Three weeks passed and things, in Cassie's mind, seemed to be going well. She was not sure how she and Luke managed to make their friends with benefits relationship work. When the thought first came to mind, Cassie considered maybe she was crazy. But she also knew she did not want to be in a traditional relationship. It always seemed as if everyone just got hurt in the end. This way, Cassie felt there were fewer emotions involved.

Cassie stretched as she struggled to remove herself from the bed. It was a late morning in August and Cassie needed to start getting dressed if she was not going to be late for lunch with Luke. In the months since her return, Cassie worked out a rough routine that did not require her to be up too early. She was never a morning person.

When she finally managed to break free from the pull of her bed, Cassie walked over to the window and opened the curtains. She looked down at the street watching the movement of people going about their daily lives.

In her travels Cassie found there was no place quite like New York City. There were large metropolises all over the world, but none compared to the Big Apple. She reminisced about when she first moved from her hometown in North Carolina. It was a big change. Everything moved faster and the people did not seem as friendly in 'the big city,' which did not bother her too much. They had another quality she appreciated more—they were genuine. The fake smiles of the South were replaced with honest scowls and looks of boredom.

Cassie pulled herself away from the window and went into her closet to pull out her outfit for the day. As she decided what shirt to wear, her home phone began to ring. She stopped in her tracks. Cassie had determined that phone only brought bad news and things she did not want to face. She was trying her best to move on.

For a minute, Cassie contemplated not answering. She also considered calling the phone company and having her landline turned off. It only ever rang with misery. The phone continued to ring. Cassie walked out of her closet and picked up the handset that was on her bedside table.

"Good morning." Cassie said.

"Ms. Mitchell?"

"Yes?"

"This is Detective Parker. I'm sorry to bother you again." Detective Parker said.

"Hi detective. You don't have to apologize." Cassie said.

"How are you doing today? I know it can't be easy for you."

Cassie's brain seemed to freeze. It was the anniversary of Christian's death. She had already lived two years without him in her life. Cassie found it hard to believe that she forgot what day it was. The previous year, on the first anniversary, Cassie was in Dubai. She spent the entire day in her hotel room reliving the last time she spoke to Christian. In a way, she felt responsible for his death. Maybe the things she said pushed him over the edge and he became reckless. She essentially told him she did not care any more. Cassie knew she was being stupid, but sometimes being stupid and staying stuck in her grief was easier than moving forward. She was finally in a place where thinking about Christian did not cause her to completely break down. She had her friends to thank for that. Cassie initially thought traveling the world would help her heal, but all it did was allow her to ignore the problem rather than face it and isolate her from where she needed to be—surrounded by people who cared. In the six months since her return, Cassie somehow managed to slowly work through her feelings regarding Christian's death

"Ms. Mitchell?" Detective Parker said when he did not get a response from Cassie.

"I'm doing okay. Thanks for asking."

"I'm glad to hear it. I wanted to give you an update."

"I thought the case was closed. The suspect who confessed died right." Cassie said.

"Yes, he did. But as I told you a couple of months ago we were trying to build a case against Milo." The detective explained.

"And were you successful?"

"No we weren't. We are handing over our files on Milo to another department They think some of what our guys were able to gather will help out in a fraud investigation they are conducting on Milo and his business."

Cassie nodded her head. "I see."

"I'm sorry we could not get justice for Christian's case. Sometimes these things aren't as clear-cut as we would like them to be."

"I get it." Cassie said. "This will be the last time you're calling me then, correct?"

"Yes, we don't need anything more from you and I don't think there is anything else we can do for you."

Cassie sighed. Relief flooded her body. It felt like a weight was lifted off of her shoulders. "That's really good to hear." Cassie said.

"I hope the rest of your day goes well. Goodbye Ms. Mitchell." Detective Parker said.

"Goodbye." Cassie ended the call and put the phone back in its cradle. She allowed herself to collapse onto the bed. This was a good thing. She only had a minute to rest. Cassie still needed to get dressed and meet Luke down at their deli.

Luke was early for a change. While he waited for Cassie to arrive he flipped through files on his iPad. The firm was increasing their efforts to go green, so they issued all of their top performers an iPad. The benefit was Luke did not have to lug around reams of paper when he wanted to do some work out of the office. All of the files could be loaded onto his device. But Luke missed the feel of paper in his hand and the visual of the stack getting smaller as he went through it.

Looking at his watch, Luke began to worry. Cassie was never late. She had an annoying habit of being early for most things. He looked around before deciding to give Cassie a call. The phone rang only once before Cassie answered.

"Hey, I'll be there in two seconds." Cassie said. She did not wait for Luke to say anything.

"If you were going to be here in two seconds, I would probably be able to see you coming." Luke said.

"Luke, don't get smart. It's not nice." Cassie laughed. "Besides, if you look out the window you can see me."

Luke did as he was instructed and looked out of the storefront window. Cassie was a ways down the block, but he could see her. She was waving as she walked.

"Touché. I'll see you in a little bit." Luke said. He ended the call.

