SHANE

When Shane arrived at Oliver's church, choir rehearsal was wrapping up. She heard the last notes of music being sung and the choir director thanking everyone for a good rehearsal. She saw a door open and people started to file out, chatting and saying their goodbyes. Then she saw Oliver chatting with someone, but she couldn't see who it was at first. As other choir members moved along, she saw Oliver happily chatting with a beautiful red-haired woman. She felt her heart sink to her feet. What was it with Oliver and red-haired women? She immediately knew it had been a mistake to come here! She was just about to turn and leave when she heard his familiar voice call out, "Ms. McInerney? Oh, my goodness! What a surprise!"

"I'm busted!" Shane thought. There was nothing left to do now but turn around and face the music. Shane did her best to paste on a smile and walked over to where Oliver was standing with the red-haired woman.

Oliver introduced them, "This is Dale, uh Travers. Dale, this is Shane McInerney". At first glance, Dale seemed nice. After a brief conversation, she quickly departed to head to work a late shift. Shane told Oliver all about what happened to the Valentine's Day card… the card got misplaced and everything was an epic misunderstanding. She paused, turning towards Dale. She was talking with others as she headed towards the door. Shane then looked back at Oliver and asked tentatively, "Am I too late for dinner?" His answer to her question was a smile, and they planned to have dinner at Montaldo's the following evening.

It was a lovely Saturday! Shane felt like she'd been ready for this since her second or third week working at the DLO. She had been fantasizing about Oliver asking her out forever and the day was finally here! She went shopping with Rita because she needed a new dress for this special occasion! After stops at many stores, they finally found THE DRESS. It was elegant, beautiful, in a gorgeous shade of hot pink. It hugged her body in all the right places. Thanks to YouTube tutorials, Shane found the right updo for her hair. It was a sweet mix of curls and braids, all held in place by a mountain of hairpins. When they arrived at the restaurant, she was full of hope and happiness. Things started off well when they danced, but once they took their seats at the table, things went from bad to worse. No past experience could have prepared her for what happened as the evening progressed. It was a horrifying disaster!

After Oliver corrected the waiter's assumption that they were on a date by telling her they were "just friends", everything went downhill. Both took a defensive stand, putting up their walls. Awkward conversations ensued. For one, the planting of the rose cutting on top of the burial place of a family pet. To call that conversation unfortunate was an understatement. Then Shane revealed she had been at Montaldo's, not once, but twice, with Lester and Steve. And they wrapped up the endless parade of awkward with Oliver not ready to call the evening a date, or call whatever was between them a relationship.

Finally, the worst of it was listening to the last romantic song sung by Nicki, the waitress, with no word or glance from Oliver. It was enough to have Shane in tears. Since Oliver had picked her up for dinner, she had no other option than to ride home with him after they left the restaurant. Needless to say, it was a very silent car ride home. Oliver pulled up in front of her house and stopped the car. He was about to say something, but instead he got out of the car and went around to open her door. He helped her out and escorted her to her door. She looked at him, said thank you and went inside, pushing the door closed with her back. She simply stood there with her arms wrapped tightly around her, leaning heavily on the door for support. All she wanted to do was cry and sleep for a week. In this instance, there was no amount of serious chocolate that would help her feel better.

OLIVER

Oliver stood for a few minutes near her front door after she went inside. He felt defeated. He knew what happened tonight was completely his fault. He stretched out his hand to touch the cold wood of Shane's door, trying to feel some connection. He silently asked for her patience and forgiveness, then sullenly made his way back to the car. He drove almost on autopilot and he barely recalled how he got home. In his master plan, he pictured them spending a lovely evening at Montaldo's, then, after taking Shane back to her house, they'd sit on the porch swing where they would finish the night with a kiss. Nothing went as planned! How did everything go so terribly wrong? He entered his house, feeling bereft at how cold and lonely it felt. He went to the living room and sat in his overstuffed leather armchair. With his elbows on his knees, he dug his fingers through his hair. He was at a loss as to what to do to fix the mess he'd made. He took a deep breath and got up to turn on the record player. He positioned the needle over the desired groove and Billy Joel's piano chords and voice filled the room. He sat again and let the music fill his mind. The lyrics felt even more poignant today. The armchair gave him a cold noisy hug as he rested his head on the back of the chair. Soon the song was over. He got up, carefully lifted the needle and placed it again on same groove. He'd played this song over and over so many times since the night of the DLO dance. The song began again and he dragged the armchair near the record player. This was going to be another one of those nights where he'd need to listen to this song on a continuous loop, as Shane would say.

