The Love Affair

Chapter Twenty Five

Shane stood on guard as I leaned my arm against the wall and exhaled. I felt physically sick. I couldn't even be sure that Angie knew but that encounter made it more possible. How could I have been so stupid? Head into town? Expect no one will recognise me? And expect that my martial affair could go on unpunished? It was bound to happen. I just didn't want it to. Now what was I going to do? It's over.

"Are you okay?" he asked for the fourth time.

"No," I hissed, pulling away from the wall as I sighed. "That was my best friend in there! Did you even see the way she was acting? It's like she knew. Like she's been watching us all night!"

"You can't know that. She would have said something earlier, Rose," he justified, stepping forward as he attempted to console me. I nudged him off as I began stalking down the pavement. Shane followed in pursuit.

"You don't know her like I do. Knowing Angie, she's been watching. Making sure she's right before she pounces on the situation. She'll probably throw it all on me, then she tell Nick and things will all just go to shit," I argued, ignoring the responsibility of crossing a road properly as I walked out dangerously.

"Rose!" Shane yelled grabbing my arm and yanking me back as a car sped past blowing its horn. "God! You nearly run yourself over. Will you just stop and think for a moment?" He lectured, desperately clinging onto me as I froze in his arms.

Tears were brimming in my eyes. "Shane, she's got to know! She has to know about us! We were out in public for-goodness-sake!"

"But we didn't kiss! Rose, look! There's nothing at this moment to suggest she knows. You just need to calm down and take a deep breath. If anything, you'll know more about the situation when she pops in tomorrow. Then you'll know the facts. But don't automatically start thinking she knows without evidence...and if she does, we'll sort it...I promise," he said, caressing his thumb over my cheek.

"How?" I muttered glumly. "How? My marriage will be over. Angie probably hates me and somehow this will be all leaked somehow onto my career. And then it's all over."

Shane brought me closer into him as he held my head and muttered words of endearments. I closed my eyes, fear bubbling in the pits of my stomach.

"I promise, we'll work it out."

***

Shane had dropped me off outside my driveway after I pleaded to just return home. Sex wasn't even on the table tonight. And he knew that. We both did. I couldn't face intimacy. Not tonight. Not when everything was up in the air. Not when my entire life could be hanging on a thread.

I opened the front door. The chorus of laughter echoed through the halls. My feet followed, curious to whatever I was hearing. It was more startling when I found Nick, his feet kicked up on the coffee table, whiskey in his hand conferring with Regina. She was sat on the adjacent three seater sofa, swirling wine around the rim of her glass as she laughed heartily. I wasn't quite sure what I was looking at. Part of me envied how Nick was making another woman laugh. How another woman was looking at him as if he were offering the world. It felt like a dagger at that point was jabbing my internal organs.

Nick glanced over to me, smiling from ear to ear. "Hey, hun. You're back. How was it? Plenty of attention did you get?" he asked, patting the arm of the chair to usher me over. I slowly moved forward, ignoring Regina's intrusion as she spoke trying to obtain my attention. Nick perhaps took my ignorance as plain accidental, as he responded to introduce Regina's presence towards me. "Rose, this is Regina. I think you've probably met a couple times at my many company parties. The bar closed early so we came back for some drinks," he explained, grabbing my hand and then caressing his thumb affectionally across the surface of skin.