Disclaimer and thanks: All the usual ones... nothing has changed.
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The Aftermath
Shane
Shane stood rooted to the same spot on the floor where Oliver left her. She had no idea what just happened. One moment she was in heaven, in his arms, with his hand holding hers over his heart... her face so close to his... so close to kissing him! The next moment he left in a hurry and she found herself alone, confused and worst of all, hurting! It took her a few minutes to gather her wits about her. She couldn't stop thinking about those wonderful moments when he stood still, looked deep into her eyes and almost kissed her. What had he been thinking in those moments? Had he forgotten for a few seconds that he had a wife at large in Paris? Did he wish he was free? Did he desire her? The questions kept rolling in her mind… so many of them. As far as Shane was concerned, she could answer yes to all of them.
She slowly gathered her things and made her way home in a daze. Once she arrived at her front door, she couldn't even remember how she got there. She walked in and headed directly upstairs to her bedroom.
The minute she entered her bedroom she saw the dress she had bought especially for the showcase, hanging on a hook on the door of the closet. It was a beautiful backless red chiffon dress decorated with sequins with heavy drape and it fit her like a glove. She had watched endless dance performances on YouTube and now she was dreaming about their own performance, visualising the sexy dress wrapping around Oliver's legs as he twirled her around. She could feel his hand on her bare back already. The anticipation of its warmth made her feel all warm inside… just thinking about it. Now with the latest "development" back at the DLO, she could hardly wait for tomorrow. She knew there might be some awkwardness between them to start with, but once he smiled into her eyes and held her in his arms on the dance floor, she knew they would forget about everything else and just enjoy the moment. She was so looking forward to it that her heart almost turned itself inside out with the anticipation. "Oh, Oliver… it's going to be so beautiful." She whispered wistfully. She had spent a small fortune on the dress and the Jimmy Choo sandals, but she didn't care. All she cared about now was how much this showcase performance had taken over her life, leaving her very little time to think about anything else. Sure, she was a bit nervous, but she was also most determined not to allow anything, especially some jitters to rob her of this chance to do something so unexpected but so wonderful.
With this determination, she walked into the DLO the next day trying her best to look confident. It was all going according to plan until she ran into Oliver. The minute they came face to face with each other, all the… things...feelings, thoughts, gazes... from the previous night came flooding back into her mind. They were awkward around each other, not knowing exactly how to act. He was snippy towards her all morning and by lunch time, she'd had enough of his barbs. He was convinced that the Skype call she had organised for Henry and Sarah would end in heartache for one or both of them. She retorted by telling him he knew nothing about Skyping and until he saw for himself what it was, he should keep his uninformed opinion to himself.
Both Norman and Rita were dumbfounded at how aggressive their banter had become. Even Norman noticed something had shifted and it wasn't just Cora Brandt's absence. When Shane reminded Oliver that the business of the post office and the mission of the post office were vastly different, Oliver acknowledged if this was the case, he stood corrected. Shane took the opportunity for one more barb, saying it was a red letter day when Oliver O'Toole stood corrected and he should mark in his calendar because it was such a momentous occasion, after all it wasn't every day that he was proven wrong. She made it look as if she was going for his calendar but he quickly stepped in front of her to divert her from getting any closer to it. They were literally at each other's throats!
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Oliver
The moment Oliver let go of Shane's hand, turned the music off and walked out of the office, he knew he had made a mammoth mistake in asking Shane to be his dance partner. "What were you thinking, Oliver O'Toole? What the Sam Hill were you thinking? Were you thinking at all? What did you expect would happen?" Oliver drove home in a blur. He had to pray to ask God for focus to at least get him home safely. He was livid with himself, disgusted actually!
