PARTICULAR TASTE

CHAPTER 5 - THOSE KIND OF THOUGHTS

The first date with Angel had gone so well, and coffee had been really nice, so Shawn was keen for their next date to be a success. He had booked a really nice restaurant, ordered a car to pick him up, then her, and afterwards they were going to a late night gallery opening for an artist friend of his. The problem was, he had been ready super early so had gone onto his laptop and come across the photos of Camila with some Latino guy at a club in Miami. They had been dancing close and looked really intimate. He was happy for her, he really was. These feelings were purely because it looked like he had lost the bet. He had chosen two dud dates for her and she had found one all on her own, and she had picked the perfect woman for him. He had been quiet when he picked up Angel, and had trouble getting into the conversation during dinner. By the time they got to the gallery, he could feel the dark cloud hovering over his head and knew that any after-date activities he, or she, had planned were going to have to be put on hold. He was no company for anyone and needed to go home to bed.

"Did you hear what I said Shawn?" Angel asked in an exasperated tone. He looked at her in surprise. No, he hadn't heard what she had said. She sighed. "I said this looks a lot like the Toronto skyline...". He looked at the painting but he couldn't see it. It looked like a whole lot of streaks of paint to him. His imagination was off-duty tonight.

"Sure," he said. "I can see that."

"If there's one thing I can say about you, Shawn, it's that you're a horrible liar, which is probably why you never do it. So I'll ask you this, why are you here when you'd clearly rather be anywhere else?"

"That's not true," he said in an unconvincing tone. She was right, he was a terrible liar.

"Can we go now?" she sounded angry, and he didn't blame her. "I wanted to talk to you tonight. Maybe we can sit across the road in the park?"

It was a nice night, the stars were out, the weather was mild. He nodded and went to take her hand but she had swung her purse onto that shoulder and so he shoved his hands in his pockets instead. He tried to compose an apology in his head as they walked. They sat on a park bench and she turned to him.

"I wanted to tell you something," Angel said softly.

"I wanted to say something too," Shawn said. "I'm sorry, I've been distracted and not good company tonight. There's no excuse, but it has absolutely nothing to do with you, it was just something else I'm dealing with. I really like you, can you forgive me?" He reached for her hand and she let him take it, but there was no animation, it just lay there in his. "Can we do this over, maybe tomorrow night?"

"Thanks," she smiled sadly. "I did kind of feel like I was on my own tonight. The restaurant was lovely though, the food was so good. And I really loved the gallery. It was just the company."

"Yeah, I know," he said sheepishly. He smiled at her but she didn't smile back. "I'm really sorry Angel, I really like you..."

"I know, I like you too...."

"But?"

"But..." she pulled her hand away and clasped both in her lap tightly, staring at them for a few moments in silence.

"You remember I told you about my ex, Handel?"

"The Dutch guy, yeah I remember," Shawn said. She had broken up with him about six months ago, and had been pretty broken.

"You remember I told you he came to see me, to try to get back together and I rejected him?"

Shawn nodded.

"Well, I didn't completely reject him," she said, looking about nervously. Shawn had no idea where things were going.

"We, I mean, he, and I, we...." She looked up at him and took a deep breath. "I'm pregnant."