I finally turn to look at him, and his anxious eyes meet mine. I lift a shoulder. “What if you can?”
He sighs.
“It’s not going to be easy, but maybe you’ll even surprise yourself. And I’m here to help you,” I say.
“Yeah, but for how long?” he asks.
“As long as you need. I already walked away from Chicago, and it’s not like I could find anything as a communications majorthat’s paying me what you are.” I smirk a little at that, and he chuckles. I glance at my watch. “Let’s talk more when I get back. I need to get to this interview.”
He nods, and then he surprises me by setting his hands on my shoulders, and he sort of squares off at me. “You got this, Ains. You can do hard things, and I think you might even surprise yourself.”
I clench my jaw as I fight back tears. He just threw all my own clichés right back in my face, and somehow, they’re simply everything I needed to hear.
“Thanks, Dex.”
“Go get ’em, champ.” He drops his hands from my shoulders.
“Champ?” I ask, and I can’t help a giggle.
He shrugs. “Go be a champion.”
“You don’t do pep talks for women very often, and it shows.”
He chuckles. “Okay, wildcat.”
I wrinkle my nose.
“Vixen?”
I cross my arms over my chest.
“She-wolf?”
I tap my fingers on the opposite arm.
“Warrior Queen?”
I raise my brows. “Ooh, that one. I like it.”
“You got it, WQ.” He nods resolutely.
I roll my eyes. “We need to work on your nicknames.”
“Duly noted. Now get to your interview and be the warrior queen you are and we’ll work it out later.”
I laugh. “Deal. And Dex?”
He looks at me with raised brows.
“If Jack wakes up, you’ll be fine.”
He draws in a deep breath through his nose and lets it go slowly. “I got this.”
I nod. “You got this. And so do I.”
He nods, andI head out.
I’m completely and totally intimidated in a different way when I walk through the front doors of the hotel where the entire staff of the show has been working and filming for the last month. I head toward the conference room where we’ve been taping our confessionals, and the first person I spot is Jen, the producer who always interviews me. She raises her brows and gives me a pointed look at the same time.
