Saying goodbye to close ones is always the hardest.
~Edin Dzeko
***
Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.
He lay on the bed listening to the wall clock tick away. Zac couldn't sleep all night. Today was the day. The day of the gala. The last day she would be here. She'd already told him she was leaving with all her luggage right after the gala. She was going to some airport hotel to stay there for the night. She'd have left the city by tomorrow evening. And, that was it. The end of whatever they had. End to whatever new beginning could've had, before it even started. The one woman he loved didn't love him back. What an irony.
He groaned and got up. No use thinking about things that were already out of hand.
You love me too much to do that—Oh, believe me, I don't.
She didn't love him. At all. Maybe if he told himself that over and over he'd probably come to terms with it by the next decade or so.
He went downstairs and saw Savannah talking to Yvonne. They sounded jolly. And pretty much on the verge of cracking up, both of them.
"You could do better, Yvonne. I have a better one. The skeleton model in my biology class was a bonehead," Savannah said, somehow managing to keep a straight face until the end, and then bursting out laughing.
Yvonne tried to hold back her laughter, but watching Savannah cracking up, she too started laughing.
"That—was—a—good one—Savannah," she managed between bouts of laughter.
"I know, right!"
"Mornin' ladies," Zac said. He watched them both go still, then look at each other and then burst out again. What the hell? He stood at the edge of the bar table watching both of them alternately. "May I know what's happening here?"
Savannah puffed out, her laughter subsiding. He could see on her face how much she was controlling herself from not laughing again. That small smile on her face, those wide eyes looking at a laughing Yvonne and deep breaths she was taking to keep her composure—all of those signs gave her away. She was barely able to control, but she was able to—that counted.
Finally when Yvonne, too, stopped, Savannah told him, "We were having a pun competition. Trying to get the other to laugh with your pun-making-slash-narrating skills."
"And what was the pun that got you rolling over so?"
"The skeleton model in my biology class was a bonehead."
Both of them looked at him expectantly, hoping that he'd double up too. But no. He didn't.
"What?"
"You didn't find it funny?" Yvonne asked him. He looked at her and gave her a look. She knew him enough to know what that look meant. He hadn't liked the pun.
"Whose was it?"
"Mine," Savannah chirped.
"It was good. I liked it fine," he told her, making Yvonne raise an eyebrow at him.
"But it didn't make you laugh?"
"But it didn't make me laugh."
"And you say you liked it just fine?"
"And I say I liked it just fine."
Yvonne shook her head, a small knowing smile on her lips. Oh, Zac. He had it so bad for her.
"Okay. Not my problem. I have to make her," she pointed at Yvonne, "laugh, not you. So, Yvonne, it's your turn."
"Yep." She paused, then drummed her hands on the bar top. "Okay, okay, I have one. I want to be cremated as it's my last hope for a smokin' hot body."
Savannah chuckled. "You already have a smokin' hot body, Yvonne."
"Yours is better," Zac muttered, accidently voicing his inner thoughts out loud.
Savannah heard and chose to ignore it. Hers might be a terrific body, but it came nowhere close to Yvonne's. She figured he said it because maybe he felt he owed her that.
"Uh, Zac, your shake's kept inside. You didn't go for a workout today."
"Yeah. I couldn't sleep last night."
"Oh. Well, it's there inside if you need it."
As if he was going to give up on anything made by Savannah for him. "Of course I want it."
She turned to smile at him and got lost in the sea of emotions his eyes held. He held her gaze. It wasn't regular that this happened these days.
"Ahem! Well, if you're done increasing each other's body temperatures by giving each other the fiery eyes, can we resume our game?"
Savannah's head snapped to hers. She looked at Yvonne who had a gotcha smile on her smile and closed her eyes shut for a few seconds. She couldn't win here.
"Okay, I got one: To the guy who invented zero; thanks for nothing."
"That was terrible, Savannah. My turn. Can February March? No, but April May."
Savannah doubled up. "That one was really good. Really, really good."
"What the hell is wrong with both of you? A pun competition, really?"
"Yeah, Zac. Got any problem with that?" Yvonne countered. They both entered into the staredown that took place whenever they both disagreed on something ever since childhood.
Savannah decided it was in best interest to break the staredown by interrupting. "Uh, well, anyway, the breakfast is ready. Yvonne can you go call the others?" Savannah requested.
"Yep. Be right back."
"Thank you."
Zac and Savannah just stood there for a few minutes in the silence. There were a lot of things that they had to talk about, a lot of issues they needed to address. But neither of them had the courage to do so, both wanting to chicken out from it.
"Savannah—"
"Yeah?" Her voice came out louder than she'd like.
"Uh...you're leaving tonight."
"Yup!"
Was that happiness he was hearing in her voice? Was she happy to be going away from him? Of course she was.