Within a minute, Cassie walked through the door and up to the table where Luke was sitting. She put her purse down in one empty chair across from Luke and sat in the other.

"Have you ordered yet?" Cassie asked. She looked to the counter. A line was beginning to form.

"No, not yet. I was waiting for you." Luke said.

"I'm sorry. I got a phone call before I hopped in the shower." Cassie said.

"I see. Was it Jade?" Luke asked assuming it was Cassie's best friend who called her earlier.

"No, let's order food and I'll tell you about it." Cassie said standing.

Luke followed her lead and the two went up to the counter. After they ordered and received their number, they sat back down at their table.

"I'm surprised no one took our seats." Cassie said.

"I think it's an unspoken rule of respect here. If someone was sitting at a table before they ordered, and you saw them there, then you leave their seats for when they return." Luke explained.

"You've thought about this a lot haven't you?" Cassie laughed.

"A little bit."

Cassie pointed to the iPad now sitting on the table next to Luke. "You have a new toy."

"Oh, yeah. The firm handed these out earlier this week. They want to use less paper. I'm still getting used to it." Luke said.

"That's smart." Cassie said.

A woman walked over to their table and sat their food down. Cassie ordered a salad and Luke had an Italian meat sandwich.

"So you said you got a call this morning?" Luke said after taking a bite of his food.

"It was Detective Parker."

"Who's that?" Luke asked.

Cassie realized that she never told Luke what happened with Christian. After all of the time the two spent together, how Christian died never came up. In fact Cassie was not even sure she ever told Luke Christian's name. Cassie did not really know what to think about that. The entire year she spent abroad, it was hard for her not to think of Christian. And even when she first cam home, things did not feel right. She never thought she would ever get to the place where she was now.

"He was the detective on Christian's case." Cassie said.

"Christian was your boyfriend?" Luke asked.

Cassie nodded.

"Oh. You haven't mentioned him since the first time we ate here." Luke said. "Wait, you said the person who called you was a detective on his case? His death wasn't an accident?" Luke asked. The reasoning behind some of Cassie's actions was becoming clear.

"No. He was murdered the morning after I ended things with him. That was two years ago. I shouldn't have been surprised. In the business he was in, you can't really walk away." Cassie said.

Luke was not sure how to react to the new information. He knew a lot about Cassie. In the six months they had been friends, she had opened up to him little by little. He watched large chunks of the walls she built up fall. Luke felt like this new information was the piece he was missing to understanding the person Cassie was.

"What do you mean?" Luke asked.

"He was a hired gun and a bit of a henchman. People paid him, and he would kill or brutally intimidate someone for them."

A million thoughts ran through Luke's head. The first was for Cassie's safety both then and now. The second had to do with how much she knew about Christian's work. His brain went into to lawyer mode as he thought about the implications of Cassie's knowledge of her dead boyfriend's crimes.

"How did you know?" Luke asked. "And how long did you know?"

Cassie recognized where Luke's thought process was going. "I didn't know much explicitly. I never really asked. I made assumptions as our relationship went on."

Luke sighed; the relief was evident in his facial features. Luke could not bear the idea of Cassie one day being charged as an accessory to murder. "So what did the detective want?" Luke asked getting back to the origin of the current conversation.

"They had a suspect a few months back, but he was killed in their custody. They managed to flip him; he was going to talk about who hired him for Christian's murder and others. They were trying to build a case against someone named Milo, I'd met him before. After their suspect died, they couldn't really get anything else on him. Detective Parker said they were officially handing the case over to another department. They're hoping to get Milo on other charges." Cassie explained.

The name Milo caught Luke's attention; it seemed familiar. He ignored the thought and turned his focus back to Cassie. "Are you okay with everything?"

"I kind of have to be." Cassie said. "There's nothing that I can do. This is out of my hands. It's hard to believe that exactly two years ago someone who played such a big part of my life was murdered. Today was the anniversary of his death. But surprisingly, I think I'm okay. I'm not great, but I'm okay. I never thought I would get to this place again, where I'm comfortable in my own skin and every thought is not of him and replaying our last moments together."

Luke was happy for Cassie. It was a big step for anyone who had been in her position before. "So what are you going to do with your new-found freedom?"

"I don't know. On the one hand I feel liberated. On the other, I'm completely terrified." Cassie admitted.

"I can understand your reservations." Luke said. "But you'll eventually get over your fear. You've come this far."

"Yeah, I know."

Luke's phone rang and interrupted their conversation. Cassie watched Luke as he talked. He nodded his head several times before the call finished.

"Important fire that can only be put out by the Lucas Carrington?" Cassie asked.

"That was Carmen, she needs some help on a case. I've got to head back to the office. I'll see you later." Luke said getting up from the table.

"Right. You're coming over tomorrow night right?" Cassie asked.

"I don't know." Luke said. He honestly had several case files he needed to go through the next couple of days. But he did not want to bail on their scheduled evening plans. "I've got to go."

Luke walked out of the deli. Cassie watched him as he became another figure in the crowd shuffling off to whatever business that needed to be attended.