by J J Arias
George was equal parts exhausted and exhilarated when she landed on Mila’s doorstep before sunrise. When she opened the door, she was a sleepy vision with tousled hair, boy shorts, and a tank top.
“Wha—”
She didn’t get a chance to finish her question when George’s lips covered hers. With a burst of adrenaline, she picked her up. Bare legs wrapped around her waist as she slammed the door shut with her foot.
“What’s going on?” Mila asked breathlessly, her arms gripping George’s neck.
“I want to ask you something,” George explained as she continued toward the bedroom carrying Mila despite the strain in her back and pull of her hamstrings. “And you can say no, but I really hope you don’t.”
Laying Mila on the bed and then climbing on top of her, George’s dark eyes were huge and wild. She was pleading with her before she’d opened her mouth.
“I love you,” George started. “More than I ever thought it possible to love another person. You showed up in my life as this infuriating force of chaos,” she laughed as she recalled their first interactions, “and somehow,” she shook her head, “you turned it all upside and made me see everything I was missing. I was living in the dark and you turned on flood lights.”
George paused to collect herself as hot tears streamed down her face. She’d cried more since meeting Mila than she had in the last decade.
“I love you too, honey, but you’re kind of scaring me,” she said, wiping away her tears. “What’s this about?”
“Tomorrow,” she started before taking a deep breath, “Nathan and I are announcing our amicable separation.”
“Shit, George, really?” Mila slid out from under her and sat up on the bed. “There’s just over three months until the election. You’ve been doing so well. Can’t it wait a few months? All anyone is going to want to talk about is your divorce. Blankenship will have a field day speculating what manner of scandal broke you up right before an election. They’ll look at me leaving the program and say there was something more to that. Why risk it when you’re so close? I don’t think a conscious uncoupling is wise.”
“You didn’t let me finish,” George said with a broad smile. “No one is going to speculate about my divorce—”
“Of course they will! You know the first thing they’re going to do is—”
“They’re not going to speculate,” she interrupted, “because I’m going to tell them. That’s what I want to ask you.” George took a deep breath to steady her racing heart as she took Mila’s hand. “When I make the announcement, I want to be completely honest. You deserve so much better than a life of hiding, and my voters deserve to know who they’re voting for. They can take me or leave me.” She finished with her chest puffed out.
Even in the darkness, Mila’s eyes conveyed her shock. George could sense her staring into her soul. She pulled her down into a long, lingering kiss.
“Are you sure you want to do this? There’s no going back once the rainbow is out of the bag.”
George chuckled. “I’m tired of keeping everything in separate, locked compartments. Living like this is barely half a life, and that’s just not good enough anymore. I’ve been so wrong for so long. What’s the worst that could happen? If I lose, at least I’ll go down in a blaze of my own truth. But I’ll know that whatever happens, I’ll have been honest.”
“I’m so incredibly proud of you,” Mila whispered before kissing her again. “I knew you were a fucking rockstar.” She laughed.
“So you’re okay with the world becoming very aware of you? Of us? Depending on how slow the news cycle is, this could go national.”
“I’m more than okay with it,” Mila replied as she flipped her over onto her back and straddled her hips. “I couldn’t be prouder to be by your side, come what may.”
George pulled her down onto the bed and enveloped her in her arms.
* * *
Huddled around the coffee table in the mansion, George and her most trusted inner circle stared at a laptop screen.
“Run the one where we just get divorced,” Nathan said from behind Mila’s shoulder.
“We did that one already. It’s the least favorable,” she replied.
“Less favorable than her being in a relationship with a woman twenty years younger than her while still married?” he asked in amused surprise.
“Nineteen,” Mila, Jo, and George corrected him in unison.
“Okay, okay,” he said, holding up his hands like he was being robbed at gunpoint.
“Is that really how that’s looking?” Jo asked before shoveling a handful of popcorn in her mouth.
Mila nodded. “I ran a dozen different algorithms. But you all know as well as I do, these things aren’t perfect. They’re just educated guesses. Voters haven’t been polled on this question.”
“And they can’t be,” George interjected as she paused her pacing and pushed up her square red-rimmed glassed. “I don’t want anyone to catch wind of this before we have the chance to announce it. I’ll be dammed if this gets leaked. This is my life, not some initiative.”
“Not to play devil’s advocate, but we still have to work on the speech,” Mila chimed in. “You don’t think we could benefit from a few more eyes. Ones that might be a little more objective than we are?”
“Benefit from? Yes,” George responded with complete confidence as she plopped down on the couch behind where Mila was sitting on the floor. “Risking it is another question.”
After hours of tweaking scenarios and information, Nathan gave up and went upstairs and Jo went home to see her husband. Mila and George were left alone in the library with the dogs.
“Am I allowed to work on your campaign?” Mila asked as she ran her fingers through George’s dark hair.
She nodded. “I had Jo call our lawyer and ask. Campaign stuff is fine,” she replied with her fingers pressing against her eyes. Mila noticed that she always did that when she was stressed or overtired.
