“I said, move, dickhead!” Then I heard Jillian’s door locks beep loudly. She opened the door to let me in first. “Buckle up, G. It’s going to be okay,” she said before shutting the door.
All I heard were the shouts from the reporters and Jillian shouting back at them. Someone knocked on my window. A muffled, “Gigi, are the boys going to live with you and Beau now?”
Boys.
Twins.
Unable to speak or move, I sat there.
Stunned.
This couldn’t be real.
This was not happening.
Jillian jumped into the car, swearing a blue streak as she slammed her door then started up the car. “We’ll be out of here in no time, G. Just hang on a little longer for me, okay?” Her hand squeezed my arm. I turned my head, giving her a blank stare in return.
My entire world was currently crumbling around me. “What are they talking about?” I asked, knowing she’d heard the reporters’ questions as well.
“I don’t know, sweetie. But we’re gonna figure it out. Buckle yourself in.” She laid on the horn and began driving slowly, waiting for the yelling reporters and their flashing cameras to move out of the way.
When she finally turned out of the parking lot, she let out a long sigh. “Ten minutes. You’ve got this. I’m right beside you the whole time.”
No matter how much she tried to feign confidence, I could always tell when she was bullshitting.
Like the time we were down by eight goals in a semi-final.
Do or die.
There was no way out. We all knew it.
Still, Jillian refused to lose hope. She never gave up. Even though she knew it wasn’t possible to score enough in the last five minutes of the game to come close to winning.
Jillian pushed us.
I’m sure she realized the cold facts. But if we were going down, we’d go down fighting.
That was what Jillian brought to the team.
That tenacity.
That refusal to give up and give in.
Until it was absolutely a done deal.
If your team was down eight points—or you just found out the man you’ve loved most of your life had been lying to you—Jillian was who you wanted by your side.
Who you needed by your side.
I took in a deep breath and answered, “Okay.”
I couldn’t bringmyself to look at my phone during the longest car ride in history. Instead, I concentrated on breathing.
In.
Out.
In.