Welcome to Case Close Close.

You're listening to Bye-Babe, by Kerala Lovering.

Narrated by Helen Laser and Carissa Vacker.

Let's pick up where we left off last week.

Chapter 37 Billy October 15th, 2023, two days after.

Alex gets to Cassie and grants around dinner time.

I invited him over earlier when Cassie told me to, but he had plans to go surfing with Dave again.

So we postpone to dinner instead of brunch.

Alex arrives with a bag of takeout from Novita, a hesitant smile on his face.

I can tell he feels like an intruder the way I did not long ago, but Cassie greets him warmly,

her mouth spreading into a wide genuine smile.

You're sweet to bring dinner.

She's wearing leggings and an old flannel with misaligned buttons, no makeup,

hair twisted back into a messy bun.

She looks like a completely different

Cassie from the one Alex met back in September, and I'm grateful he's seeing this

side of her. Maybe it will help him understand. Cassie unpacked the takeout in the kitchen and Alex

pulls me in for a hug. He's showered since surfing but I can still smell the

salt water on his skin in his hair. God I've missed you, he whispers.

Goosebumps prickle the space behind my ear.

Cassie takes four plates from the cabinet and sets them on the counter a bit roughly, a loud clink ringing through the room.

Help yourselves, we can just eat on the couch, right? I don't have the energy to set the table.

...