“You don’t have to do this, you know? No one on Earth would blame you if you waited until after the election. There’s no reason to kill yourself with this self-imposed pressure. You’ve worked so hard to get here.”
George partially opened a single eye to look at her sideways. “You and I both know that self-imposed is the only thing that counts.”
Mila laughed. She couldn’t disagree. “Want to work on the speech?” she offered instead.
George shook her head. “I don’t know if this sounds crazy. When the whole thing is insane, it’s hard to spot the nuances,” she joked. “But I don’t know if I’m going to prepare one.”
Mila pulled herself up off the floor to sit on the couch beside her. “Really?”
“I think I’m going to speak from the heart,” she announced with her shoulders back and her chin in the air.
Mila swallowed her objections. The entire exercise was about being honest; how could she tell her she was going about telling her truth in the wrong way? “Then you can’t go wrong,” she decided as she rested her head against George’s chest.
“Have you changed your mind about all this?” George asked after a while, her heart pounding fast against Mila’s face.
“Not even a little,” she replied before lifting George’s hand to her lips and kissing her knuckles. “You?”
“I’ve never been so sure of anything in my life,” she stated after a long pause. “No matter what happens, I am proud of my record and the work I’ve done.”
Mila sat up to look her in the eye. “You have so much more good to do yet. Don’t count yourself out.”
George nodded, but Mila could see the fear and uncertainty in her startled eyes. If only they could see just how bad it was going to be, they could prepare.
“Would you like to come on stage with me when I make the announcement?” George asked abruptly. “It feels right to show the world who we are rather than try to explain.”
“I love you,” Mila said as she cupped her face and kissed her li
ps. “If you want me with you, that’s where all be,” she replied with certainty.
“I love you too,” she replied, holding on to her impossibly tight.
“Bringing me out is probably going to raise more questions, you know that, right?” Mila said after she’d mulled it over while still nestled in George’s arms. “They’re going to want to know what label you’re attaching to yourself now that you’re not straight.”
“I’ve never said I was,” George replied.
“It doesn’t serve us to be naive,” she said, choosing her words carefully. “You’ve only had one public relationship and it was with a man. People are going to have questions about that, about your orientation, ask about other relationships you’ve had. Are you ready for all of that?”
George swallowed audibly before taking a massive cleansing breath. “Yes,” she said in a throaty whisper. “I’m ready.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
“You got this,” Mila whispered as she squeezed George’s bicep. Back stage of an arena was a significantly more chaotic place than she’d anticipated. It was a friendly crowd, excited to rally for their candidate just weeks before the election.
“Speak from the heart,” Josephine reminded her from the other side. Mila glanced at her and nodded.
“Are we ready?” Nathan asked as he shot a glance at Mila and winked.
All three women nodded. In that moment, Mila was sure that they were all sharing the same bone-rattling terror.
“Here goes nothing,” George said after a hard exhale. She turned to her side where Mila was waiting to peck her on the lips and straighten her eggplant-colored dress and matching jacket.
“You’re going to rock this, and no matter what, we’re all going to be waiting here for you,” Mila said with confidence despite the full-body tremble she was battling.
George nodded again, said a few words to Josephine and took Nathan’s arm as they stepped out from behind the red velvet curtain. The crowd roared as soon as she stepped on stage.
Mila shot a pained glance at Josephine. She was so far ahead in the polls she was terrified of what the announcement would mean. Josephine reached for her hand. They stood together, fingers interlaced, as they watched George engage the supportive crowd. After pleasantries, she started the words she hadn’t let anyone hear in advance.
“Tonight, Nathan and I have an announcement to make,” she said with him steadfastly by her side. Mila’s heart leapt into her throat. The point of no return was fast approaching. “After twenty years of companionship, Nathan and I have made the decision to separate amicably.”
The crowd erupted into a sea of murmurs and a cascade of flashing cameras. Josephine squeezed Mila’s hand until it came close to cracking.
“We were friends well before we got married, and we will remain fierce and committed friends afterwards,” she added, turning to give Nathan a big hug and letting him walk off the stage. Mila watched him hesitate as if unwilling to leave her alone with the crowd, but eventually he did as she asked.
All the reporters positioned along the front of the stage shouted questions at George, but Mila couldn’t make out what they were saying. Either George didn’t understand them either, or she chose not to respond.
Beyond the reporters, Mila noticed the dozens of familiar faces from the governor’s office. Tim, standing a head taller than the others around him, looked confused as if he’d read her speech before and it wasn’t matching.
When Nathan made it back to the corner where she and Jo were watching behind the curtain, he was pale and speechless. The energy must have been worse out there than they realized. He stood on Josephine’s other side and put his arm around her.
Mila watched George take a deep breath and step out from behind her podium. With her shoulders back and her voice less practiced than she’d ever heard it, George did something the governor had never done. She talked to a crowd of thousands as if she were at lunch with a friend.
