New Year, New Hope

December 29th

Oliver was the first one back at work after vacation. He sat at his desk and looked around his empty office remembering the last few days on the beach in Georgia. What a wonderful time he had! He was so grateful to have such an incredible bunch of friends in his life. If they had gone on their vacation without him, his Christmas would have been one of the worst in his life, if not the very worst, considering his latest tendency to feel sorry for himself and sulk. Instead he had one of the best holidays ever! Ms. McInerney made sure of it. Every time he remembered them at the resort, his face got all warm as if he was sitting under the Georgia sun again with her. Nothing really happened between them, but he knew they needed to be careful. HE needed to be careful. The last thing he wanted was to compromise Ms. McInerney. However, it was futile to deny they had developed feelings for each other. He wasn't quite sure yet what they were, but the more he tried to deny his feelings, the more obvious they became.

As he pondered those things, the doors swung open and his 3 staff members walked in together. Ms. McInerney held a coffee tray carrier in her hand with 2 coffees in it. Norman and Rita already had theirs in hand. "Good morning, Oliver." Said all 3 at the same time. They were laughing and looked relaxed. Shane walked to him and handed him his coffee "A steamboat americano for my favourite boss." She said and winked at him. He grabbed the coffee smiling, getting a little flustered with her obvious flirtation. "Thank you, Ms. McInerney and good morning to you all. How are we this morning?" Norman sat at his desk and said animatedly, "Ready to tackle post-Christmas madness." "Yes. About that..." Oliver sighed and pointed to the overflowing piles of packages in some bins. They all sighed but soon they were quickly redirecting the unlucky packages and sending them where they belonged. The day passed quickly and by the end of it, they had only one full bin left to dispatch. To celebrate that small victory, they went to the Mailbox Grille for dinner. They felt so much closer after their vacation together, it was harder to separate from each other after work now.

Norman asked them each what they were doing for the New Year's celebration. They all hummed something, but didn't really answer him. So, he invited them all to his parents' house where they normally gathered for a party. They were all happy to attend and thanked Norman.

On the morning of New Year's Eve, Oliver approached Shane at her desk when Norman and Rita were on the other side of the office, and said to her quietly, "Ms. McInerney, I can pick you up tonight, if you wish." Shane looked surprised but smiled quickly and said "that'd be lovely, Oliver. Let's see, Norman's party starts at 9:30, so how about 9pm?" Oliver cleared his throat, laced his hands behind his back and shyly suggested he pick her up at 7:30 instead. "Well, you see, I've made reservations at a Portuguese Restaurant not far from Norman's parents' house that I've heard so much about… Ummm…. that I've been keen to try for a long time." Shane was just stunned. But before her jaw dropped, she composed herself and nodded. "Well, what a lovely idea. I'd love to, Oliver. How exciting!" She flashed him a brilliant smile. He smiled shyly back at her, quickly walked back to his desk and pretended to be busy for the rest of the day. In reality, his heart was pounding so hard, he was afraid his colleagues would hear it. Immediately after Shane accepted his invitation, he started second guessing himself. "What have I done? Is this right?" He was almost panicking. "What the Sam Hill have I done?" Every time he looked at Shane, she had this little half smile on her face. She was trying really hard to wipe it off her face by biting her lower lip, but she was not succeeding. He concluded she was really looking forward to the evening. "Well," he tried to reason with himself, "It's just two colleagues having dinner… nothing else." Then another thought would roll through his head, "Then why didn't you invite Rita as well?" He kept that debate going back and forth in his head all day. Several times he decided to cancel it altogether, but he would stop and reconsider it again and again. Finally when they finished for the day and the others looked so excited to meet later, he relaxed a little and said to himself, "Oh well, I couldn't disappoint her now. It will be okay!"

At 7:30 on the dot, Oliver knocked on Shane's door. She opened it immediately as if she had been waiting just on the other side. The moment he saw her, he sucked in his breath! She looked absolutely stunning. She was wearing a long, figure hugging, dark purple dress that fanned out just below the knee, finishing just above the ankle with a tiny line of embroidered pink rose buds encircling the whole length of the dress from the top of the breasts to just below the thighs. It accentuated every curve of her body. Oliver took a step back and held on to the porch railings for support. He felt weak in the knees. He just stood there with his mouth open. Shane giggled and said, "Good evening, Oliver. How are you?" Oliver blinked as if coming out of a blackout and said, "Ah… ummm… I… I'm sorry." Shane could not help it! She laughed out loud and said in a singsong voice, "Oliver, I don't think I've ever seen you speechless before. What's going on?" She batted her eye lashes at him innocently as if she didn't know exactly what she was doing to the poor man. He cleared his throat and tried to compose himself. Finally he said with a half smile, "Well, it's not entirely my fault Ms. McInerney. I don't think I've ever seen a woman more beautiful than you are at this moment." She blushed. "Good recovery, Oliver." She teased. She locked the door and passed her coat on to him so he could assist her with putting it on. Then he offered her his arm, escorted her to the car and opened the door for her. She just loved his chivalrous personality.

As they arrived at the restaurant, the maître d, an attractive man a few years younger than Oliver, greeted them with warmth. He then fixed his eyes on Shane looking at her up and down approvingly and without the least wish to disguise his appreciation, completely ignoring Oliver he said, "Bemvindo to Bela Maria. Que bela senhorita!" Oliver did not understand a word the man said but he did not like how he looked at Shane. He stepped closer to her and put a hand protectively on the small of her back. "Europeans!" He muttered angrily under his breath on the way to their table. Shane smiled amused, noticing Oliver's change in demeanour when another man noticed her. She was extremely pleased at how the evening was going so far.

