi asked.
‘’Yes.’’ Karen replied. ‘’You know, it felt like someone stabbed in my stomach. Not that I know how it feels that someone stabs in my stomach but I have no other words to describe it.’’
‘’Everything is going to be okay, honey.’’ Jimi squeezed in Karen’s hand.
At that moment the doctor walked into the room.
‘’I have the results…’’ Usual doctors line.
He had a weird smile on his face.
‘’Do I have to upgrade my will?’’ Karen asked.
‘’Karen!’’ Jimi whispered.
‘’Actually, no.’’ Dr. Harris had to laugh.
Why is he laughing, Karen thought, I wasn’t even making a joke and what on Earth is that weird smile on his face?
‘’I have very good news, about the baby. We made a mistake, because Mrs. Fairchild fell on her head and stomach we expected that the baby would be dead, we didn’t checked it. We wanted to wait until Mrs. Fairchild recovered from her concussion but anyway, the baby’s still alive.’’
Jimi and Karen looked shocked to each other and started to cry at the same time.
‘’Oh my God, Jimi.’’ Karen whispered and hugged Jimi.
‘’Are you serious?’’ He asked to the doctor.
‘’I sure am. I am really sorry for our mistake.’’ Dr. Harris said.
‘’Thank you. Thank you so much.’’ Jimi walked to Dr. Harris and shook his hand.
‘’You can go whenever you want.’’ He walked to Karen and shook her hand too. ‘’Good luck, Mrs. Fairchild.’’ He said.
‘’Thank you so much.’’ Karen cried. ‘’Shall we go too?’’ she asked Jimi.
He grabbed her bags and together the walked to the elevators.
‘’Oh shit, I had to call Kimberly.’’ Jimi grabbed his phone and started to call their curly blonde friend.
‘’Put it on the speaker, I can’t wait to tell her! She will freak out.’’ Karen said.
‘’Jimi?’’ They heard Kimberly saying. ‘’Jimi? How’s Karen?’’
‘’Cupcake, I’m here.’’ Karen said. She had to giggle when she heard her friend’s voice.
‘’Karen! Oh my God, how are you? Can you go home?’’
‘’I’m fine, really good actually. Kim, you’re not going to believe this but…’’
‘’Believe what? Tell me!’’
‘’The baby’s still alive.’’
On the other side Kimberly started to scream.
‘’What?!’’
She started to scream Schlap’s name.
‘’Schlap, honey! Jimi and Karen’s baby’s still alive!’’ they heard that Kimberly started to cry on the other side and Schlap yelling on the background.
‘’Can you go home now?’’ she asked them.
‘’Yes, we’re on our way now.’’ Jimi said and put his arm around her wife’s shoulder.
‘’See you in thirty minutes, God blessed you two.’’ Kimberly shouted and hung up the phone.
Karen woke up. She laid on the couch with her feet on Jimi’s lap, who was watching an old episode of Friends.
‘’Jimi, where are Schlap and Kim?’’
‘’They went home, like an hour ago.’’
‘’Shit, why didn’t you woke me up?’’
‘’You need rest, honey, and Kim and Schlap didn’t wanted to wake you up either.’’
‘’I’ll call her later, did you told the good news to Phillip and Rebecca already?’’
‘’Nah, I wanted to do that with you.’’ He squeezed in Karen’s feet.
‘’What’s your side of the story, by the way?’’ Karen went with her hand through her own hair.
‘’I was running out of planks, remember? I forgot my phone but Austin saw it happen. He called the ambulance right away, you went knock out for like three hours.’’
‘’Was he in the hospital? At one moment I heard four voices, one was Dr. Harris and another doctor. There was a high female voice, Kimberly?’’
Jimi nodded.
‘’And a third male voice, no doctor or yours.’’
‘’That was Austin. He called me for like a twenty times, but I didn’t had my phone. He found yours in your pocket and called Kimberly. The girl fainted when I arrived at the hospital.’’
