“Good morning,” Allyson said as she rolled over to face JC.

“Morning, honey.”

“Everything has changed, hasn’t it?”

“Mhmm,” he nodded, “but only for the better,” he said reassuringly.

She smiled and gave him a good morning kiss. As she leaned into him, she felt his morning visitor and laughed.

“What? It’s natural and healthy,” he said defensively.

“No. It’s not that. In D.C. when I stayed over that first night, I saw you, um, adjust yourself,” she giggled.

“Oh, God, really?” he said embarrassed.

“I was facing the living room when you woke up and, well, yeah.”

“Well, did you enjoy the show?”

“I did, but even more so now.”

He just laughed, giving her a more lasting kiss. “Come on, let’s get some breakfast before they shut it down for the day.” This time, as he got out of bed, showing his bare butt to her, he wiggled it a little. “Now you can see the other side.”

“It’s just as perfect,” she laughed as he pulled on his boxer-briefs.

After a continental breakfast in the hotel’s restaurant, they made their way back to D.C.

“I have to call Shannon today. She’s off.”

“Why don’t you text her now, and then you can coordinate when to meet before we even get back.”

“You might be the brains of this operations,” she laughed.

Hey, I got some news! Lunch? Allyson quickly sent off to Shannon.

You and JC finally did it! lol Shannon texted back quickly, making Allyson nearly choke on air.

“Are you OK?” JC looked over quickly while on the Metro.

“I’m good, but look at what Shannon just texted.”

He could only let out a deep laugh at reading the text.

“She’s been willing this to happen, I think.”

“It might be time for her to find her next thing to will into existence.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t tell her. Besides, I’m pretty sure she’s convinced we did it in LA anyway.”

“Well, then you can let her keep thinking that,” he smiled at her, resting his hand on her thigh, sending shivers through Allyson’s body.

Shut up! Job news!

Hell yes! 1:30 Old Ebbitts?

Done

“1:30 at Old Ebbitts,” Allyson relayed to JC.

“Good,” he smiled, squeezing right above her knee.

“You’re coming right?”

“If you want me to.”

“I want you to.”

“Then I’ll be there.”

Before getting ready for lunch, Allyson called the San Diego Zoo and officially accepted the job. With an electronic contract in her email, she signed where she needed and initialed where they said, and she was officially a San Diego Zoo employee, set to start in a little over a month. The next step was to pack things up and find a place to live in California. Then, she just had to move.

“I don’t like not having you at the shop, but I have a feeling I’m going to have to get used to it?” Shannon asked as she threw her arms around Allyson greeting her and then briefly hugging JC also.

Allyson grinned. “I’m moving to San Diego.”

“The zoo job?!” Shannon asked excitedly.

“Yeah!”

“I’m so proud of you, Allie! You deserve this!”

“Thanks Shan! I can’t believe I’m doing this. I’m leaving D.C. after 11 years and the East Coast after forever. Who am I?” Allyson asked rhetorically. Truthfully, though, she couldn’t believe she was taking the leap to move across the country. It wasn’t for JC; she loved the job, but it wouldn’t suck being so much closer to him.

“You’re going to crush it! You were made to do this!”

JC nodded. “I agree.”

“What do you think of all this?” Shannon turned to face JC.

“I’m excited for her. I told her they would be fools not to hire her, and she laughed at me. Now look who’s laughing,” he teased, squeezing right above her knee again under the table. “And it will be nice to have her in the same time zone.”

“Yeah, I like him,” Shannon laughed. “By the way, how does no one know you’re here? Don’t the paps usually follow you around everywhere?”

“I specifically didn’t tell anyone where I was going, not even my manager. He just knows I’m unreachable until Tuesday.” 

“Well played.”

“You have to learn to play the game.”

The rest of the holiday weekend was spent at the Nationals-Orioles game – Allyson in her D.C. jersey and JC in his Orioles hat – and helping Allyson house search online so she could tour a few places over the next month before she had to move for good by the start of November. All the while watching their usual HGTV shows and having a few memorable nights.

“What about this one?” JC asked, looking based on Allyson’s specific requirements as Allyson packed some early boxes. It was a cute 1 bed, 1 bath house for rent for less than $2,000 per month, and only eight minutes – without traffic – from the zoo’s administrative offices.