He sat again and remembered their DLO dance. It was the first time he'd heard the song and he thought it was beautiful. Together, they glided easily over the floor and he felt alive for the first time in years. He felt like he was being given a new opportunity as he held Shane in his arms. Her perfume filled his senses and her beautiful blonde hair tickled his nose. He wanted to bury his face in her hair. Her body was so close to his… he felt something ignite within him. The dance intensified, culminating in a dip. As he lifted her up, his heart was racing. He looked deeply into her eyes and he knew he was about to kiss her. But, his brain and body came to a screeching halt. He forgot he was married, forgot all about Holly. He forgot that he was awaiting her return, and a cold chill ran down his spine. He had to look away. He couldn't look at her lovely face. It took all his willpower to loosen his hold on her and step away. All he could manage was a mumbled sentence about it being late and how tired he was. He grabbed his suit jacket and bolted. He didn't look back nor awaited for any response. He knew if he did, he'd be in danger of being unfaithful. He didn't trust himself at that moment, that was how much he wanted her.

Oliver drove home from the DLO and sat for hours trying to understand what just happened. All he could think was he wanted that song, her scent, her hair, her ... was that what he wanted? Up until that night, he was certain he wanted to rebuild his marriage whenever Holly decided to come back. But she had been gone for almost 2 years now. It was slowly dawning on him... What was he waiting for? For the first time he realised he was questioning his actions or lack of them since Holly left. He sat there, feeling suffocated in his own home. It still held some of Holly's belongings. There weren't many of them, but enough to mark her presence. Usually he ignored them, but tonight their presence weighed him down like a ton of lead.

It was almost 2 am according to his pocket watch. He got up and headed out to his car. Maybe a drive would help him think straight. He drove to Shane's house and stopped in front. When he saw a light on the second-floor window, he knew she was awake. Feeling that same warmth, the one he felt as they danced, made him realise he wanted her. Oliver shook his head and drove away.

His next stop was the DLO, he didn't have anywhere else to go and no friends to go to for advice. He was all alone. As he walked into the office, the first thing he noticed was Shane's lingering scent. He walked like a zombie to his desk, dropping heavily into his desk chair. He could see them dancing around the room. After a few minutes he realized everything leading up to the dance was a mistake. What were you thinking O'Toole? He was appalled at his behaviour! He should have asked one of the ladies at his church like Ms. McInerney suggested, but now he knew he didn't ask anyone else because he wanted her. He felt like kicking himself and was about to storm out of the room again when something caught his eye. It was Ms. McInerney's record, still sitting in the record player. He sighed and quickly removed the record from the player, found the sleeve where Shane left it and put the record inside. He almost ran out of the office, hoping nobody saw him take the record. He drove home and did exactly what he was doing now, listened to the song over and over again. Only this time it didn't feel like a mistake because he was free, but he realized he wasn't as ready as he thought he was to move forward with Shane. He needed more time and he hoped Shane could forgive him.

He knew next week was going to be complicated as he headed to bed to try to sleep. Tomorrow in church he would pray for another chance with Shane. He was sure God didn't put her in his path just to lose her this way.

