Grace laughed, but the warmth in her body had changed character. It filtered through her skin and concentrated at her core. She couldn’t help indulging in it, especially if it had no hope of lasting.
Grace
What are you wishing for?
Alix
A dangerous question.
Grace
If you don’t want to tell me, I have packing to do before my ride for the airport arrives.
Alix
You know I love it when you drive a hard bargain.
A series of heart-eye emoji flooded Grace’s screen before Alix’s chat bubbles appeared and reappeared.
Alix
I was thinking this could use a touch up. It’s fading a little faster than I’d like.
A moment later, a picture that should’ve come with a warning materialized on her phone. If Grace hadn’t already been lying down, she might have flung herself dramatically onto the bed and screamed into her pillow.
In the low light of her bedroom, Alix was lying with her hand behind her head. With the buttons of a flannel shirt undone, Alix wasn’t just showing Grace the fading hickey on her neck, she wasgiving her a mouth-watering view of her cleavage and the snake tattoo Grace could recreate from memory.
Alix
Hurry. I need you.
Grace jumped to her feet and rushed to finish packing. She was a mere mortal trying to mimic a Greek God in flight. But as she tossed folded clothes into the suitcase, she couldn’t convince herself that the high of flying wasn’t worth the risk of drowning if she crashed.
Grace arrived in LA at mid-morning thanks to a disorienting but favorable time change. This time, she’d packed everything in a carry-on so she could bolt out of the airport. So that she’d spend the trip in her own clothes because she was tired of provoking the God of Mild Inconvenience.
The day was foggy and cool and mercifully free from humidity without being an actual dehydration chamber like Colorado. She’d managed to figure out the maze of an unfamiliar airport but ended up in the car rental shuttle pickup section. Grace was about to pull her phone out of her backpack when she heard honking and shouting.
Looking up at the bright blue subcompact covered in stickers well beyond the bumper, Grace was sure she’d spotted Alix driving Phyllis’s car. She couldn’t help grinning at the sight of Alix looking like a stilts-walker in the toy car. She’d never been happier to run toward a vehicle.
Alix pulled over in the wrong place, judging by the chorus of honks that echoed around them, but Grace didn’t care. Didn’t care about who was watching or judging when she dropped her bag and tackled Alix in a hug. Didn’t hesitate to wrap her legsaround Alix when she grabbed her by the thighs and lifted her up without warning.
“You’re here.” Alix sighed like she couldn’t believe it.
“I’m here,” Grace confirmed with her arms around Alix’s neck.
When they kissed, it was like breathing for the first time in a week. Like seeing the sun after a volcanic eruption blotted out the light. Like life and joy and home. God, she was really fucked.
“Let me get that,” Alix said after putting her down. “I got you coffee,” she added when opening the hatch trunk, which the carry-on and backpack filled completely. “Or if your stomach was still iffy, also ginger ale.” Alix opened the passenger-side door for her. “Phyllis has a little cooler?—”
Instead of getting in, Grace stopped Alix with both hands cupping her perfect face. “Wolf, are you nervous?”
Alix grinned, displaying her heart-stopping dimples. “What? You think you’ve got the market cornered on a little neurosis?”
Grace’s laughter was warm and vibrant and impossible to contain. Being with Alix like this made Grace feel like magic was real. Like some rare flower had taken root in her belly and bloomed in her chest.
“I missed you so much.” Grace sighed before kissing her again.
Alix didn’t stop smiling. Not when they kissed. And not when someone yelled at them in a language Grace didn’t catch.
