8 Weeks (6 page)

Although I didn’t want him to put his arms around me again, I did feel pride at his words.

To try and keep the situation from getting awkward, I said, “Okay, now let’s do one together.”

The excitement fell from his face and I laughed at the look that replaced it.

“You’ll be fine,” I said with a chuckle. “Don’t be a baby.”

Determination settled on Cal’s face. He was never one to back down from a challenge.

“Okay,” he said, taking my hand and leading me back to the stage.

Luckily, it was early enough that the only people in the audience were regulars, so we didn’t have to wait in line or fight for a turn to sing. I couldn’t imagine the terror that Cal would have felt if we had a packed house.

Rather than jerk my hand out of his, I allowed it, but I was very conscious of the feelings holding his hand evoked: trepidation, longing, and contentment.

I needed to focus and remember why we were even on this “date.”

“Any duet is fine,” Cal said to the DJ as we walked passed him and up the steps.

I grabbed the mic and watched as someone walked over and gave Cal another one. We looked at each other, then turned to the screen.

My mind was filled with so many warnings and contradictions that I didn’t even pay attention to the music, but just started singing when the words popped on the screen.

I looked over at Cal and when he sang,
“I can’t look at you, when I’m lying next to her,”
the words penetrated and I dropped the mic.

I flew off the stage, down the stairs, and out the door, tears streaming down my face.

“Shelly, wait,” Cal called out from behind me.

I stopped and turned, not bothering to wipe the tears or hide the fact that with one sentence the scab that had been forming over my heart was ripped off.

“I’m sorry,” Cal said helplessly. He ran his hands through his hair and looked around the parking lot before turning back to face me, with sorrow in his eyes. “I didn’t know what song they were gonna play.”

“I know,” I said sadly. “This is just too hard.”

“No, Shelly, please.” Cal stepped toward me, but stopped himself from touching me. “Please, don’t give up. Give us these eight weeks.”

I brought my eyes to his and nodded slightly. “I have to go.”

Cal didn’t say anything, just watched me leave. He was still standing there when I looked back in my rearview mirror.

Chapter 13 - Cal

This day sucked.

After screwing up my first date with Shelly, I'd gone home and had a few beers with Scott, driving him crazy by whining about how I needed to win Shelly back. Then, this morning, I'm faced with the fact that my friends and I are all getting together to pack up my house, so that Shelly and I can separate our belongings and sell the house we'd loved so much.

I swear, she and I must have looked at twenty-five houses before we'd agreed on the little fixer-upper five miles from where we'd grown up. The fact that we were really going through with selling it broke my heart.

I was worried that without tangible proof of our marriage together, it would be easier for Shelly to walk away.

I hoped I was wrong.

It was hard to hold on to that hope, though, when the same four people who had helped us move into this house were helping us move out.

"TJ, I swear to God, if you don't give me back that packing tape this instant, I'm going to kick you right in your flat ass!" I heard Sasha yell from the other room.

"Red, you know my ass is perfect," TJ yelled back. "That's why you haven't been able to take your eyes off of it for the past six years."

"You wish, you egomaniac. The only way I'd stare at your ass, is if you had a picture of Henry Cavill stapled to it."

I chuckled at the familiar banter of two of my closest friends. I'd missed this over the past few weeks. And even though we were all together under the worst possible circumstance, I was happy that we were all together again.

I tried to pack quickly, without paying too much attention to what I was doing. I was afraid if I didn't, I'd break down and embarrass myself, and I'd already done enough of that.

I walked into the kitchen and paused when I saw Scott and Gaby standing by the sink, his hand on her arm, and their heads bent together in deep discussion.

I assumed they were just having a conversation, but when I said, "What's up?" and they jumped apart guiltily and looked up at me with surprise, I wondered what was going on.

"Nothing," they said simultaneously.

I tilted my head and looked at them, searching their faces for a clue as to what they could possibly have to look guilty about. Figuring they were talking about Shelly and me, I shrugged and said, "Okay." Then I walked to the fridge to grab a water and get back to work.