‘’Wait, Kimberly fainted?!’’ Karen shouted.
‘’Yes, she was full of tears. She was so worried.’’
‘’Oh my God.’’ A tear streamed down Karen’s face. ‘’Was she alright?’’
‘’Yeah, nothing wrong. Hey, stop with pulling out your hair!’’
‘’I’m not! Well, someone has to go with their hand through my hair and since it’s not you I’ll do it by myself.’’
Jimi had to laugh.
‘’I love you.’’ He said.
2010 just started, and so did the new tour. Karen and Rebecca were sitting in the bus, eating all the sweet stuff Kimberly made earlier that day.
‘’These cupcakes are like paradise.’’ Karen said while she started to eat another one.
‘’It sure is. Do you think Kim will be mad at us because we ate them all?’’ Rebecca asked.
‘’Of course not, just say that these were the leftovers of the boys. Kidding, she understands that I eat for two now.’’
‘’But I don’t eat for two! You just want to make me fat.’’
‘’Yeah, you found it out, shit.’’
The two started to laugh.
‘’Do you know that’s a real disease? Men who make their woman fat?’’
‘’What? Really?’’
Karen nodded.
‘’I saw it on YouTube during my addiction. You see that my addiction back then also brought good things.’’ Karen winked and stood up. ‘’Do we still have cheese?’’ she opened the fridge.
‘’Only cheddar.’’
‘’Ah really? Ew. When I was twenty I went to Germany and they had like twenty different kinds of cheese and here we only have two.’’ Karen sighed and sat back on her place.
‘’Ahw, your life is so hard.’’ Rebecca said sarcastic.
‘’It sure is.’’
‘’When is your next echo?’’
‘’Tomorrow. I’ll take Kim with me. Oh shit, do you want to come too?’’
‘’Don’t worry about me, Kiki. Share this moment with your best friend.’’
‘’But that sounds so awful for you, like you’re not a good friend.’’
‘’Like you said: good friend. You and Kim know each other for like a million years already.’’
The latest time Karen kept feeling bad for Rebecca because she used the term ‘best friend’ a lot when she was talking about Kimberly but didn’t want Rebecca to feel like an outsider.
‘’Will you know if it’s a boy or a girl?’’
‘’Yes, finally.’’ Karen started to smile.
‘’Boy or girl?’’
‘’I don’t care, you know. A little me would be fun to dress up and all but a little boy would be badass. Only then I have to raise two little boys.’’
‘’You can still dress up a boy. You could make him a mini male version of you.’’
‘’That’s a perfect idea, but we’ll see.’’ She looked out of the window. ‘’Oh my God, look at that, the girls are using Jimi as a horse.’’
Rebecca looked outside and saw Daisy and Penelopi sitting on Jimi’s back who was on hands and knees making circles on the field.
‘’He’s such a loser.’’ Karen said. ‘’But he’s my loser.’’
‘’Karen, make sure that after your pregnancy you don’t end up in the hospital again otherwise we can buy you a subscription on this place, gussie, you’ve been here a lot.’’ Kimberly said.
‘’Hm, yeah. And I guess I’m collecting scars on my face too. Look,’’ Karen held her hair in a ponytail and on the place where she has bangs, three little scars appeared. ‘’The middle one is from football at high school. Left of it is because of Evange… yea you know, and the biggest one is because I did the wrong front porch thing.’’
‘’Pretty collection. Where do we have to be?’’
‘’Not floor four.’’
‘’Where all your friends are?’’
The two had to laugh and got a flashback of the time Penelopi was born.
‘’Nah, eleventh. Always so high, that’s why I hate hospitals.’’
‘’Don’t be scared, I’m here to keep ya save, darling.’’
‘’Mrs. Fairchild?’’
The two girls turned around.
‘’That’s me.’’ Karen said, and shook the doctors hand. ‘’And this is my friend Kimberly Schlapman.’’
