Sliding my phone out, at first my thumb twitches over her name, but instead, I look for someone I haven’t talked to in a long time.
“I can’t talk right now,” Lilly answers, voice clipped and unexpectedly professional.
“You’re with her?” I ask, leaning into the brick facade, straining my ears for other voices. Hers.
“Yep.”
“Just tell me,” I plead. “Is it bad?”
A pause, then a cryptic answer. “Not for the reasons you’d think.”
I frown. “What does that mean?”
There’s rustling on the other end, muffled voices.“Don’t eat the whole box,”Lilly mutters to someone, probably Jackie, over the covered mouthpiece.“You’re gonna be sick.”
A door clicks shut, and her footsteps echo as she moves to another room. “She’s not crashing out, umm…too bad. But she’s angry. And I don’t need my crystals to see a storm’s coming.”
“I don’t want to pile on,” I say quietly.
“Good call. She’s trying to sort through what she can control. You know how she works. Fix it now, spiral later.” Lilly pauses before adding, “It’s going to be OK. Just have a little patience.”
Jackie needs order in her life. Control. Time to box everything up neatly before talking about her emotions.
Meanwhile, everything is building up like a volcano inside me. It bubbles with the pressure of what I’m feeling and the need to verbalize it. I want to talk to her. To stop pretending I’m OK with this distance.
But she deserves her time.
I love her enough to give her today. Tomorrow too.
She’ll go out there and set the record straight. Do what she does best. Fight smart and own every studio she walks into.
The TV in my office has been on since this morning. My Jackie, on every major network, looks unstoppable. Calm, controlled, magnetic. She’s crushing every interview, one after another.
I wish I could be there for her, but she needs me to watch from afar. For now.
“You must be relieved the danger is over,” the anchor says. “Can you tell us more about who these hackers were, and what exactly they wanted?”
Jackie’s voice is smooth and confident.“I can’t go into details before the trial,”she says, “but I want to thank the FBI task force, our security team…and a special person I can’t name for security reasons.”
Then she turns to the camera, and for a second, it feels like she’s looking through the lens, directly into my soul. Warmth spreads through my chest like the spring sun over the frozen Boundary Waters.
The anchor clears his throat, shifting to the next topic.“Inside sources say the Commission will release a statement of support very soon.”
“They have everything they need to feel confident about the vote,”Jackie replies.“So, yes. We look forward to the official decision and to continuing our partnership.”
He nods politely, but he’s a shark. I know that hungry look.“Let’s get it out of the way,”he says.“The video.”
Jackie doesn’t flinch. She stares him down, back straight.
“What does this conduct say about your leadership?”
She gives him a lethal smile.“Fortunately, Jeff, I don’t conduct business from the booth of a bar on a Friday night. My company’s results speak for themselves.”
He blinks. Probably was expecting a teary-eyed public apology. She lets it hang a beat, then tilts her head, poised and razor-sharp.
“What’s the question here? Because I have a suspicion no one would think twice if I were a man, blowing off steam after a long week. But I digress. You were saying.”
Her answer throws him off.“Umm.”He recovers poorly, off balance.“My concern is for the 300,000 people working for you. Their stability, their trust—”
