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“Or when you’re really bored,” Emma burst out.
“Yeah. That works, too,” I said, laughing. “It’s hard to wait. But sometimes you have to.”
“Why?” the little girl asked again, for the umpteenth time today. Bruin sighed, but I just smiled and turned to look at her. She wasn’t joking around. She really wanted to understand.
“Because life is long,” I said softly. “And sometimes there are times when it feels really long. And you might want to skip the boring stuff or the scary stuff or the sad stuff, but instead you have to wait. And just know in your heart that things are going to change once the bad stuff ends. But until then, you have to smile and be happy anyway. And that’s called being patient.”
Emma stared at me, and I could almost see the little cogs turning in her head as she genuinely considered the meaning of my words. Then she perked up and said, “You’re smart.”
I laughed. “Thank you. I think you’re pretty smart yourself.”
Emma looked positively elated at the compliment. “I can count to ten,” she bragged.
“Wow! That’s really impressive,” I told her.
“She can spell her name, too,” Bruin added, with a twinge of pride.
“E-M-M-A,” she announced, clapping with every letter.
“Good job,” I said, smiling so hard my cheeks almost hurt.
“How do you spell Jillian?” she asked. I spelled it for her and she was so amazed, she then asked me to spell Bruin, patient, ice cream, and rainbow. I spelled them all for her and she seemed truly fascinated by my ability.
“I wanna learn to spell,” she said, a hint of envy in her tone.
Bruin looked at me happily. “Fostering a desire to learn. You’re a real natural with little kids, you know?” he said with a smirk. I rolled my eyes.
“Have you heard how many times she’s asked ‘why?’ I’m pretty sure the desire to learn is already more than present,” I laughed.
“Daddy, I don’t wanna go home yet,” Emma said suddenly. Bruin frowned.
“Why not, honey?” he asked.
She pouted. “Because then Jillian will go away.”
My heart was breaking. Bruin glanced at me sadly. “Well, she has a job to do. And like I said, she doesn’t live here. She lives in Georgia.”
“How far away is Georgia?” she pressed on.
“It’s on the other side of the country. What’s the name of our country, honey?” he asked, clearly hoping to distract her with trivia.
“A-mer-i-ca,” she said, emphasizing every syllable.
“Good job!” he said.
“I don’t like Georgia,” Emma declared.
“You’ve never even been there,” Bruin said. I had a feeling what she was about to say.
“I want Jillian to stay,” she said firmly.
Just then, my phone went off. There was a business meeting happening tomorrow evening back in Atlanta. I was expected to attend. Bruin caught me looking at my phone.
“Duty calls?” he asked quietly. I nodded.
“Unfortunately,” I replied. “I need to be on a flight tonight, Bruin.”
“I understand,” he said. “I need to take Emma home. It’ll be her bedtime in a couple hours. Can I call you a car to take you back to San Diego?”