‘’I’m doctor Moran, you two can follow me.’’
The two girls started to giggle because they were nervous.
‘’You want to guess or something?’’ dr. Moran said after she finished the echo.
‘’Girl.’’ Karen shouted right away.
‘’A little boy.’’ Kimberly said and lifted up her shoulders.
‘’Mrs. Schlapman is right, it’s a boy.’’
‘’Oh my God!’’ the two shouted at the same time.
‘’Congratulations, you two will be good moms.’’
‘’What?! Karen and Kimberly’s smile disappeared right of their faces.
‘’Excuse me, but Kimberly here is my best friend, not my partner. But thank you anyway.’’ Karen shook the doctors hand and walked away.
‘’Why do people always think that we are a couple?’’ Kimberly asked.
‘’Maybe it’s because you were holding my hand, the whole time!’’
‘’I just wanted to show you that I have your back.’’
‘’I know that, Cupcake.’’
The two started to laugh.
‘’We would be a great one.’’
Kimberly and Karen were doing the dishes in the bus while screaming the lyrics of The Final Countdown because the baby could come any moment. Kimberly was using a spoon as microphone to singing the lyrics while Karen replaced the beat in tu-du-du’s.
‘’Head bang!’’ Karen shouted after the chorus finished and she put her hair out of the ponytail and did her act.
‘’Yeah, you go girl!’’ Kimberly clapped in her hands.
The song finished and some depressing song came on the radio.
‘’I’m dead.’’ Karen laid back on the couch.
‘’So you let me do the dishes by myself?’’ Kimberly made up a sad face.
‘’You know I actually hate doing the dishes? It’s so dirty and you have to touch that all and then on the forks and all is… yea you know.’’
‘’Drool.’’
‘’Stop it! I hate that word, it makes me sick. Yuck.’’
Kimberly started to laugh.
‘’I know that, that’s why I love to say it.’’ She repeated the word for a several times.
Karen started to yell.
‘’I’m going to leave you!’’
‘’Nooo!’’ Kimberly shouted. ‘’You can’t leave me. Never.’’
‘’Ok, I’ll stay, but stop saying the word. I can’t leave you anyway because you’re the only sunshine in my life.’’
‘’And I guess you will never let me go either otherwise you will stalk me.’’
‘’Exactly. I’m a professional stalker.’’
Kimberly started to laugh, she could imagine her friend being a stalker.
‘’I swear, if I didn’t become a singer I would be a professional country artist stalker. And Jimi would stalk the Foo Fighters, so I guess it’s in the family.’’
‘’You’re not even real family…’’
‘’Well, at least it’s more realistic then if I compared myself to some Chinese stalker.’’
‘’Karen, you are so weird.’’
‘’I know, it’s a gift.’’ She did a hair flick, which made her look like a bitch who just made a point. Kimberly always could not stop laughing if Karen acted like that.
Suddenly Karen reached to her baby bump and made a little scream. She laid back on the couch. Kimberly ran to her.
‘’Karen, is it the baby?! What’s wrong?! What can I do?!’’ she totally freaked out..
‘’You can laugh at yourself because I just fooled you.’’ Karen got back up at started to laugh.
‘’You’re such a… such a… Karen! That was a mean streak!’’ Kimberly shouted.
‘’You had to see your own face.’’ Karen laughed. ‘’I had a blast.’’
‘’Not cool! I was really scared ya know.’’
‘’But, does it really hurt that bad?’’
Kimberly took a seat next to Karen.
‘’Yes! It feels like you’re dying, I repeat dying.’’
‘’Are you trying to get revenge from my joke?’’
‘’For the third time I repeat dying.’’
‘’Oh gosh.’’
‘’My prediction for your delivery is pain and a lot of swearing.’’
‘’Why that?’’
‘’Well, it always hurts, by every woman and you even swear for five minutes in a row when your toe accidently hits the leg of the table.’’