“There are times in life where our relationships become partnerships, and Nathan and I have based our partnership on something strong. Friendship. And then something I never thought possible happened.” She paused and smiled.
Mila’s heart stopped. Breathing was nearly impossible, and she was certain she’d faint. The tipping point was here. If she finished her thought, there would be no going back. Mila wrestled the desire to be sick. More than anything she wanted to flip to the end and know how this would turn out.
“I have fallen in love,” she said with a shrug. “It’s just as simple and just as complicated as that.”
Time stopped for a moment as the words sunk in. George appeared to relax the more she talked. Crouching down to sit with her legs hanging off the edge of the stage, she sat closer to eye level, sending her security rushing to the front. The reporters clawed at each other as they fought to get their recording devices and cameras in her face.
“I’m here to answer your questions,” she said as she straightened her back. And questions people had. George’s rally became more of a town hall as she answered questions from the media and her supporters alike. People wanted to know if she had been unfaithful, who the person was, and hundreds of variations on the same concerns.
When the only question she had left to answer was who, George made another statement. “I’m here to make myself vulnerable to all of you who have supported me, and I hope you will continue to support me. My personal life has never affected my policies. Everything I’ve ever pushed or supported has been because I believe in it. I assure you my governance will not change. All I can do is hope that you all will vote for me based on my record of dedication,” she said before standing.
Mila’s body had gone numb by the time George sauntered toward her. She was shocked that George looked more at ease than ever. She owned every part of the stage and she stalked toward her like a proud lioness.
“Are you ready?” George asked, extending her perspiring hand toward Mila as if she was getting ready to explore the surface of the sun, Mila took it and followed her out to the blinding stage lights.
As soon as they walked in front of the crowd hand-in-hand, there was a stillness, much like the eerie silence in the eye of the hurricane. Mila wasn’t tricked by the calm. She swallowed hard, braced herself, and tried to smile.
The sound of the crowd’s reaction was absolutely deafening. Even as an entertainer used to performing for an audience, Mila could hardly keep her legs sturdy. If it weren’t for her devotion to George, and not wanting to leave her on stage alone, Mila would be the one bolting.
“This is Mila Dortch,” George explained when they reached the very edge of the stage where Mila could finally see again.
Tim’s jaw was slack and his mouth a gaping hole. His speechlessness was replicated like a virus through the audience as everyone stood silent and intent on hearing every word their governor was saying.
“You might recognize her from a news story last year. I had the chance to get to know her as a member of my staff. Before we engaged in a romantic relationship, Mila resigned her position and is now putting her brilliant mind toward getting into law school. I am proud of her, and proud to say I’m in love with her.”
The first sound to shatter the silence was Tim’s enthusiastic clapping and piercing whistle. The rest of her staff followed suit, screaming and cheering as loudly as they could. Then, Mila’s stomach dropped, as row by row people started leaving. She squeezed George’s hand and chose to focus on those who stayed and supported them with gusto. It was a little less than half the room, but it was better than none.
* * *
“I can’t believe you did that,” Mila said as they spilled into the mansion after having debriefed with Josephine.
“We did it,” George corrected.
Mila laughed. “I stood there in shock while you did all the hard work. You never told me how hot and bright those lights are.”
“You’ll get used to it,” she replied as they made their way up stairs. “I’m sur
e you’ll be giving your own rallies soon,” she added with a wide grin.
“Do you want to see what they’re saying?” Mila asked as she flashed George her phone while they walked up the stairs.
“Not in the slightest,” she replied, kissing her before making it to the top.
As soon as they entered her bedroom, the dogs raced out and jumped at Mila. “Hi, my girls, I’ve missed you so very much,” she said, kneeling on the floor to pet them while they licked her face.
“I really think they’ve missed you,” George said as she slipped off her shoes and jacket.
“You don’t spoil them enough,” Mila chided. “It’s not all about obedience training.”
“Don’t I know it,” George replied, helping Mila up and wrapping her in her arms. “You’ve already taught me that.”
Mila smiled and pressed her lips against George’s jaw. “I’m so unbelievably proud of you,” she repeated. “I’ll never stop telling you that you’re the baddest bitch I’ve ever met,” she said with a laugh.
“I should have that engraved on something,” George replied with a laugh and kiss to her lips.
“Shut up,” Mila said, turning out the light before throwing her on the bed. “I love you so much.”
“I love you with every fiber of my being,” she whispered into the darkness as Mila inched up her skirt. “I could never have done this without you,” she groaned as Mila yanked off her underwear.
In less than a minute they’d stripped of their clothing and George had flipped Mila onto her back.
“I’ll never tire of telling you I love you,” George said as she kissed Mila’s chest and then her navel before settling between her parted thighs.
“I hope you never do,” she said as she threw her head back and moaned.
There was no way to know what the news would be the following day, or what turn the campaign would take over the next few days, but in that moment, they were the freest they’d ever been together, and it felt like thousands of weights they hadn’t noticed had been lifted from their bodies.
