Cath and Gil will be back any minute. My weekend with Linds will be over. My weekend with the journals will be over. It was nice while it lasted...

I read both of them in their entirety.

Twice.

That's not good is it? Not good.

Well, I'm blaming Lindsey. Don't suppose that is fair either. But she got me so crazy I lost control of my senses. My better judgement. That of conscience of mine, again...

Did I mention we were at the mall all day? I tend to spoil Linds a little when we are together, the sensible teacher vibe that I have going at school just disappears. Like her mother, she can persuade me to do anything. So we spent the day shopping for clothes, trying on shoes and eating our own body weight in chocolate and cookies. We came gliding home on a sugar high, and kept this going by eating a responsible dinner of milk and cookies. Catherine is going to kill me dead.

Who am I kidding? She'll get over the fact that I fed Linds crappy food, it's that other thing. That little invasion of privacy issue. That is what I shall be punished for, what I deserve to be punished for. But you know what, they were worth it. They were that good.

So I accept the consequences. And it looks like I'll have to accept them soon, by the sound of Lindsey running down the stairs, Cath and Gil are back.

She is gonna kill me dead...

I sneak down the hallway and am touched, beyond measure, by the scene before me. Linds, in her excitement, has leapt into Gils' arms, and they are deep in conversation. They are maintaining an intense eye contact as they discuss the bug conference. Cath is watching her family with wonder, she moves to them and draws them both into her arms and they hug for a long time. If I were a braver man I would have went over there and joined them. That was half the attraction with the journals. It was wonderful to have a little sneaky peak into their life. But they are not my family, and stealing their secrets will not make it so.

That would be my guilty conscience kicking in.

Catherine kisses her daughter and her husband and turns to face her guilty friend.

"Hey honey, did my daughter wear you out? You look a little crazed. Too much chocolate??"

"We had a wonderful time. Lindsey missed you guys."

"Nice try. I'm sure with all the junk food and the shoe shopping and the, who is it these days? Justin Timberlake? Anyway, I'm sure you coped."

"You know me, honey."

"Mmmm."

Cath just gave me the strangest look. Does she know? How ridiculous am I?

"Gil, honey, did you enjoy the conference?"

"Did you just call me honey, Jon?"

"Yeah, I was trying it out. Too weird?"

"Would it be weird if I called you honey."

"It would."

"There you go."

"Gil, sweetheart did you enjoy the conference?"

"You know, you are as funny as Catherine."

"High praise. Did you guys have a good time?"

And he smiles, that smile that Catherine loves so much. That smile that she devoted three pages to in the journal. Not that I should be privvy to this information. Well, actually Cath told me a long time ago what Gil Grissoms smile did to her, but that information was shared. It wasn't stolen.

"It was wonderful. The speakers were of the highest calibre and I've been asked to give a speech at a follow up conference next month. I think Cath enjoyed it too.?"

"Really?" Subtle man.

"No. But she pretended to. One of the reasons I love her."

Actually there are forty eight listed reasons why he loves her in the journals, I wonder if he has discovered more since then. Knowing these two, probably...

I need to go and confess to Catherine, need to get this over with as quickly as possible. A quick and painless death will be the best thing. So I leave the wonderful Mr Grissom and Linds talking about something I don't understand. Sorry, can't even try to explain what it was about, and I educate children for a career... Makes me look sort of bad...

"Cath, are you decent?"

"Yeah, I'm just unpacking. Come in."

"You look great. Did I mention that? You had a good time?"

"I did. I really did."

There's that goofy smile again.

"It was a beautiful hotel, we had a lovely room and I was there with my lovely husband."

"Do you remember what anyone was speaking about?"

"No. I went to the debates with Gil, but mostly I just held his hand and enjoyed spending time with him."

"It's like high school all over again."

"You didn't know me in high school wise ass."

"I was guessing."

"Hmm. So, did you have fun this weekend? Was Linds okay, I know she tends to brainwash you into doing whatever she wants."

"Like her mother."

"You are in her mothers bedroom, so if you don't want kicked out?"

"Sorry. I had a fabulous weekend. It's been a while since Linds and I spent so much time together. We had a blast. We had way too much fun actually. I sort of got carried away..."

"Jon, you didn't redecorate her room again?"

"No. Worse than that."

"Okay."

"Please understand that I love you guys, and would do anything for you. I love that you are so happy these days, love that you and Gil and Lindsey have found each other. Think I might have gotten a little jealous."

"And a little nosey?"

She knows. She always knows.

"I read your journals. I'm the worst friend in the world. But in my defence I tried to stop. I just got addicted to the happiness, to the little haven of love that was contained in those pages."

"Right. This is the part where I kick your ass. You do know that?"

"I know, I'm prepared."

"I thought this might have happened. I shouldn't have left them out when I had the nosiest house guest in the world in my home. We will never talk of this again. Will we?"

"Well, I was kind of hoping to take you out next week, ply you with red wine and make you tell me stories about the forty five reasons you love Gil. I'm telling you sweetie, you should get that thing published."

"We are not talking about this anymore. You know you didn't have to read the book to find out that stuff. I tell you everything anyway."

"I know. That's what makes it worse."

"Did you read them all?"

"Not at first."

"You really read all of them?"

"Sorry, honey."

"Okay. I've got nothing to be ashamed of, I'm not the sneaky boy here. But I don't believe you read all of them."

"No. I really did. Even the stuff that made me want to wash out my brain. That's how crazy I got."

"Did you read the small print?"

"You put small print in your journals of love? I'm devastated."

Cath brings her precious book over to me and directs my attention to the hand written note on the back cover.

JON, IF YOU EVER READ THIS THEN YOU WILL BE KILLED. IF YOU CHOSE TO READ BUT THEN CHOOSE LIFE, THERE WILL BE A PUNISHMENT REGIME. THIS WILL CONSIST OF YOU TAKING ME TO HEALTH SPAS ONCE A MONTH FOR A YEAR. YOU WILL TAKE ME TO DINNER EVERY TWO WEEKS, AND YOU WILL LOOK AFTER MY DAUGHTER WHENEVER MY SEXY HUSBAND AND I NEED TO HAVE SOME ALONE TIME. YOU WILL WRITE A PERSONAL JOURNAL OF YOUR OWN AND LET ME SCRUTINISE IT FOR GRAMMATICAL ERRORS. YOU WILL ALWAYS BE MY FRIEND. ALWAYS.

"Sorry."

"It's okay. I love you, you get forgiven everything."

"So, seriously, you gotta tell me about these forty five reasons to love him."

THE END