As they enjoyed their meal, talking and laughing easily, she noticed Oliver couldn't take his eyes off her! They relaxed. They reminisced at how awesome their vacation was. At times, they just sat there looking at each other and remembering how close they had been... at times too close!

The time just flew by and before they realised it, it was time to make their way to Norman's parents' home. The house wasn't huge but there seemed to be a very large group of people present, probably all Norman's cousins. Norman tried to introduce his colleagues to as many relatives as he could. One in particular seemed to take a decided liking to Shane and kept coming back to talk to her. His name was Jake Dorman, he was an engineer from Utah. He asked Shane if Oliver was her boyfriend openly flirting with her. She had no option but say no, although she was uncomfortable as they obviously were sort of... "together" in that party. Once she said no, he just wouldn't go away and Oliver was getting rather annoyed. After awhile when Jake went away for a short time, Oliver then said not trying to hide his annoyance on bit, "Jake looks and acts more like an obnoxious Australian surfer than a respected engineer from Salt Lake City." "How many Australian surfers do you know, Oliver?" Shane asked trying to hold back a smile. Oliver was not amused. They moved outside under a tarp canopy next to an outdoor heater. The stars were amazing and the full moon was casting a wonderful glow over the mountains in the distance. Jake came out of the house and made a beeline for Shane. Oliver sighed. Jake handed her a drink, completely ignoring Oliver. Then he spotted another beautiful woman, an unattended lady! He immediately excused himself and walked in her direction. As Shane was about to take a sip of the drink, Oliver said: "Don't drink that." He reached out and took the drink out of her hand just before it touched her lips. "What on earth… Oliver, what's your problem?" "It might be spiked." He looked at the drink suspiciously. Shane was dumbfounded for a few seconds, but she recovered quickly. "Who would be dumb enough to spike my drink when I'm obviously with you... with a friend... and he hasn't left my side for a single moment?" She glared at him. He smiled and said, "Good point, Ms. McInerney. You're right". He handed the drink back to her, but rather than pick it up, she said sarcastically, "Would you first like to make sure it's not spiked?" He smiled again and raised an eyebrow, "Well, if it is spiked, it'd be better if I didn't drink it, don't you think?" She smiled and nudged him in the side saying teasingly, "Wouldn't that be something if we were both drunk?" He relaxed and looked out as the countdown started: 10, 9, 8. He looked at her as she shouted the remaining seconds enthusiastically. 3, 2, 1. The whole house and neighbourhood erupted in cheers, everybody hugging and kissing. She threw her arms around his neck and held him close for a few seconds. He also held her to him and whispered in her ear; "Happy New Year, Ms. McInerney." She shivered with his mouth touching her ear but he thought it was from the cold. "Let's go inside. It's freezing out here and I don't want you to get a chill."

For the next few minutes, it was a flurry of hugs and well wishes for the New Year. When everybody had been thoroughly hugged and thanked by the hosts, people started to disperse. Oliver, Shane, Norman and Rita left together having had a very enjoyable evening. They all hugged one more time. Oliver took Shane back to her home and Rita took Norman to his.

On their way home, they were silent, contemplating their evening together when Shane asked: "Oliver, do you normally make new year's resolutions?"

Oliver didn't answer immediately; in fact he seemed to struggle with that question. Eventually he said, "Don't we all? The problem is keeping them, not making them." Oliver knew what was coming and he started to mentally prepare for her next question which came almost immediately. "What are some of your new year's resolutions, Oliver?" Without looking at her, he gripped the steering wheel harder and gritted his teeth. She thought she had made him angry and quickly said. "Sorry, Oliver, it's none of my business. You don't need to answer that." He then softened his gaze and smiled at her. "It's all good Ms. McInerney. I think it wouldn't come as a surprise if I told you that my most earnest resolution is to get my situation sorted out, one way or another." She then looked at him and asked very quietly, almost whispering, "Do you miss her?" He looked at her suddenly surprised, searching her eyes as much as he could while he was driving. "Do I miss her?" He paused and truthfully answered, "I don't know. I think I miss the idea of having a loving wife by my side, but I'm not sure if that was ever Holly." Shane could not help it. The tears just sprang out of her eyes and ran down her face. She touched his face gently with the back of her hand and whispered, "I'm so sorry."

He grabbed her hand from his face with his free hand and kissed it. In another few minutes they arrived back at her home, he smiled at her and said, "Thank you Ms. McInerney, for a lovely evening but most of all, for your friendship. It really means the world to me." She nodded. He got out of the car, opened her door and offered her his arm. She took it. They walked up to her front door as they had done two nights ago. They looked at each other for a few seconds with no words needed between them, and then she spoke. "I hope you get your New Year's resolution, Oliver… very soon." He nodded. Then he asked quietly, "What's yours?" She smiled sadly but said with no hesitation, "Mine is a wish, not a resolution and it doesn't depend on me. It depends on someone else". She smiled again and said, trying to hold back the tears, "Good night, Oliver. Happy New Year." Then she walked into the house and closed the door behind her. Once inside, she leaned back on the door, and then let the tears flow freely. "Oh, Oliver, I love you." She whispered brokenly.

Unbeknownst to her, instead of turning to head down the stairs, Oliver took one step towards the door and leaning forward; he touched it and then whispered, "Oh, Shane… I don't miss her, I miss you!"