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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?”
“Yeah. That would be great.”
“Jillian, don’t go,” Emma said, her big blue eyes blurry with tears. It pained me to see her so sad, but I reminded myself that she wasn’t my child. I wasn’t abandoning her. I had a job to do. A life to live on the other side of the continent.
So I gave her a reassuring smile and said, “Emma, you remember what patient means?”
She nodded sadly, sniffling.