When I walked past the living room, I saw Shelly sitting on the floor going through our CDs. She was holding a Brad Paisley CD in one hand, and wiping a tear off of her face with the other. It was the CD that featured out wedding song.

My chest tight, I walked into the room and crouched down onto the floor next to her.

"Remember the first time we heard that CD?" I asked softly.

Shelly looked up at me, her eyes big and sad. She nodded, but I answered anyway, caught up in the past.

"I snuck in to your house after the Sadie Hawkins dance, and you picked it out of your dad's collection. We danced to the entire thing, even the songs that were impossible to dance to." I chuckled as I remembered that night. "We laughed so loud, your dad came down and caught us. I thought he was going to kick me out, but he didn't, he just told me that if I got fresh, he'd grab his rifle."

I looked into Shelly's eyes, and we both smiled at the memory.

"When they asked what song I wanted to dance to at our wedding, there was no doubt in my mind what song to pick," Shelly added softly, her voice rough with tears.

I squatted there next to her for a moment longer, visions of that night dancing through my head.

We looked at each other, neither of us speaking, and I knew we were both reflecting on what we were about to lose.

As much as I wanted to deny even the remote possibility that my relationship with Shelly would end, I knew that we couldn't go on the way that we were now.

I yearned for the couple that we used to be.

When the pain became too much to bear, I stood and said, "Well, I'd better get back to it." Then I turned and went back to finish packing up the bathroom with a heavy heart.

As I listened to the sounds of our friends whispering in the other room, I packed and labeled boxes for Shelly and myself.

My stomach burned as I divided all of our stuff, most of which we had bought together. It wasn't hard to figure out who got what; I packed most of it for Shelly. All I needed were the bare essentials. Plus, I was holding out hope that in eight weeks, we'd be moving back in together and moving forward with the rest of our life.

My mind kept returning to the night before, and I knew I had to come up with a date that didn't have the potential to backfire like last night's date had. Convincing Shelly that I loved her implicitly, that she could trust me, and that we belonged together, was my only focus at this point.

There was no future for me without Shelly in it. I just needed to convince her of the same.

Chapter 14 - Shelly

Was this ever going to get easier?

I cried myself to sleep again last night. After packing up our home on Sunday, the girls and I went back and cleaned the house on Monday, to get it ready for Sasha to show it. I didn't tell Cal, or ask the guys to come help, because after Sunday, I didn't think I could stand the pain that came from all of us being together.

I hated how awkward it was, and I wished there was something I could do to change it.

After we were done cleaning, I'd taken my time and walked around the house. I ran my hand along the countertops, remembering the first dinner I'd cooked for Cal. Meatloaf, with mashed potatoes, gravy, and corn on the cob.

Cal loved my meatloaf.

I smiled when I looked over the stencils I'd painted in the bathroom. They were delicate white flowers against the baby blue walls. Cal had joked that he'd wanted the bathroom to be done in a fishing theme, but I'd bought the stencils and had the bathroom decorated by the time he'd gotten home from work. He'd pretended to be angry, but I said I'd make up for it, and we'd ended up having sex right there. He'd lifted me up against the wall, and when my legs wrapped around his waist, the decor of the bathroom was quickly forgotten.

I couldn't walk into any room of our home without a memory of Cal and me making love coming through. We'd always had a wonderful sex life, and I'd often had a hard time keeping my hands off of him. Cal was one of the sexiest and most handsome men I’d ever seen. And he was all mine.

At least … he had been.

Now, I was sitting at my desk at the bank, trying not to think about Sasha showing my house to prospective buyers.

I should be ecstatic that she already had people interested in seeing the house, but my heart hurt when I thought of someone living in the home Cal and I had built together.

It had been my decision to sell it, but I hadn't realized how hard it would be.

I sighed deeply and pushed back from my desk.

I needed coffee.

I walked into the break room, started fixing a cup, and turned when I heard the door open behind me.

