Dedication Takes a Lifetime

I hung up the phone, mouth open in shock. I could not believe what had just happened. Shaun’s hand rested on my knee. “So?” he asked, looking at me expectantly.

“We’re going on Oprah.”

“Why?”

I filled him in on the details: Oprah’s people had called us because we were an interesting story of perseverance as the tabloids painted us in a negative light. We were current, we were young, and we had been through enough crap to fill up a major time slot. We couldn’t pass up an opportunity like this to explain ourselves to the American public.

“This is major.” He ran a hand through his hair. “Super mega major.”

“Huge. Big step.” Full, coherent sentences eluded me.

“What do we do?”

“Explain everything. Talk.”

“Well, it is a talk show. One would assume there would be talking,” he said jokingly. I smiled.

“We can’t mess this up.”

“Definitely not. Oprah is so powerful. And this is a big chance. A chance to get everything out there, to finally let people know the truth.”

“It’s like… a magical cure-all. Everything the tabloids lied about will all go away once we get on there and clarify it.”

He let out a deep breath. “I need to clear my head. Let’s go out.”

“Where to?”

“Lunch? A movie? The slopes? Don’t know, don’t care.” He pulled me up. “I just wanna be with you and not think of anything strenuous.”

“Sounds good to me.”