Page 41 of False Start
Marina chuckled. “You are. Just, in a different way. Strength comes in different forms for everyone. It doesn’t make you more, or less than, just uniquely you.” Her mouth quirked in a small smile.
“If I hadn’t known Amber was your daughter, the philosophical shit would be a dead giveaway.”
We fell into a comfortable silence as Zara pitched the ball and it landed perfectly in Cami’s mit behind home plate. Both girls screamed in excitement as Cami cheered.
“It wasn’t real.”
Marina stayed silent; her eyes focused on the celebrations across the field.
“The relationship between me and Weston. He saved me from an uncomfortable situation and it kind of snowballed from there.”
“He does have a bit of a hero complex,” Marina agreed.
“It got out of hand. I mean… I didn’t even know who he was at first. And when I found out, I immediately used it for my own benefit.”
The story poured out in stops and starts. My proposal and Weston’s acceptance. How we deceived friends and family, and how it ultimately came apart.
When I was finished, I felt exhausted.
“Have you ever spoken to anyone about your family?” she asked eventually.
“I complain about them all the time. No one ever listens.”
She finally glanced over, a warmth in her eyes that I didn’t expect after having aired all my dirty laundry. “I mean, someone professional.”
“I’m pretty sure I’d be locked up if someone started digging around in my head,” I joked, but she just watched me quietly for another long moment.
“I guess I didn’t ever think it was something worth getting into therapy for. Who wants to listen to me whine about my shitty family when there are people out there who really need help?”
“Everyone deserves to feel heard. Whether that’s by friends, family, or a professional depends on their circle. Forgive me for saying so, but it sounds like you haven’t had a whole lot of people to rely on, and those that were there don’t sound like great supports.”
“They weren’t.”
“So what support would you like to see?”
As the temperature dropped and the first snowflakes touched down around us, Marina gently but firmly helped me work through some long-held beliefs that didn’t serve who I wanted to be.
She congratulated me on my decision to speak out against Denny Hayes, agreed with Weston’s suggestion of no contact… and gently suggested that maybe my sister wasn’t the villain I’d made her into over the years.
When we stood and stretched out our cold muscles, my mind raced ahead in a to-do list that scared and elated me.
I was going way out of my comfort zone.
And a part of me knew it was well overdue.
Gia
A senseof déjà vu settled over me as I took my seat between Cami and Ridley at the game the following weekend. The nerves were the same. The crowd was just as loud. But everything was completely different.
The tickets had arrived at my door accompanied by a huge bouquet of flowers and a paint by numbers set along with a note from Weston formally inviting me to the game. After my talk with Marina, I’d wanted to reach out to him immediately, but if I’d learned nothing else from our talk, I knew I had some serious self-improvements to make. So around my filming schedule, I’d found a new manager who came highly recommended, and her first point of business was putting me in touch with the police to add my own report about Denny Hayes.
I’d also asked Marina for the number of a therapist. As easy as it would have been to keep putting my baggage on Marina, it wasn’t fair or healthy for our friendship to blur those lines. I had my first appointment with a psychologist who specialized in family trauma after the holidays.
I hadn’t directly done anything about my parents yet, but planned on having a conversation in person when I flew down in a couple of weeks. My main goal for the visit was something that terrified me more than anything else on my list.
Asking Blair for forgiveness.
The game started off well, with the Engines winning the coin toss and opting to receive the ball. I cheered along with everyone else as Weston, Christian, and the rest of the offense took the field. Christian caught the snap and passed the ball through to the running back, who managed to break through the defensive line and run the ball ten yards before one of the Greenville Generals’ defensive players brought him to the ground.