"Oh, hey, Carlos," I said when the small loans officer walked in.

"Hi, Shelly, how are you today?" Carlos asked with a smile.

Carlos had been working with me at the bank for about three months. He was new to the area and was really sweet. He was good-looking and kind, a single dad of a little boy.

"Okay," I lied with a smile. "How about you?"

Carlos walked over and filled his cup. He looked down for a minute, just standing there with his steaming mug in his hand, then he cleared his throat and looked up at me sheepishly.

"Look, Shelly," he began. "I don't want to step out of line, but I heard that you're separated from your husband, and that you're getting a divorce."

My stomach dropped at his words. It felt weird hearing that sentence spoken aloud.

I tucked my hair behind my ear, my hands shaking. "Um, yeah. We are separated."

Carlos looked nervous and took a deep breath before saying, "I know it's probably too soon, but I'd love to take you out, once you're ready."

My eyes widened. I was afraid they might bug out of my head, but I tried to remain calm otherwise.

Shit, I didn't know what to do. Everyone had always known about me and Cal, so I'd never had to worry about guys asking me out.

"Wow," I managed to spit out. "Um, I don't know what to say ... Cal and I are separated, but we have this deal where I won't ask for a divorce for eight weeks, while we try to make our marriage work." I spoke so quickly, I hoped Carlos was able to make out what I was saying. I liked him, and I didn't want to hurt his feelings, but I was in no way ready to even think about dating someone else. At least not while I was dating my husband. "I appreciate the offer though."

Carlos looked embarrassed, and my heart went out to him. I'm sure it took a lot of courage to ask someone out, and I hoped this wouldn't make things awkward between us.

He nodded and said softly, "That's great. Please, forget I said anything. But, if you need to talk … I’ve been there."

I smiled and nodded my consent. When he walked out, I sagged against the counter. I wasn't sure how much more emotional upheaval I was going to be able to take.

I pulled out my cell phone and sent a text to Sasha and Gaby,
"Carlos from work just asked me out."

I knew that Gaby was probably too busy at work to check her phone, but Sasha always had hers in her hand, so I wasn't surprised when my phone beeped almost immediately.

"Of course he did, we are so going to rule this city."

I chuckled at her response. I knew Sasha was trying to make me feel better. She loved Cal and although she'd never say it for fear of feeling unsupportive, she was hoping that we'd be able to work it out. I appreciated the gesture though.

"I said no."

"No fear, he was the first of many. Lunch?"

I smiled and said that I'd love to meet for lunch. Now I had to figure out how to get through the next few hours.

Chapter 15 - Cal

The last few days I'd fallen into a routine. Get up, go to work, have dinner with TJ, go back to Scott's, have a beer with him (if he's not out with Victoria), then go to bed and repeat.

It wasn’t exciting, but at least I wasn’t still moping on Scott's couch.

Last week's date hadn’t gone the way I'd planned, and packing up our house had been painful, but I wasn't giving up hope.

Today I'd asked Shelly to be ready, and hungry, at eleven. I stood at Shelly's dad's door and took a deep breath before knocking.

Shelly opened the door with a timid smile on her face, that didn't quite reach her eyes. I'm sure she was thinking back to the pain we'd both experienced last weekend, and I really hoped that today we could just enjoy each other's company.

"Hey," she said softly as she walked outside. She was dressed in jeans and a bright green top. I loved it when Shelly wore green, it made her eyes pop and made it seem like she was lit up from the inside out.

Her hair was shorter. It still fell past her shoulders in waves, but now it had some sort of highlights running through it.

"You look beautiful," I said honestly.

Shelly blushed lightly, then put a hand to her hair. "Thanks."

"Are you ready to go?"

"Sure," she said, bringing her eyes up to mine. "I'll follow you."

My stomach clenched a bit, but I nodded. I didn't know if she wanted to ride separately because she didn't want to have small talk in the car, or if she wanted a quick getaway. I got it, either way, but I hoped she'd eventually feel comfortable enough to ride with me.