SHANE

Shane felt totally defeated because nothing went according to plan. They didn't end up kissing on her porch swing as she imagined. Instead, they had a silent car ride home. After Oliver left her at her door, she lost all hope and cried herself to sleep. The next morning, she woke up feeling the heaviness of the prior evening's events. She was about to go back to sleep when she remembered he was listening to her record! Which means he stole it and he'd kept it all this time. That must mean something, right? In her mind, she recapped their dinner at Montaldo's. She thought everything that could go wrong, went wrong… so the next time might be better, right? Might there be hope after all? She felt brighter and more hopeful, so she decided a jog was what she needed. While she was jogging, she relived their dinner. Both were beyond nervous and awkward at the beginning. Maybe both had greatly anticipated their date and that contributed to their clumsiness? Or maybe Oliver wasn't ready yet, but he would be soon? These thoughts helped lift some of the heaviness from her heart. She made a mental note not to make a big deal about their date on Monday.

MONDAY

On Monday, after punching in for the day, all kinds of puzzling things started happening. Oliver got called into the Office of Postal Security, presided by Lester Kimsicle. He learned that mail had been stolen out of several mailboxes and replaced by a stuffed goose, a can of kidney beans, a wedding cake topper, and notes written in Latin. Kimsicle delegated on the POstables to solve the mystery of the stolen mail. As Oliver brought his team together to dig into the investigation, they quickly discerned the suspect was a fellow postal worker. Oddly enough, Nicki, the waitress who served Oliver and Shane at Montaldo's happened by to file a report for a letter she needed to get back. It turned out she had put her letter in a mail carrier's bag after talking with him at a mailbox. Nicki was an eye-witness to the postal worker suspected of the theft! Norman worked with her to develop a sketch while Oliver reached out to his dad for help. Once the sketch was finished, Oliver met his dad at the Mailbox Grille. Joe immediately recognized him as Dudley Curly. It turned out Curly had it in for O'Tooles because they all got Dark Of Night awards. Curly felt robbed and wanted to get back at Joe. Once Kimsicle took over operations, things quickly went downhill. Shane had to call in Dale before things escalated out of control.

In the end, Curly returned the mail, reconciled with his friend Joe and had a retirement party given in his honor at the Mailbox Grille. Shane special ordered the lemon cake for the occasion.

Rita handed Oliver a piece of the cake and told him Shane had ordered it from Montaldo's. He realised the dessert in his hands was the same he left untouched at their dinner. He lifted it to eye level to take a closer look at the cake layers. It looked perfect and smelled wonderful! He took a bite and it was glorious! He searched the crowd and found Shane sitting with Ms. Park from international shipping. She was sitting there gracefully on a sofa, chatting. She looked so beautiful! Then he looked to the right and saw his friend Dale chatting with his dad. He felt a warm feeling for her, but it was the kind you felt for a friend. That realisation made him turn back to Shane again and what he felt for Dale was quickly replaced by a strong physical yearning. He finally realised he'd been having these feelings since he met her at the coffee cart, but until now he could not put a name to them or allow himself to really feel them. He realised now how much time he'd wasted and how long Shane must have been waiting for him. It was time to take the bull by its horns and talk to her, really talk to her.

Oliver looked for a place to leave his cake and then walked purposefully towards Shane. As he neared her, he offered her his hand and she took it, asking if they were going to dance. He told her no and guided her to another side of the room. He asked about the cake and her motivation to order it for the party. She told him the truth; she did it to give him a second chance to try it. He was touched! Replying that he also believed in second chances, he suggested going out again. How did next Saturday sound? Shane asked "OK, it's a date? Ummmm…" Oliver replied, "It is… a date". Shane's response was such, that Oliver was blinded by the most beautiful smile he had ever seen.

She surprised him then with the first rose of summer. Her rose cutting had survived after all! She took the rose out of her hair and put it on his lapel. He gently touched the rose and looked intently at her. She grabbed his hand, brought him to the dance floor and they danced, along with their friends!

Both were feeling over the moon and next Saturday couldn't come fast enough! Both were looking forward to their date… And this time? It was going to be amazing!