Lynx Book 3: A Callie Torres Story

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Jada was happy to finally be settled back at home to enjoy the upcoming days until Christmas. They returned home from Mazaltán, the experience going a lot better than she thought it would.

She had a great time with the girls today, and was excited to finally relax into bed with the love of her life. "Hi, Calliope," Jada said dreamily.

"We need to talk," Callie said immediately as she made her way over to the bed in her pajamas with her laptop in hand.

Before Jada could ask why, Callie was telling her. "I have to go to a conference on the fourth," Callie said as she closed her laptop and gave Jada her complete attention. "It's in New York City."

Jada smiled. "We get to go to New York? For how long?"

Callie averted her eyes. "A week."

The smile immediately faded off Jada's face. "Oh."

She didn't need Callie to tell her why she was upset, Jada knew. They weren't going to risk flying Riley across the country at this age because she was so young and vulnerable. And there was no way Jada could pump in advance for a week's supply. It was too much.

Callie was going to have to go to New York City alone. And Jada would be here in Seattle.

One week apart.

"We can get her on formula," Jada suggested. "I can probably pump about 3 days worth and my mom can mix it with formula."

"She's not ready for formula. We can't take her off until at least a year."

Jada took a deep breath. Her mind was racing with ways to keep Riley fed while she and Callie went to New York. But, she knew it was no use. There was no way they could travel together. Going to Mazaltán was different because they were only gone two days.

"But... Callie," she stuttered.

Callie set her laptop down on the nightstand and slipped under the covers next to Jada. "I know sweetheart. Come here."

Jada wasted no time burying her face into Callie's neck as Callie wrapped her arms tightly around her. "Calliope, I'm not going to be able to do it."

She felt Callie kiss the top of her head. "I can... I can try and see if they'll let me attend virtually. It's just going to be hard..."

Jada shook her head. "You've missed too much work already for me. I can't ask that of you."

"I don't know what to do," Callie said, her voice barely a whisper. "I just found out and that's why I came right in here to tell you."

"You have to go," Jada said glumly. "I'm a big girl, I'm going to have to handle it."

"Are you going to be okay?" Callie asked softly.

Jada took a deep breath and didn't know what to say. That week was probably going to be the worst week of her life. She felt bad for wanting to tell Callie that, because it was obvious that Callie was upset too.

"Be honest with me."

"No," Jada said quietly. "We haven't been separated for more than a day in almost five years."

Her heart rate that had spiked up upon hearing the news that the best doctors in the world would be stealing her wife for a week, and hadn't calmed down yet. Her anxieties had been relatively low recently and Jada knew she was going to struggle without Callie. Callie could understand her so well and was able to calm her down from every panic attack.

"You're afraid you're going to be anxious."

"I know I'm going to be anxious," Jada corrected. "It's going to be horrible."

Wrapping her arms even tighter around Jada, Callie kissed her cheek softly. "I'm going to see if there's something I can do."

"Calliope, no. You have to go. I don't like it, but you have to go."

"I don't want to leave you. We're both not ready for this."

"You have to."

Callie took a moment to let out a loud sigh. "If you need me to, I'll come right home the moment you need me."

"Can we FaceTime a few times a day?" Jada asked softly.

"Absolutely."

"I wanna talk to you when you wake up and before you go to bed just like we do here."

"We can do that," Callie replied confidently.

Jada sighed. "This is just going to hang over Christmas and New Year's now."

"I know, I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault, baby. I did sign up for the crazy life of a surgeon. It's going to suck, but we're going to have to get through it."

"Hey, my life isn't that crazy," Callie playfully protested.

"Getting told two weeks in advance that you have to go to New York for a week isn't crazy?" Jada replied playfully.

"Okay, it is," Callie conceded the point. "We've been together going on five years and this is the first time something like this has happened."

"Okay, well if your life isn't crazy, then you're crazy, Calliope."

"Whatever you say," Callie replied with a smile as she moved atop Jada.