‘’But that leg of the table is just a real bitch.’’
‘’Poor table leg.’’
‘’Seriously?’’
‘’What? You started?’’
Karen gave Kimberly the look. THE look.
‘’Why are you giving me the look?’’ Kimberly asked. ‘’there’s no awkward situation where I have to help you out of.’’
‘’No. The look has a new meaning. It means: I am hungry.’’
‘’Seriously?’’ Kimberly threw a pillow to Karen. ‘’And you’re too lazy to find something to eat by yourself?’’
‘’Nah, I was thinking about you making brownies… for me.’’ Karen made up a smile.
‘’Me making brownies for you with you!’’
Karen sighed and agreed. The girls got a brownie mix out of the kitchen and started to bake.
Kimberly hit Karen’s hand.
‘’Stop eating the dough!’’ she said.
‘’But it’s so delicious. You know when I was little I only made brownies to eat the dough. All of it.’’
‘’Seriously?’’ Kimberly got Karen a bowl and a spoon. ‘’Here get some, but not all! And let me bake.’’
‘’Okay, mom.’’ Karen took a seat on the couch again.
After Kimberly put her mix in the oven, she turned to Karen and started to laugh.
‘’Look at you. You’re whole mouth is full of chocolate. Let me make a picture.’’ Kimberly grabbed Karen’s Polaroid of the table and took a snap before Karen could dispute.
‘’Brilliant. Welcome to the collection.’’ Kimberly tried to make an evil laugh but failed. There’s nothing evil about her.
‘’You can better not use it to blackmail me because I have way much better things to blackmail you.’’ Karen grabbed the picture and looked at it.
‘’You always have better stuff to blackmail people.’’ Kimberly giggled.
‘’Exactly’’ Karen winked to her curly blonde friend.
The band had a break and were back in Nashville. At the Westbrook house, both parents of Jimi and Karen arrived because the baby was planned to be born in less than four days.
‘’I’ve never seen both our parents at the same time.’’ Karen whispered and leaned to the kitchen table, where Jimi was baking a cake.
‘’Of course you did, silly, at our wedding.’’ Jimi laughed.
‘’Oh yeah, forgot that. You look cute in that apron, ya know.’’
‘’Stop it, I look like a total gay.’’
Karen started to laugh. For his latest birthday she and Kimberly bought Jimi a apron which looks like a 50s dress with a lot of bows, hearts and polka-dots.
‘’Why are you wearing it then? Because you secretly feel attracted in it?’’ Karen giggled.
‘’No, because this is my always-looking-good-shirt and I don’t want to ruin it.’’
‘’Ahw, don’t worry about not looking good, that’s my job. You’re always looking good, to me at least.’’ Karen gave Jimi a kiss.
‘’Okay, what do you want?’’
‘’Where are you talking about?’’
‘’Well, normally you are only nice to me when you want something. Mostly food.’’ Jimi joked.
‘’That’s not true! Well, a bit: I really want that cake.’’
‘’Almost done.’’
Karen walked onto the back porch when she suddenly felt something weird.
‘’Jimi!’’ she yelled. ‘’My water just broke.’’
Jimi started to yell and called the doctor who advised to wait with going to the hospital until it started to hurt.
‘’Come inside, honey, the doctor says it can take hours until the pain comes.’’ Jimi stood in the door gate watching his wife sitting on the back porch without moving at all.
‘’If I stand up I’ll probably pie over the whole back porch, do you want that?’’ Karen said slowly.
‘’That will not happen, crazy.’’ Jimi walked to his wife and helped her to get up and brought her to the living room.
‘’Did I heard you scream, Jimi?’’ Mrs. Fairchild asked.
‘’My water broke.’’ Karen sighed.
The lady walked to her daughter and grabbed her hand.
‘’That’s great news, sweetie, but you don’t look very happy with that.’’
