Page 36 of Bi-Partisan

I drop the stack of charts in the bin next to the computer, then round the counter to grab my coffee. “Thanks, but what are you doing here? Don’t you have work?”

“Dr. Helvig is out at a scene, and I’m waiting for the lab to finish running some samples, so I’m taking an early, long lunch,” he explains.

“Ooh, you have another case?” Sophie asks excitedly. Casey’s job as a forensic anthropologist has always fascinated her, even before the head of his department started pulling him in to work on the FBI consultation cases.

“Yeah, but you know I can’t tell you anything until the case is closed,” he says, earning a frown. “Besides, even if I could, that’s not what I’m here to talk about.”

He turns his attention to me. “It’s time we talk about your birthday.”

“Must we?” I grumble.

“Yes, we must,” Sophie exclaims.

“We put it off until after the primaries because we knew you wouldn’t be able to think about anything else until that wasn’t hanging over your head, but now…”

“What is there to even talk about? It’s just you two and my parents going out for dinner like we did last year,” I say.

“And Jeremy,” Sophie adds.

Out of the corner of my eye, I notice Casey’s hand flex on his cup, which I get. Compared to my general dislike of Sophie’s boyfriend, Casey outright hates him. I would say it’s jealousy, but our mutual dislike of Jeremy goes back well before Casey started having feelings for Sophie. I don’t think he’ll have to worry, though. If I were a gambling man, I would put money on Jeremy canceling at the last minute.

“Well, that’s the thing,” Casey starts. “That was the plan before you got a boyfriend.”

I glance around before dropping my voice to a murmur. “A fake boyfriend,” I correct him.

“Yes, but your parents don’t know that, do they?” he points out.

I bite the inside of my cheek. He’s right. They don’t know that what I have with Jamie isn’t real. I hate that I’m lying to them, but when we discussed ground rules, we thought that the fewer people that know the truth, the better. And since my best freinds already knew, I decided my parents didn’t need to. Now, that decision seems to bite me in the ass, though, because I can already see where he is going with this.

“So we thought maybe we could make a proper party out of it and invite Jamie,” he continues.

“No,” I say firmly.

“Come on, it’ll be fun,” Casey says, grinning while he nudges me with an elbow.

“It’ll just be at your apartment, so nothing fancy. Don’t worry,” Sophie adds.

Too late. Although, to be fair, I’m not worried about the location of the party as much as I am the fact that, a) there’s a party at all, and b) that I’d be introducing someone to my parents for the first time, and it’s not even a real relationship.

“You know your parents are going to ask why your boyfriend isn’t celebrating your birthday with you,” he says.

It’s times like these when I’m not always thankful for Casey’s uncanny ability to tell exactly what I’m thinking. “I’ll just tell them he had to be back in his district,” I say.

“To which they will probably wonder what kind of man their son is dating that he can’t even set aside time to celebrate his boyfriend’s birthday,” he counters.

“He’s right,” Sophie says. “Besides, we want to meet him.”

“But why?”

“He’s going to be in your life until at least December. So, are you going to invite him, or do I have to?” Casey asks.

“How would you even get in contact with him?” I ask.

“Social media. Or, it’s not like I don’t know where he works, so I could just call his office—”

“No,” I interrupt. “You will not bother Riley to invite her boss to a birthday party. I’ll do it.”

“Who’s Riley?” Sophie asks. “Is that his friend that was at the bar with him?”

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