Personal Chef

Chapter 30

Shawn's kept one hand on the wheel as we drove back to Toronto. Imagine Dragons were playing and he kept beat with the song by drumming his fingers of his free hand on my thigh. His face held a broad smile as he sang along.

"So they love you," he said when the song ended.

"The feeling is mutual. Meeting your mom and dad explains a lot about your personality. Now I know why you're so polite, considerate, and generous."

"I'm not perfect, you know."

I moved my left hand to his thigh and gave it a squeeze. "I know you're not, but you are pretty wonderful. And you are an amazing boyfriend."

Shawn glanced over at me with a serious look on his face.

"What wrong?" I asked.

"I wasn't to Kat. I fell for you while I was with her. I feel shitty about that now. At the time I justified it because it was a long distance relationship. That's not a legitimate excuse, though. It was wrong."

Kat was a terrible person, but I knew in my heart that she didn't deserve to have her boyfriend thinking romantically about another woman. No one deserved that.

"Are you worried about her finding out about us?" I asked.

"Yeah. I am. She suspected that I felt something for you and I denied it. When we go public, it's just going to confirm that she was right. That will hurt her."

"We're not going public for awhile, but maybe you should talk to her and apologize before we do."

"You'd be okay with that?"

"Of course. I don't like her, but I don't want anyone hurt because of our relationship," I told him.

He took a deep breath. "I want you to know that it's different with you, Chels. Everything is different. I'm happy in a way I've never been. I'm not going to do to you what I did to her. There's no one else out there who could pull my focus away from you."

I couldn't explain why, but I believed him.

"Shawn."

"What, honey."

"Can I stay over again tonight?" I asked.

I wasn't sure if one night together implied that it could become a regular thing. I didn't want to overstay my welcome or be presumptuous.

He chuckled and moved his hand further up my thigh. "I assumed you were."

A warm feeling started flooding my body. It felt so good to be wanted.

"Do you mind stopping by my place so I can pick up a change of clothes?" I asked.

"Of course not. Are your parents home?"

"Probably. Would you be okay popping in to say hi? My mom would love it."

"She would, eh?" he said.

"I guess you could say she's been a bit preoccupied with my love life. She got it in her mind that you and I had potential long before I saw it. When I told her we were together, she flipped out."

"That's cute."

"It's totally not and she may embarrass me. At least my dad's cool," I said as I started to imagine what my mom might do.

I quickly texted my parents so that they'd have some warning and so that my mom could prepare herself.

We got to my house and parked in the long driveway. Shawn and I walked up to the door and I fished my keys from my purse and let us in.