‘’I know.’’ A little tear streamed down Karen’s face. ‘’I’m scared. Kimberly told me it really hurts, like I’m dying.’’
‘’And do you know how it feels to die?’’
‘’Yes. Well, a kind of… actually no.’’
‘’And Kimberly?’’
‘’The worst thing she ever had was a fever.’’
‘’See, she has nothing to compare to. That was how she felt but not every woman feels the same. Some have a lot of pain and some only a little.’’
‘’But what if I don’t survive it?’’
‘’I had three, and did I survived it? Yes, I did. All the three times. You should really not worry about it. Maybe it’s good to look forward to the moment when you’re holding your little baby boy.’’
‘’Hm, I guess you’re right mom.’’
‘’I am, everything is going to be alright, sweetheart.’’ Mrs. Fairchild went with her hand through her daughters hair.
Kimberly ran out of the elevator to Rebecca.
‘’Is that Karen screaming?’’ she asked.
Rebecca nodded.
‘’Gee, I heard it in the elevator, poor girl. Do you think I can go to her?’’
‘’Yes, you can. Jimi asked me to tell you. Karen wants to see you before she dies.’’ Rebecca laughed. ‘’At least, Jimi said that she said that. She’s scared I guess. First door on your right after the reception.’’
‘’Thank you.’’ Kimberly rushed to the room and walked in. A nurse gave her the hospital clothes, they all were wearing. ‘’How’s she doing?’’ Kimberly asked to Mrs. Westbrook.
‘’She’s doing fine, just a lot of pain. She was waiting for you.’’ Jimi’s mother smiled to Kimberly, who walked to Karen.
‘’Kiki, I’m here.’’ She grabbed her friends hand.
‘’Oh my God, Cupcake, you’re right. It feels like dying. I’m so glad you’re here.’’ Karen whispered and started to swear. ‘’It really hurts help me!’’ Karen started to cry.
Two hour later she was still crying, but this time it were tears of happiness, the baby boy laid in her arms.
‘’Elijah Dylan Westbrook.’’ Jimi said. He couldn’t stop smiling.
‘’Such a sweet name!’’ Kimberly waited thirty minutes to get to see the baby.
‘’If it was a girl we named her after you.’’ Karen smiled.
‘’Really?!’’ Kimberly looked up.
‘’Yeah, we were thinking about that as middle name, but it turned out to be a boy and it would be cruel to give him a girls name as middle name.’’
‘’Ahw, you’re so sweet.’’ Kimberly gave her friend a kiss on her head and grabbed the hand of the little Elijah. ‘’I’m going to get the others.’’
‘’Are they still here?’’
‘’Yes, they waited.’’
‘’They didn’t had to do that!’’
‘’We all did, all the time, so why not now?’’
‘’Where are Daisy and Penelopi?’’
‘’At Becky’s mom’s place. Daisy is been excited for the baby to come all week.’’ Kimberly giggled.
Since two years everything changed, in a good way. After fourteen years of being a band they finally had their number 1 single, Pontoon. Life was good. Although, that’s Karen’s thought. She enjoys her life of being a professional known singer while raising two boys.
Now she could read a book on the back porch while watching two of her boys being stupid in the back yard. Not that her baby boy is acting like stupid, but in the past Jimi could be very weird. They latest days he’s been teaching Elijah how to play soccer and he really likes it.
‘’You’re so good, you won from me! Again!’’ Jimi shouted and gave his son a high five.
Karen walked back on the porch again.
‘’Aren’t you two tired? Come, take some rest, I made you some apple juice.’’ She said.
The two ran onto the porch.
‘’Thanks mommy!’’ Elijah gave his mother a kiss.
‘’Yeah, thanks mom.’’ Jimi joked and did the same thing as his two year old boy.
Karen started to giggle.
‘’Oh by the way, Schlap called me, he found Kimberly’s old guitar and thought it was cool if you gave it to her on your anniversary.’’
‘’Really, that’d be awesome, did he mentioned when I can pick it up.’’