He thought about the last two weeks they had spent rehearsing the dance, doing it again and again to perfect it. Did it ever occur to him that they might eventually be attracted to each other? "Oh, let's be honest O'Toole, this attraction you're so afraid of started way back at the coffee cart. You might as well admit it." He spat out the words angrily to himself. He started taking stock of the situation and he had to be honest with himself. He needed to get to the bottom of this if he wanted to live an honourable life. God knew his heart, but he might at least try to understand it himself as nothing made sense to him at that moment. He understood now why Salomon said the heart was deceitful beyond measure. He had to calm himself. He had to start thinking about Shane logically, trying to remove the emotion out of it. He breathed deeply and started from the beginning. They had become good friends quickly. She challenged him often, but her heart always seemed to be in the right place. It was obvious Shane cared about people, deeply. He realised that slowly she was becoming the most important person in his life. He couldn't quite identify the moment it started, but he often thought about her the minute he woke up in the morning. When he entered the DLO every morning, she was the first person he looked for and when she was late, he found himself wondering if she was okay. He found himself thinking less and less about Holly. "Oh my goodness, what have I done?" he thought as he entered his empty and silent home. He remembered her scent and how it impregnated not only his shirts, but his senses as well… In fact, it was driving him crazy. During the last two weeks, out of desperation he often considered telling Shane her perfume was not... protocol...not... appropriate for the work place. He shook his head laughing bitterly, imagining how ridiculous it would be to broach such a subject with Shane. He also thought about moving her floating desk to another corner of the office since his concentration with her constantly right in front of him was getting harder and harder to maintain. Her sashaying in front of him back and forth all day long was a torture. He had to admit it, he had allowed her to get to him like no other woman had, not even Holly. She was slowly taking the space in his heart which had been carefully allocated to his wife and if he wasn't careful, she would eventually take over the whole space, squeezing Holly completely out. This thought terrified him. He had to do something about it. He wondered then, knowing this, why he had asked Shane on the spur of the moment to become his dance partner? He obviously only considered the urgency of getting out of Rita's disastrous offer, but he considered nothing else. He had been blindsided, but he could hardly blame Rita. It was his own weakness that had turned his head and attention towards Ms. McInerney.
He dropped to his knees and cried out to the Lord in absolute agony of soul. "Oh Heavenly Father, how lost and utterly confused I am. Tomorrow is my wedding anniversary to Holly. Oh Lord, she's not here. How can I dance with another woman on such a special day? How can I honour my marriage vows and remain faithful when my own foolish decisions about Ms. McInerney are sabotaging the very core of my commitment to Holly? Please help me. I shouldn't have asked her. I shouldn't have put her in such a difficult position to start with. Now I have no option but to pull out of the dance showcase. I know I will hurt her and she doesn't deserve it Father. She's done nothing wrong. It's all my fault. Help me fix it and please, protect her. Protect her heart, Lord. Keep her from… falling in love. Falling in love with the wrong man." He felt his heart breaking with such as request as he realised what a fortunate man it would be to deserve Shane's affection. He focused on Jesus again and carried on, "I know she will be hurt because of my thoughtlessness. Please be with her, but most of all please forgive me, Lord. Forgive me for not consulting you… that's why my life today is in such shambles… it goes back, Lord, a long way and you know it. Please help me to think twice before I jump into anything. Please help me to remember you. I ask it in Jesus' name." He got up and whispered as got into bed, "please forgive me, Shane, for what I'm about to do to you."
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Shane was right and Oliver couldn't have been more wrong! Henry and Sarah connected perfectly like a loving, grieving father and daughter in law… through Skype! It was an emotional encounter. It moved all hearts. The power of love and forgiveness! How freeing that was! Oliver had to admit, not proudly, that he was wrong. He took the chance to pour much praise on Shane for the wonderful job she did bringing Henry and Sarah together and asked her humbly to forgive him for doubting her. Shane forgot about all the barbs that had flown between them all morning and graciously accepted his apologies.