"What time are you leaving? I mean, you're attending the gala, right?"
"Yeah, I am. I'll be leaving after the gala. Around eleven-ish."
"Oh, okay. Then I guess, I need to say happy journey now itself?"
Happy journey. She wasn't sure her journey would be happy. After all she was leaving quite a huge part of her back here, with all of them. With Zac, especially.
"You could. I will be at the gala, so you could say it again if you find me amidst all the chaos there's gonna be."
"Yeah...yeah. Um, maybe. You're taking your luggage with you when you leave the villa in a few hours?"
"Yup. Keeping it with Abbey for the time being until the gala ends."
"I see. Why not keep it here?"
"Oh no, I couldn't do that to y'all. It would cause a lot of inconvenience."
"So, we have to say goodbye to you in a while..." he whispered.
"Yeah. I have to, too."
"It's gonna be so hard, Reece."
"I know. I'll be leaving after lunch," she told him after a pause.
"Yeah, I know." He moved farther away from her. He had to. He couldn't get emotional distance, so he'd settled for physical then.
—x—
Around two o'clock in the afternoon, he and his family were there, standing by the door, in front of Savannah to see her off.
"I'll let you know when I'm back in Washington next time, okay? I promise," she told Stella as they both hugged tightly.
"Okay. I'll miss you, Chef Reece. And I'm going to remember you every time I crack eggs with a single hand."
Savannah laughed. "I'm gonna miss you too. Take care. I'm hoping you're gonna call me for your graduation a few years down the line? I'd love to see you getting graduated, lawyer and all."
"That goes without saying."
Next she hugged Rhett. "I'm sorry, I can't take you up on making out in the cockpit."
"You find someone else, belle?"
She almost said yes. "I didn't, you did." She saw his confusion written on his face. "Abbey. She likes you. Go get her before it's too late," she whispered into his ear.
When he stared at her wide-eyed, she nodded. He parted away from her and bolted out the door. "I'll miss you, too," she called after him.
Next up was Zac. The person she couldn't get herself to say goodbye to. But she had to.
She moved near him and slipped her hands around his shoulders and hugged him close. His hands automatically went around her waist. The one other time he got lucky enough to be this close to her and it was for goodbye—his Dame Fortune was so having the time of her life right now.
"I have left something for you on the study table in your room."
"What is it?"
"Just a little something from me to you." She took a deep breath. She had to say this; she couldn't live with herself if she didn't. "I will miss you a lot, Zac. A whole lot."
"I will miss you a whole lot too."
He buried his face in the crook of her neck and felt her sigh. He wanted to kiss her right now. He wanted his last kiss. But he knew if he kissed her now, got a taste of her again, there was no going back. He would be completely incapable of letting her go. Instead, he settled for pressing his lips into her hair.
"Have a safe journey, Savannah, and I'd really appreciate you calling me once you get there, wherever you're going."
"Okay, I will."
She hugged Yvonne next. "I'm hoping to run into you somewhere during one of my tours, yeah?"
"Obviously, especially if you're in Boston," Yvonne replied.
"I have a house there, so I think yeah, you could look forward to seeing me in Boston."
She pulled away from Yvonne. "Okay then, this is the final goodbye, I guess." She looked around the house and then back at everyone. "Bye!"
She'd just made it a few yards past the doors of the villa, when she heard Zac's voice call out her name. She turned around.
He was panting when he said, "I just wanted to see you off, properly. Alone. Without anyone else there. Just you and me. One last time."
Those last three words had her leaving her luggage in the middle of the path, sprinting towards him and jumping into his arms. He caught her and she buried her face in his shoulders. He could feel that patch getting wetter by the second. She was crying.
"What's wrong?"
"I'm going to miss you, Zac. So much. More than words could ever convey."
"I know, I will too." After a few moments, he stoned his heart and he said, "Come on, Reece, you have to reach the kitchen as well."
"Just let me stay here for a while, Zac. In your arms. Near you. Please."
So he let her. What all he'd have given her if only she'd asked, but she only asked for something so simple. He hugged her back, so tightly. He wished time would just stop. He wished they could stay like this forever. He wished she would stay with him. He wished he could ask for her hugs and kisses whenever, wherever he wanted. He wished for so much more with her.
He'd heard somewhere that if you wished strongly enough, you did get what you asked for.
So he just wished. With her in his arms, he did. He wished for her with all his heart.
—x—
Oh God! She's going. This is goodbye. Ahhh. I'm on the verge of tears. Shit, writing this chapter was so difficult. BTW, will his wish be granted? What do you think?
Also, if you haven't seen the new message I posted today, the last six chapters are left (this one included), which is why I am going to post them on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays for the next two weeks. Yayy!
If you liked Chapter 20, please vote and comment.
Thank you!!
Until next time...