8 Weeks

Chapter Twenty-Two

Chapter 22 -Shelly

"You had sex with him," Sasha said knowingly, pointing her finger at me and grinning wildly.

I looked up at her, then down at myself and asked, "What? Am I wearing a sign?"

"I can just tell," Sasha said with a shake of her hips. "How was it? Where did it happen? Tell me everything."

Sasha slid into the booth across from me and put her hands together in front of her, then looked at me and fluttered her eyelashes.

I laughed. A wonderful, deep-belly laugh.

"You're nuts," I said, trying to deflect.

"Nope," Sasha responded. "You aren't clamming up on me." She reached her hand across the table and placed it over mine, looking at me with a serious expression. "Are you okay?"

I bit my lip and nodded.

"I am. I wanted him, and I'm not sorry it happened. Shit ... it was great sex.I may have seen stars, but I just don't know where to go from here."

"Where do you want to go?" Sasha asked softly.

"I don't know."

"Well, where don't you want to go?"

"I can't go back to the way things were, too much has happened," I began. "But I can't imagine my life without Cal in it. I just don't know in what capacity I can handle him. And, although I loved having sex with Cal, I don't want to get his hopes up, or cause him more pain.We've both been through enough in the last few weeks."

Sasha nodded and patted my hand thoughtfully. "So, 'great sex,' huh?"

I giggled at her and said, "Yeah, right there on my new kitchen counter."

"What happened on your kitchen counter?" Gaby asked as she slid in next to me. "Coffee, please," she said to the cute waiter who eyed her appreciatively.

"Shelly and Cal had mind-altering sex on it," Sasha explained.

Gaby's mouth dropped open and she turned slowly to look at me.

"What? When?How?" she sputtered slowly.

I waited for the waiter to serve Gaby's coffee before answering her.

"We went zip-lining for our fourth date. It was terrifying, and amazing, and totally exhilarating. I don't know, maybe our adrenaline was pumping in overdrive, or maybe I was just horny, but I invited him inside when we got back to my place, and I'd barely given him his beer before he had me up against the counter."

"Oh my,"Sasha said, fanning herself dramatically.

"Go on ..."Gaby encouraged.

"He gave me the opportunity to stop it, but I didn't want to. I wanted him so much I could barely stand it. Once we were done, reality sunk back in, and he asked me to let him stay."

"Did you?"Gaby asked.

I shook my head.

"No, I couldn't. I know that Cal wants our relationship to be the way it was, and I knew that if I allowed him to stay, I'd just hurt him more in the long run.""So, you still plan on going through with the divorce?" Sasha asked, her voice tinged with sadness.

"I can't forget what he did, Sash. And as much as I miss him, I can't give him false hope. I still plan to go through with the divorce. MaybeI should put a stop to this eight weeks thing. I don't know if either of us can handle another month of dates."

We all sat quietly at the table, lost in thought, until the waiter came back and asked us if we were ready to order.

Once our order was in, I sighed deeply and asked, "Please, can we talk about something else? I need one of you to tell me something that is going to get my mind off of everything that I have going on in my life."