Thank-you to everyone who reviewed, followed, and favored this story. I found it overwhelming. Here is Chapter 2. Enjoy!
Gail found herself sitting in the coat closet, of the country club, nursing a glass of champagne.
'I should go home. I can't yet. It's far too early to graciously say good-bye to the 'Happy Couple'. "She thought.
Her life was a shambles.
Traci told her that afternoon Noelle didn't readjust the seating arrangement. Apparently Noelle had been having some sort of melt down for the last month. Nash told her to see it as a good way for she and Nick to talk and work out their issues.
"He isn't going to cause a scene during the wedding dinner. Take the opportunity to talk to Nick." Nash said with a smile.
"You and Collins are good together." She added.
"Yea! News flash Nash! We were good together. The operative word being 'were'."
"Why did I let jealousy...? He hadn't even acted on his feelings for Andy. He was committed to us and tried to make everything work. Andy...she...she seemed...well until tonight seemed oblivious to Nick's feelings. Nick did hide his 'crush' for Andy well. I think she thought they were just friends. I don't blame her. I mean for the last few weeks she's been too busy nursing a broken heart courtesy of Swarek...again! That guy is an idiot. He couldn't even figure out why Andy took that undercover assignment and simply wait for her to return. I doubt Andy's been emotionally capable, the last few weeks, of noticing Nick's 'crush'. I let jealousy take hold of my soul. It blinded my judgement and allowed revenge to bubble through my veins. I was an idiot."
Today during the wedding dinner she did try to talk to Nick. He graciously responded to her neutral chit chatter. Mind you it was with simple one word responses but, it was a start she mused. She actually thought they were getting somewhere when the dancing started and he brought her a glass of wine. The thing was when she turned around a moment to watch the action on the dance floor he disappeared. She spent the next hour and a half trying to keep a tab on his location.
"When the opportunity presents itself I'll bump into him and try to start a conversation." She thought.
That was until she realized he was moving around trying to keep Andy in his sights.
"Okay! That is just a 'crush'. Andy hasn't even figured it out for Heaven's sakes. We can work through that issue. It's not like he has acted on those feelings. Dear God...why did I sleep with...why did he agree to leave with me that night? He is or was Nick and Andy's handler. Why didn't he have more respect for Nick? He knew I was Nick's girlfriend and I was in a bad 'place' that evening. Why didn't he just buy me a drink, talk to me and then give me a ride home. Okay...Nick doesn't know who it was I slept with...we can deal with that whole issue. I can tell him it was a one night stand with someone he doesn't know."
She took her eyes off Nick for a few moments when Holly, the pathologist woman she worked with a couple of weeks past, came over to say 'hello'.
"Great!" She thought as she glanced around the room moments later.
"Where did he go?"
"I'm not going to find him standing in the middle of this crowd. Um...okay!...If I stand over by those huge bay windows, near the bar, I can scan the entire room." She thought as she began to weave her way through the crowd.
Standing against one of the large bay windows, Gail scanned the crowd.
"Maybe he went to the washroom." She thought as she turned around, parted two of the cream coloured sheer drape panels covering the bay windows and looked out on the country club's patio and gardens below.
A huge emotional train came crashing into her chest as she watched Nick twirl Andy around the patio and then place a kiss on her friend's lips. The pain was worse than the evening her and Nick broke up. Given some time and space she had felt, until now, there was still a chance for them to work everything out. Now, now she realized...after seven years...
Nick Collins, the 'Love of Her Life', was lost to her forever. He is was moving on. Her actions pushed him right into Andy's arms.
Now she was sitting in the coat room nursing her broken heart with a glass of champagne.
Oliver Shaw was living the life of a 'whirlwind'.
One morning a few weeks ago he packed his bags, moved out of the matrimonial home he shared with his wife Zoe for the past 19 years, and filed for divorce. It was a day of mixed emotions. Admitting his wife was in love with another man meant he was admitting he was incapable of still captivating his wife's total world. He was a failure as her lover. He never once questioned Zoe's love. Twenty years ago he purchased a ring and planned to ask Zoe to marry him when she told him she was pregnant. He gave her the diamond ring he bought and told her it was fine. He was in love with her and they could marry the next day. They put together a small wedding and married a month later. He thought everything was great. They went on and made two more beautiful children together. Zoe seemed content with their life. The problem was he loved her, but she was never truly in love with him. It's why it was so easy for her to stray away from her marriage when she did meet her 'Mr. Right'. In one way Oliver felt heartache and pain. He was in love with Zoe. He may have been the one who moved out and filed for divorce but, he was the one who felt the pain and heartache of the break-up. At the same time Oliver felt a strange relief and calmness for admitting everything to himself, to his daughters and for taking action to allow them all to move forward with their lives. Zoe didn't share the same painful emotions as Oliver. She was just happy and relieved her charade of a marriage was finally over. She was now free to live her life with the man she loved.
Which brings him to this evening. Somehow, over the last few weeks as he went about his life trying to sort through his emotions and legal issues stemming from the divorce he, Oliver Shaw, managed to meet a woman. Which lead to him attending Noelle and Frank's wedding with a date on his arm? A date! Wow! He, Oliver Shaw, was attending a wedding with another woman and enjoying himself more than he had in years.
He kept his eye on Andy throughout the day. She was his favourite rookie. He tended to have a soft spot for her in his heart. He met her, for the first time, many years ago when she was a small girl. Her dad, one of his training officers, sometimes brought her into the station. If he was at the station, at the same time, he would always buy her an ice-cream cone. Then when she grew up and became his rookie he couldn't help noticing the similarities between her and his eldest daughter. Sure Maddie was a bit younger but, the look, the mannerisms, and the reaction to situations...they were all the same. Which is why he felt so much for her both times Sam broke her heart. She was the best thing to ever happen to Sam and he...