“It’s perfect! Add that to the list, please.”

“Done,” he said. In total, Allyson had four homes to look at in a couple weeks when she traveled to San Diego to house shop and get a lay of the land for her new home. It was a trip she was both extremely nervous and excited to happen.

Tuesday morning, they sat on the couch sipping coffee on their last morning in D.C. together. “Do you have to leave?” Allyson asked, her knees up at her chest.

  “I have to get back for this producing session. Otherwise I’d be here with you until you move to California,” he said, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her folded frame on top of him, making her giggle.

“You better be happy I’d already set my coffee down,” she chided him.

“I checked. I’m smarter than to mess with your coffee,” he smiled.

She laughed and rested her head and hand on his chest, breathing in the smell of his cologne, slightly sweet yet still very masculine. “It just feels so right to be like this with you.”

“It’s because the universe knows we’re meant to be together,” he said, kissing the top of her head and then smiling as she started to sit up again.

“I’ll see you in a little over a week, right?”

“Without a doubt.”

“OK good,” she smiled back at him. “It seems so far away.”

“It’ll fly by. And I’m not gone yet.” He kissed her cheek.

A few hours later, JC was at Reagan, waiting for his flight, feeling guilty for leaving Allyson, but excited for the future.

Ten days later, Allyson flew out to San Diego where JC met her at the airport to help her tour the homes she had scouted online. Ultimately, she chose the cute small home JC had found that was perfect for what Allyson was looking for.

Throughout the next month, they talked on the phone and Skyped nearly every night as Allyson organized and packed things to take to storage and to send along to JC so they could drive it down from his house to San Diego.

“So whatcha wearin?” JC asked on one of these nightly calls.

“Really?” Allyson laughed.

“What? It’s a legitimate question. You turned it dirty?”

“And I guess you meant it as innocently as could be, right?”

“Zero ulterior motive,” he laughed. “I just want to make sure you’re comfortable.”

“Very much so! You know my loungewear,” she said.

“I do, and I like it. Purple or gray?”

“Gray. That’s scary.”

“You only have those two colors!” he laughed. “You have like 25 of them, but only two colors.”

“I only have five of them, thank you very much” she said sweetly yet defensively about her bra top collection.

“And yoga pants I guess?”

“What else?” she laughed.

“OK fine, I’ll play. What are you wearing right now?”

“Guess.”

“I told you.”

“Well technically, you didn’t. I figured it out,” JC teased.

“Seriously? You’re tipsy aren’t you?”

“I might’ve had a couple.”

“I knew it. You get playful when you’re tipsy.”

“Is that a bad thing?”

“I never said that.”

“So do you have a guess?”

“Nothing,” Allyson said, jumping right in for the tease.

“I said I’m tipsy, not drunk,” he laughed.

“Fine. Your black sweatpants?”

“Wow! Maybe you do know me. What else?”

“Nothing else.”

He didn’t say anything, but it was as if she could hear his smile through the phone.

“I’m right aren’t I?”

“Maybe.”

“Well I like the visual this is giving me.”

“I’m not complaining about the image you’re painting either.”

“I miss you, Josh,” Allyson said, turning the conversation from fun to serious.

“I miss you too, babe. When do you move?”

“Less than two weeks now. I can’t believe it. My apartment looks bare.”

“I know it’s weird, but I am excited for you.”

“I’m excited too, and extremely scared.”

“Scared is good. Scared means you care.”

“I keep telling myself that.”

“Oh and I got your last box of clothes and dishes.”

“Oh good! Sorry, I kind of hijacked your game didn’t I?”

“It’s OK, honey. I just wanted to distract you a little.”

“Well it’s close to midnight here. Can I fall asleep with you?”

“Sure. Let me know when you’re laying down.”

“I am,” she smiled through the phone.

Softly, JC started singing: “I woke up in this moment to everything undone. I wasn’t waiting for anything, but still here you come. You’re better than love. You’re all that I need. When I close my eyes, you are all that I see. You’re under my skin. You run through my blood. Oh, you know you’re better than, you know you’re better than love.”

As he continued singing, he could hear her breathing start getting deeper.

“I love you, honey,” he said sweetly into the phone.

“I love you,” she mumbled, as she was in the in-between stage of wake and sleep.