However, Oliver knew the next apology might not be so easily accepted. He informed her he was cancelling the showcase they had booked for that night. Shane was speechless. Her jaw dropped in astonishment as she tried to understand what he was saying. He started by telling her he had given it a lot of thought and concluded the dance lessons were no longer necessary as he had accomplished what he had set out to do. He now felt confident enough to dance with his wife when she came back. "What?" Shane looked confused. "What on earth does he mean by that?" She thought. He went on to give her a long explanation of how the lessons had been a gift from his wife and his reluctance to take them might have been one of the reasons why she was so dissatisfied with the marriage. Shane heard very little of anything he said. All she could hear was the sound of her own heart breaking into a thousand pieces.
He finished by thanking her for her understanding and telling her how wonderful a partner she had been. Shane snapped out of her own heartbreak long enough to force him to admit one last time how good they were together. He turned to her, plastered the best smile he could muster and confessed they were truly very good. He then walked back quickly to the safe sanctuary of the DLO to literally lick his wounds. Shane could not have known how heartbroken he was and how difficult that decision had been for him. As soon as he looked at the date marked in his calendar as his wedding anniversary, not even Shane's broken heart could compare to his. The worst part of his pain was he could not see an end to it anytime soon. He knew he was entirely at Holly's mercy. Knowing how selfish she was and how disconnected she was from any empathy to anybody else's needs outside of her own; he was well and truly stuck.
Shane's sadness was highlighted by the loneliness she felt. The beautiful warmth she had felt a couple of weeks earlier when she felt as if an angel was hugging her was a distant memory now. Her beautiful red dress hanging in the locker room in readiness and anticipation for tonight was a sad reminder of how easily one's heart could be broken.
They both felt the loss of the showcase most keenly. If truth be told, what they really missed was each other. It was the camaraderie and intimacy that had developed between them which was now gone, replaced by a big gaping hole. They both agonised through the weekend, both separately feeling miserable. Shane had the red dress to remind her of the sad ending to the showcase dream. Every time she saw it she got more and more angry. By the time Monday dawned, she was in a foul mood and just thinking about Oliver sent her blood pressure sky rocketing. So, when she bumped into him, physically colliding with him just outside of the DLO, she was about to let off some serious steam. He kept subtly throwing barbs at her, irritating her endlessly and she kept taking the bait. Rita innocently enquired about the showcase, wanting to know why it had been cancelled. Shane complained he got cold feet and dumped her, giving some lame excuse about dancing with his wife when she came back. It was then that Shane heard the name of Holly O'Toole for the first time. She couldn't help but feel a little funny inside, was it jealousy? She didn't actually know, but she was about to find out the fate of this woman one way or another. Entering her name on the search engine, immediately she learned the woman had just renewed her lease on her apartment for another 3 years. Shane felt her temper rise all over again. She forgot all about her own dissatisfaction with Oliver and channelled all her anger into this new enemy. How dare this woman treat this wonderful and caring man in such a manner? He deserved better. She felt this powerful urge to protect him and if possible, free him from this sham of a marriage. She was no longer going to let him stay in this limbo and sacrifice his life for the sake of such a selfish and uncaring person. Later that day, Shane and Oliver had a chance to be alone. Sitting by themselves on a country store porch while they waited for the letter recipient to arrive, Shane told him about Holly's plan to continue living in Paris for at least the next three years. All hell broke loose and Oliver lost it. He was so angry he saw red. He did not hold back and accused her of meddling in his personal life and his wife's. He continued on to tell her in no uncertain terms how she had presumed too much of his friendship and crossed the line. Oliver would later regret his harsh words to Shane; he certainly did not believe half the things he said to her in that moment of unbridled anger.
But in the name of the deep friendship that she truly felt for him, the friendship that he threw at her face in a moment of uncontrolled mad anger, she swallowed her pride and took his anger with grace and silence. She forgave him. Shane knew very well that she had indeed crossed the line, but whether he liked it or not, she was his true friend, she wasn't going to let him go. And he would very soon come to see that, accept it with open arms and appreciate it as the most precious thing.