‘’This afternoon, Kimberly is bringing Daisy to her mom. You have the key right? Schlap’s gone too.’’
At 2.30 Karen parked her truck in the neighbourhood where Schlap and Kimberly live. She has a good skill of showing up late everywhere and because Jimi is probably the worst morning person she ever met, they always showed up too late together. The others were pretty used to it. Karen got out of her truck and put her sunglasses on. With her own key of the Schlapman’s house, she opened the door. Before she closed it, she looked if no one saw her, it still had to be a surprise for Kimberly. Inside the curtains where close and it was pretty dark there, Karen decided to keep it like that. In the darkness she found made her way to the basement. Schlap hided the guitar there, but she found out there was a lock on it, at that moment she received a text message from Schlap. They keys where on the kitchen table.
Karen sighed and walked back upstairs, while she replied another text from a friend of hers.
‘’Hello?’’ she heard a high female voice saying. Kimberly.
Shit, what is she doing her, Karen thought.
The two faced each other on the stairs.
‘’Kimberly, what are you doing here? I mean… it’s your house but still… yeah…’’ Karen stuttered.
‘’What I’m doing here? It’s my own house, silly head. The question is: what are you doing here?’’ Kimberly giggled.
‘’Oh Jimi needed a hammer and I thought you might had it.’’ Karen lied.
‘’Yes, but not here. Let me get it for you and please come out of that creepy dark place. I swear, it’s haunted!’’
‘’Cupcake stop, you know I’m scared of that stuff. Where were you actually? I had to use my own key.’’
‘’Dropping off Daisy at my cousins place. Do you have time?’’
‘’On Wednesday Jimi and Elijah have their kinda boys day, so I’m not allowed to be wherever they are, so yes. Why?’’
‘’You need to go to Target with me. Now.’’
‘’Sure, but why the rush?’’
‘’Schlap’s parents arrive here tonight and I said I’ll make dinner.’’
‘’Where are you waiting for then? Let’s go!’’
‘’Karen, do you know where the broccoli is?’’ Kimberly asked.
‘’Yes, do you want me to get it?’’
‘’Yes please, I never find it here, I always have to go to Wal-Mart when I need it.’’
Karen walked to the other side of the store but got abstracted by the newest edition of one of her favorite magazines. She started to read some articles and five minutes later Jimi called her.
‘’Where are you?’’ he asked.
‘’At Target with Kimberly, I’m back home in probably an hour.’’ She heard Elijah yelling on the background. ‘’and tell little man that I love him.’’ She hung up the phone and continued reading. After a while she realized she was here with Kimberly and got the broccoli. She walked through the whole store for like three times but couldn’t find Kimberly. She decided to call her.
‘’Where are you?’’ she started.
‘’Hey Karen! Just heading home from Target.’’
‘’Cupcake, you took me to Target with you…’’
‘’What?! Wait there, I’m there a soon as possible.’’
When Karen opened the door of Kimberly’s car the two girls couldn’t stop laughing.
‘’This is the most stupid and hilarious thing that ever happened in my whole life!’’ Karen shouted.
‘’I’m so sorry! I completely forgot you because I was stressing!’’ Kimberly laughed.
‘’I can’t handle you.’’ Karen wanted to get in the car but almost fell of laughter. ‘’Best day ever.’’ She was still shouting.
‘’I’m so sorry, Karen!’’
‘’It’s fine, it’s just… freakin’ hilarious!’’
The whole way back the girls where laughing.
‘’I can’t even breathe right.’’
‘’This story is going to hunt me for the rest of my life, isn’t it?’’
‘’Yes, how can you forget your best friend on a small trip to Target?’’
The two got out of the car and walked back to the Schlapman’s house.
‘’Do you want something to drink?’’ Kimberly asked.
‘’No, I’m done with you. Done with the world.’’
The two started to laugh again.
