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Though she knew it was unfair of her to ask, Lydia couldn’t swallow the hushed “Promise?” that escaped her.

Zann nodded, the set of her jaw determined, the fire in her eyes resolute. She looked like she was ready to fight the world for her, for them, and it was absolutely breathtaking. “Absolutely.”

Lydia swallowed around the lump in her throat. “God, I fucking love you.”

Zann smiled. “I fucking love you, too.”

“Right, that’s everything.”

Zann looked up from her phone at the sound of Lydia’s toiletry bag landing with a muted thud in the suitcase that lay open on the foot of the bed, and smiled in spite of the ache in her chest at the adorable little pout that jutted Lydia’s lip as she glared at her belongings. She understood the sentiment all too well—she’d felt the same when she had done an absolutely shit job throwing her things into her own bag after the shower they’d shared when they’d returned to the cottage—but there was also something comforting about seeing that she wasn’t alone in her misery.

While Lydia had been busy packing up her toiletries and cosmetics, she’d been busy looking at flights, and she thought she had a way to make both of them feel a little better. Saying goodbye was going to suck regardless, but having a definitive plan in place for when they’d see each other again would help take some of the sting out of it all.

“So, for Friday,” she began, waggling her phone to get Lydia’s attention, “I’m guessing eleven is a little too early, but there are flights that get in at three and seven. Which works better for you?”

“I mean, eleven is probably a little early for me to take off and call it a week,” Lydia admitted, and, god, she looked so unfairly beautiful as she smiled at her through her lashes that it was all Zann could do to keep her ass planted firmly at the head of the bed so she didn’t do something stupid like drag Lydia onto her lap and beg her to stay. “But you are welcome to hang out at my apartment, or camp out on the couch in my office, or I could always set you up in an empty office at TAG if you’d like to get some work done.”

“Yeah, but…” Zann arched a brow. “Wouldn’t I be a distraction if I were to just hang out in your office?”

Lydia chuckled and shook her head. “I honestly see myself being a distracted mess all day just because I’ll be waiting for you.” She shrugged and tucked her hair behind her ears. “I’ll just have my assistant Ethan rearrange my calendar so my Friday is as light as possible. Then I’ll just do what I can, and let Jon handle anything that’s left that can’t wait until Monday.”

While that sounded like a feasible plan, Zann still checked, “Your brother won’t mind?”

“Honestly?” Lydia smiled. “Ethan is so efficient that I’m willing to bet that nobody but him will even notice that I’ve bailed early. It’ll probably mean later nights for the rest of the week, but that’s a price I’m willing to pay if it means a few extra hours with you.”

That was impossibly sweet, but Zann didn’t like the idea of Lydia working late just for her. “I can do the later one. It’s not a big deal.”

“It is when it means I could have you back in my arms four hours earlier.”

“Good point.”

“I know.” Lydia’s eyes crinkled as she gestured toward Zann’s phone. “Do the one that gets in at three. That way, I can get at least most of the workday in before I skip out to go to the airport.”

“I can just meet you at your office or whatever,” Zann pointed out as she booked the last remaining seat on the three o’clock flight.

“And I can meet the woman I love at the airport so I can kiss her again as soon as possible.”

“That sounds very romantic,” Zann played along as she confirmed her seat—first class, ouch—and clicked through the rest of the reservation screens.

“Oh, it definitely will be.”

“Well, in that case…” Zann chuckled and tossed her phone aside as she rocked up onto her knees to crawl to the end of the bed. She smiled at the way Lydia’s pulse visibly jumped in her throat, and she bit her lip as she watched her. She held Lydia’s gaze as she climbed off the bed and took her into her arms, and, as Lydia’s arms wound around her neck, drawing her in closer, she made a mental note to buy exorbitantly overpriced flowers in the terminal for her. “I can’t wait,” she murmured as she dipped her head to nuzzle Lydia’s lips.

“Me neither,” Lydia whispered, tugging ever so gently at the back of Zann’s neck as she lifted her chin beseechingly.

The moment their lips touched, the alarm Lydia had set after their shower as “a ten-minute warning” for when she’d need to leave to make her flight went off, and Zann groaned against her lips. “I hate that thing.”

“Me too,” Lydia muttered as she dropped to her heels and buried her face in the crook of Zann’s neck. “I don’t want to go,” she whined as she reached into her back pocket to silence the alarm.

“I know, love.” Zann kissed her forehead. “I don’t want that either. But you need to get back to TAG. And I’ll be there on Friday.” She combed her fingers through Lydia’s still-damp hair, scratching at her scalp like she knew Lydia liked, and kissed her forehead again. “And in the meantime, we can text and call and FaceTime. It won’t be the same, but it’s something.”

“Yeah.” Lydia nodded. “I know. It just sucks.”

“It does,” Zann agreed as she held her just a little tighter. “But it’d suck more if we never found each other, so…”

“True,” Lydia agreed softly as she pulled away.

Zann’s heart ached at the resignation that shone in Lydia’s eyes. For as much as she wished otherwise, she knew that this was the hand they’d been dealt, and now they just had to play it out. Though if the pain in her chest was any indication, this bi-coastal game was going to be a fucking short-ass one.