Page 87 of Vacation with the Ice Queen

"By inflicting it on both of us sooner," Lila observed without heat.

"Yes." Serena's throat tightened unexpectedly. "It seemed... efficient at the time."

A smile ghosted across Lila's face, genuine if fleeting. "You would think in terms of emotional efficiency."

"It's how I've always operated." Serena's fingers traced the edge of the table, finding comfort in the tangible texture of wood grain. "Analyzing cost-benefit ratios, minimizing vulnerabilities, optimizing outcomes."

"And how's that working out for you?" Lila asked, the question gentler than the words themselves might suggest.

Serena met her gaze directly. "Terribly," she admitted. "I've never felt more... off-balance than I have since I met you. And this morning, when I tried to regain control by pushing you away..."

"You felt worse," Lila finished for her.

"Much worse." The simple truth hung between them, more revealing than any elaborate explanation could have been.

Lila was quiet, considering. When she spoke, her voice held no accusation, just a question. "What do you want now, Serena? Why are you here?"

It was the question Serena had been asking herself since intercepting the dinner cart. Why had she come? What did she hope to accomplish? What could she possibly offer that would make any difference with only five days remaining?

"I want..." She paused, discarding rehearsed phrases. "I want to stop wasting the time we have left. However limited it is."

The simple truth hung between them in the warm night air, vulnerable and real in a way Serena rarely allowed herself to be. She held Lila's gaze, letting her see everything—the uncertainty, the fear, the hope she barely dared acknowledge.

"Five days isn't much," Lila said softly.

"No," Serena agreed. "It isn't. But I'm starting to think Maika was right. Knowing something will end doesn't make it less valuable while it exists."

Lila's eyes widened slightly, surprise flickering across her features. "You talked to Maika?"

"He found me in the garden," Serena explained. "Or I found him. Either way, he helped me see things differently."

"And what did you see?"

The question was weighted with meaning beyond its simple words. Serena could feel the moment balanced on a knife's edge—her answer potentially changing everything or nothing.

"That I've spent my entire life planning for future success while missing present joy," she said, the words surfacing from some place deeper than conscious thought. "And I don't want to miss these last five days with you, whatever they might become."

12

LILA

Lila stared at the woman sitting across from her on the porch, hardly believing what she was hearing. Serena—the woman who calculated risks for breakfast and managed emotions like hostile takeovers—was asking for a second chance.

Lila's heart thumped traitorously against her ribs. Part of her wanted to throw caution to the tropical breeze and dive right back into whatever was growing between them. Another part—the part that still ached from their morning disaster—held back, wary of being hurt again.

"What changed?" she asked, needing to understand. "This morning you couldn't get away from me fast enough."

Serena's gaze dropped to her hands, those elegant fingers that had touched Lila with such surprising tenderness now fidgeting with her napkin.

"I panicked," she admitted, the simple confession clearly costing her. "After last night, after letting you see parts of me nobody sees. I woke up terrified."

"Of what?"

"Of how much I've started to care. Of how quickly you've slipped past defenses that have served me for decades." Serena looked up, her eyes reflecting the candlelight between them. "Of what happens when I leave."

The raw honesty in her voice touched something deep in Lila's chest.

"I can't promise that won't still scare me tomorrow," Serena continued, her words measured but genuine. "I can't promise I won't occasionally retreat when things feel too intense. But I'm trying. And I'm asking for the chance to keep trying. With you. For however long we have."

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