‘’You’re not going to believe this! Kimberly took me to Target with her and she forgot me!’’ Karen shouted when she walked into the living room, there she found Jimi and Schlap. ‘’Oh hi Schlap.’’ She said. ‘’Mission failed, Kimberly came home before I even got the keys.’’
‘’Yeah, I already thought that so I took the guitar with me.’’ He said.
‘’Perfect!’’
This year, Karen and Kimberly are friends for almost twenty-five years and Karen wanted to surprise her friend with a small party.
At that moment Elijah ran to Karen.
‘’Mommy! I missed you!’’ he shouted and hugged his mother.
‘’Ahw, I did miss you too.’’ She smiled to her little boy. ‘’How was your time with daddy?’’
‘’Awesome! I beat him with soccer. Again!’’
‘’Really? That’s so cool. High five!’’ After the two gave each other a high five, Elijah ran back to his room.
Karen threw her bag on the couch and took a seat on it.
‘’So Kim forgot you at Target?’’ Schlap asked.
‘’Yea, she’s totally stressing because your parents are coming.’’
‘’Poor girl, I’ll go to her now.’’ Schlap stood up. ‘’Hey, you know the CMA nominations are tonight, right?’’
‘’Yes, I’m super excited!’’ Jimi said.
‘’But as always, we probably won’t even be nominated.’’ Karen sighed.
‘’I honestly do think you are. I mean, Pontoon was a smash hit. Believe me guys, one nomination will be coming.’’ Schlap winked to the two. ‘’Oh, and Karen. The guitar is in the kitchen.’’
‘’Yes, thank you!’’
‘’The Sweets are coming tonight. For the nominations.’’ Jimi said when Schlap left.
‘’Oh, okay. That’d be fun. Will Penelopi come too?’’
Jimi nodded and started to play a game on his phone.
That night, all four were super nervous. Sadly, Kimberly and Schlap weren’t there but they had contact through phone calls.
‘’Five minutes until the next announcement.’’ Rebecca said. She was checking the CMA twitter.
‘’Which one will it be?’’ Phillip asked.
‘’I don’t know, they don’t mention that.’’
Both, Penelopi and Elijah, grabbed Karen’s legs and pulled them. ‘’Drinks!’’ they shouted.
‘’Okay, okay, I’m already going!’’ Karen laughed and walked to the kitchen.
‘’Hurry, hon.’’ Jimi yelled after her.
Karen gave him a poker face. She did not like it when he called her cute names when other people where around.
‘’It’s going to be Vocal Group Of The Year!’’ Rebecca said
‘’Really?!’’ Phillip clapped in his hands. ‘’Exciting!’’
‘’Don’t expect too much from it.’’ Karen muttered.
All three looked to Karen.
‘’You’re killing the spirit!’’ Jimi said slowly.
Karen lifted her shoulders up. ‘’What? All those years we waited patiently to get a nomination but when did we? Never, only once but not even an official one. I just gave up hope a bit.’’
‘’Never give up hope, Kiki.’’ Rebecca looked to the TV. ‘’Oh my God, it begins!’’
‘’Come Karen.’’ Jimi said.
‘’Let me finish this quickly.’’ She glided to the other side of the kitchen.
‘’It can wait, just come!’’
‘’Okay, okay!’’ Karen ran back to the living room and took a seat on Jimi’s lap.
The phone rang. She leaned over Jimi to get it.
‘’Vocal Group Of The Year!’’ Kimberly shouted.
‘’I know!’’
‘’You gave up hope, didn’t you?’’
‘’Yep.’’
‘’Don’t.’’
Four nominees were mentioned.
‘’You see, not us.’’ Karen muttered. Right at that moment they heard the last nominee: Little Big Town.
They all started to shout, also Schlap and Kim through the phone. Jimi jumped off the couch and Karen fell off his lap. She started to cry.
‘’Did I hurt you?’’ Jimi kneeled next to his wife.
