The Science of Growing Apart

42- Epilogue

Three Years Later

"Josie Matthews presents a fresh new perspective to crime journalism. She gives a voice to the victims of these terrible crimes a voice, she makes the readers see them as people rather than just a story on a news site. Her writing is emotional and detailed, while also remaining unbiased and factual. The work she is doing as lead writer at Kripke is-"

"I know," I interrupted Casey's dramatic reading of the review he was reading on his phone. "I know, I've read it like ten times since it got published this morning."

He continued staring down at his phone, his elbows propped on the table between us. "It's just so cool. I mean, I've always known that you're ridiculously talented and it's about time that everybody else recognizes it too."

My career did seem to be taking off in ways I never imagined and it was equal parts terrifying and exciting. I was taking on the high profile crime cases at work, helping Kim prioritize and assign work to my team of writers. Because yeah, I had a team of writers. I had a Twitter account with an alarming amount of followers where I would live Tweet about court appointments and police discoveries. I had an assistant who helped plan meetings and interviews, which eased half of my ever-growing stress.

"And you just won all of that grant money," I reminded him as I took another bite of my cheesecake. "We're a total power couple."

He flashed me that winning smile that nearly always took my breath away. I'd never get tired of that smile and the proud look in his eye only added to the tightening in my chest. I thought for sure that after so long of being with him, the butterflies and nerves would go away, but they had yet to dissipate. Every day I woke up next to Casey, it felt like the first.

That's a good line. I should add that to my speech. Oh god. No, don't start thinking about that now. It's not time yet.

"Josie?" Casey said my name, reaching across the table to rest his large hand on my forearm. My eyes snapped up to his and he gave me a curious look. "What just happened?"

"What?" I mumbled dumbly.

"You completely zoned out," he explained as he slowly trailed his fingers down my arm until he got to my hand, interlocking our fingers together. The waiter came by with the check as I finished my glass of wine. Despite both of us making good money in our careers, it still pained me to spend so much money on one meal. But the restaurant was fancy- the kind with lit candles on the tables, dim lighting, and an actual live violinist playing Mozart in the corner. They had Casey's favorite lobster tail and my favorite pinot grigio, so we splurged on a trip every once in a while. "I asked if you wanted to stop by the pet store on the way home? Tulip is out of tuna."

"Oh. Sorry," I blinked a couple of times, squeezed his hand to bring myself back to reality. "I'll stop tomorrow, I have something else I want to show you tonight."

"Really?" he cocked his head to the side. "What is it?"

I shrugged, trying to make it seem like totally not a big deal. "It's a surprise."

He kissed the back of my hand before I laid my credit card on top of the check. There were no more questions about this surprise and Casey quickly fell back into conversation about the article. I let out a relieved breath that he wasn't pushing the subject. I'd crack like an egg if he got suspicious.

"Oh, I almost forgot to tell you," he interrupted himself. "I got my inheritance check from Silas yesterday. It's just enough to pay for that trip to Switzerland you've been wanting."

"An inheritance from Silas?" I repeated, feeling all of my nerves fly out the window at this new distraction. "He's giving you an inheritance while he's still alive?"