The beginning of everything else

Pizza and Panic

Elle and Lee turned 25 a couple of days after Elle and I returned from Lake Tahoe. They had initially told Rach and me not to make a fuss, and then last minute had decided they wanted to do something 'epic' that weekend. With two days' notice and a little help from all of the parents, we had managed to put together a pool party at the beach house and invite a tonne of people. I managed to convince Chloe and Rob to fly in with the promise that I would taxi them about and give them one of the spare bedrooms, the 'Summer Survivors Club' were all in attendance, and Tuppen and Char made it in from San Diego. Add to that our families, friends from Elle and Lee's works, and some of the people from high school, at least the ones that Elle and Lee didn't think were jerks.

Work gets busy for all four of us, but we have a general consensus that busy is good, it feels like we are all really making headway in our careers and we commit to making sure we do something together as a four once every couple of weeks as a bare minimum. As one of their gifts, Elle and Lee had got some gift vouchers to try an Escape Room, so one Saturday night in late June, we grab a quick dinner at a restaurant near our house and then make our way over to solve the murder mystery on the Orient Express. Based in a supposed dining car on the infamous train, we soon realize that I'm all about logic puzzles, Elle is a demon at numbers, whilst Rach has a knack with riddles, and Lee wields a black light torch with great effect. There is lots of laughter, a few arguments, and Elle only threatens my life twice, then as we rush to unravel the final clue we finish with just over 12 minutes to spare.

July starts with the 4th July fireworks and we celebrate 9 months back together and a month of engagement, Chloe and Rob are now officially dating, and Brad is quizzing me for football hints and tips because he wants to try out for the team as he starts his Junior year. My caseload is getting bigger, go figure, people commit way more crimes in the summer, and Elle is trying to get the prototype of a new game finished so that it can go into testing with the hopes that she'll have another Christmas hit. We've gotten into a routine of early morning starts so that we can enjoy our evenings together - we both take it in turns to work until 6 or 7 pm, whilst the other gets home around 5 pm to cook dinner.

Elle has been working her socks off for the last couple of weeks, and whilst in theory tonight was Elle's turn to cook, I said I would grab some takeout on the way home as a treat. I'm so proud of her for all of the hard work and success that is coming with her career, but this morning she woke up exhausted and feeling rubbish so I'd strongly suggested that she get home and take a nap.

Traffic is awful and I feel like I'm practically crawling along the streets, but I have pizza, lots of sides, and some ice cream ordered from the place just around the corner from our house, so it won't take long to dash in and pick it up before I make it home and we can relax.

The house is quiet as I open the front door, so I'm hoping that means that she is fast asleep. She didn't call or text when she finished work as she usually would, but again, that's probably a sign that she got straight to her nap. Placing my keys and the food on the counter, I make my way upstairs so that I can wake up sleeping beauty with a few kisses and cuddles before we curl up on the couch for a relaxed evening of food and watching movies.

Our bedroom door is open, with no Elle and the bed fully made, and I'm just about to head back downstairs to retrieve my phone when I hear a sniffle coming from the bathroom.

"Elle, you in there?" I call through the door, I don't want to burst in on her, but that definitely sounded like crying.

"I'll be out in a minute" she responds. The croak in her voice confirms that she's upset. I don't want to leave her in there stressing out about what I am guessing will be work, so I have to at least try to get her to open the door.