"Sam you're an idiot. It's so obvious why Andy left, all those months ago, to do that undercover assignment. I just hope you wake up soon and realize the real reason and what you are giving up." He thought.
Standing beside the bay windows at the end of the bar, waiting for his and his dates drink order, Oliver glanced out through a small part between two of the sheer drape panels. It was not the gardens, of the country club, that caught his attention. It was the two figures dancing and kissing on the back patio.
'Maybe it is too late Sammy...maybe it is too late. You're an idiot my friend." He thought as he picked up his drinks and walked over to his date.
Chris Diaz sat at a dining table drinking a beer and watching his friends on the dance floor. If truth were known life in Timmons was...it was worse than what he expected. It is true what they say. You can't ever really go home. The cops he was working with were friendly, welcoming and serious about policing. Unfortunately the most exciting things he found himself dealing with since arriving in Timmons was a drunk driver who drove his car off a dock into two feet of water, a noise complaint which was actually a group of neighbours setting off some fireworks on Canada Day and a break and enter which turned out was a group of local teens who broke into a community pool for a midnight swim.
"Things were dull. No! Scratch that...they were boring and he was miserable."
The longer he sat and watched his friends dance and party the more he wished he was still part of their daily lives. When he saw Andy standing alone on the sidelines of the dance floor he took the opportunity to ask her to dance. Bopping around the dance floor with everyone made him, for a few moments, believe he never left. He was still a member of the band. He was still part of the life he loved. Then the music stopped for a moment and Andy excused herself from the dancing. Suddenly, he was back to the misery of reality.
"How could I let this happen?" he thought as Chloe and Dov came over and sat down at his table in a wave of smiles and laughter.
"Okay! What does everyone want to drink?" Dov asked.
"Tequila!" Chloe yelled above the music.
"NO! We agreed! No hard stuff till near the end of the evening. Pick something else!"
"Ohhhh...okay, okay...I'll have a glass of white wine."
"One glass of wine and what are you having Chris?"
"I'll have another beer. I'll go with you to the bar and help."
"Sure! Chloe save our seats. We'll be back in a few minutes."
"Okay!" She replied as she bopped in her chair to the music.
At the bar Dov and Chris placed their order.
"It's nice to see you again.. I'm glad you decided to come down for the wedding."
"Yea! I am too."
"I saw you dancing with Andy."
"I saw her on the sidelines of the dance floor. She looked like she really wanted to dance. I thought she was back together with Swarek. I mean he's been watching her all evening."
"I don't know what Swarek is doing when it comes to Andy. She's...I think she is trying to move forward." Dov replied.
"Swarek is an immature idiot. I don't think he will ever figure out the real reason Andy took the undercover assignment." Chris replied.
"He's a good cop but, he's immature when it comes to his personal relationships. You know...he keeps throwing him and Cruz into Andy's face. I have to admit she has handled everything, for the most part, with maturity and grace."
"Okay guys...one glass of white wine and one pint of 'Canadian'. I'll be right back with the pint of 'Coor's Light'."
"I'll take my beer and Chloe's glass of wine over to the table. Come over and join us when your drink arrives." Dov said as he turned and headed towards Chloe's direction.
A moment later Chris took his drink from the bar keep, turned around to go join his friends but, somehow became trapped against the full length windows along the back of the reception hall by a few guests.
Waiting for everyone to move along he glanced out through the sheer drapes and nearly choked on a sip of his beer.
"How much has changed since I've been gone? Andy! Nick! Together! What happened with Nick and Gail? Everything has changed. Everyone is moving forward and I'm moving backwards. Welcome to Wonderland Diaz. I can't keep living the life I have now. I have to make some changes. I want back in the band." He thought as he turned around and began to weave his way throw the crowd.
On the Patio
"I'm sorry!" Nick whispered after their last kiss.
"Don't be sorry. I kissed you back." She whispered as they continued to sway to the music.
"You did." He whispered in her ear as he drew her closer.
"I love weddings. They're magical. They're about two people who are so completely devoted, so in love with each other they are willing to do anything for one another."
"It's how I feel about you." Nick replied.
"Andy...I don't know when I fell for you. It just happened. I...look...I know it's..."
"Shhhh..." Andy whispered as she placed a finger over Nick's lips.
'I knew a few days ago we were heading in this direction. It's just...I need to know...was I the reason you and Gail broke up?"
"No...I mean...she figured out I have feelings for you but, I told her nothing ever happened between us. The truth is we broke up because Gail slept with someone else."
Andy studied Nick's face a moment before quietly replying, "If we are going to do this then we have to move slow. Nick, I don't think I can jump right into..."
"Us?"
"Yea...I...I don't want to lose...you're my best friend Nick. What we have now, I don't want to...I can't lose. I need what you and I have in my life."
"We have all the time in the world and slow right now...it sounds good." Nick replied with a smile.
Andy smiled softly as she nodded her head and they continued to sway with the music.
Eventually they rejoined the party and at the end of the evening Nick offered to drive her home. She accepted. In the parking lot Nick held the truck's passenger door open for Andy to slide in before walking around to the driver's side, opening the door and climbing into the truck. They drove out of the country club's parking lot chatting and smiling at each other.
Neither noticing the set of eyes watching their every movement.
Hope everyone enjoyed reading. Would you like to read a third chapter?