‘’No, I’m just so happy!’’ she cried and hugged Jimi. He pulled her up.
‘’Group hug!’’ Phillip cried.
‘’What’s wrong with him?’’ Jimi yawned.
I don’t know he’s just extremely hyper.’’ Karen let herself fell on the couch.
Elijah jumped on the couch and ran over Karen’s lap. He jumped off the couch on the other side and continued his run through the living room and kitchen while he was yelling.
‘’Did you put something in his drink?’’ Jimi took a seat next to Karen. It was 2am.
‘’I might have.. shoot…’’ Karen tried to gave up swearing since she gave birth.
‘’What?’’.
‘’I put sugar in his drink before the nominees and also after it. Because of excitement I totally forgot I already did it… sorry.’’
‘’It’s okay, silly.’’
‘’But what are we going to do with him?’’
Whiskey?’’
‘’Shut up.’’ Karen laid her head on Jimi’s lap. ‘’You know, it’s actually a pretty good idea.’’
‘’Are you serious?’’
‘’Of course not, loser. I’ll not drug my son.’’
‘’Our son.’’ Jimi corrected.
‘’Our son.’’ Karen repeated. ‘’Hey, you hear that?’’
‘’I don’t hear anything.’’
‘’Exactly!’’
Jimi understood what his wife meant and they both got up searching through the living room.
‘’Look here.’’ Karen laughed quietly.
Elijah laid on Karen’s self made wooden box which she uses to store all her magazines.
‘’How cute.’’ Jimi took a picture. ‘’Let me drag this little Tornado to his bed, then we can finally rest.’’
‘’Oh Karen!’’ Kimberly shouted and entered the living room.
‘’Garden.’’ She heard her friend yelling.
Kimberly walked onto the back porch and made a little scream when she saw where Karen changed the garden into. Pink balloons and flags in all kinds of shades everywhere. On the lawn there was a little table with two chairs.
‘’I made your favorite dish.’’ Karen smiled and the two girlfriends ran to each other and gave each other a hug.
‘’Happy anniversary!’’ they both shouted at the same time and started to giggle.
‘’What a cute garden! You did good, Kiki.’’ Kimberly said.
‘’Fifty shades of pink.’’
‘’Fifty shades of not okay, this is too precious!’’
The two had to laugh.
‘’But you know, Kiki, I knew you would do this so I made you cupcakes!’’
‘’Ah, the only thing I need in live.’’ They took a seat on the two chairs. ‘’I do have something else for you, hold on.’’ Karen walked away and came back with the guitar.
‘’It looks delicious!’’ Kimberly said and turned around. ‘’My guitar! You found it!’’ she yelled. ‘’How?’’
‘’Schlap found it.’’ Karen smiled.
‘’Oh my God. This is the best.’’ Kimberly hugged her friend. ‘’I made you something.’’
‘’Oh, is it a pie?!’’
‘’No, silly. Here.’’ Kimberly gave a small box to Karen.
‘’What’s this?’’ when she opened it she found a hardback book. She turned to the first page.
To Karen, my sweet best friend. Life would be nothing without you. Karen read.
‘’If this is what I think it is I will not stop crying for the whole day.’’ Karen whispered.
She turned to the second page. It is a collage of photos and Polaroid pictures.
Karen started to cry. ‘’It’s the best gift ever.’’
‘’Fifty-nine pages of photos, hand down written memories and pieces of my diary about you and our friendship for over the years.’’ Kimberly giggled.
‘’You ripped out pieces of your diary only for this?’’
‘’Yes.’’
‘’Kimberly, this is the sweetest thing ever. I can’t stop crying.’’ Karen stood up and gave her friend a big hug.
‘’How long have you been working on this?’’
‘’For like a month.’’
‘’So long, oh Lord.’’
The two were still hugging.
‘’Happy anniversary Kiki. You’re my best friend, and I’ll never let you go.’’
The two started to laugh.