Shannon arranged a lunch 'date' with Donnie now she had more time on her hands since she'd reduced her hours at work. She was happy with her schedule but felt guilty knowing that her father was pretty much subsidising her lifestyle. She was lucky he was so indulgent. Joe was right, she was spoilt as a child and she still was now.

'Shannon I'm gonna speak out of turn here,' Donnie said holding his burger in the air, and she rolled her eyes getting ready for the lecture. 'You and Joe, what you're doing, it's not on.'

'Do you think I don't know that?' she asked fiddling with her hair.

Donnie shot her an impatient look. 'It's wrong and you know it, so why are you continuing to see Joe?' He took a bite of his burger but Shannon could sense how exasperated he was.

'Hey I'm not the one who's getting married,' she said trying to deflect.

Donnie looked at her, forcing her to meet his eyes. 'I know Joe is way out of line but this isn't like you either. If Joe's got cold feet him and Katherine should be dealing with it, he shouldn't be comforting himself with you.'

Shannon felt her cheeks heating up. 'It's not like that,' she said quickly. 'I think it's just nostalgia with him.' That was what she kept telling herself; what they had was temporary, and part of the past, they had no future together.

'Well if Joe wants to relive his youth he should go watch an old movie,' Donnie scoffed. 'Why are you letting him use you, cos that's what he's doing. You can call it nostalgia but as a guy, I can tell you he's having his cake and eating it.'

Shannon laughed but there was no real humour in it. 'It's not like you to spout a load of old platitudes, Donnie.'

Donnie sat back contemplating her for a moment. 'I don't know how else to get this through to you,' he said his tone serious. 'You are being used, Shannon. You're my friend, Joe's like a brother to me, and I hate to be down on him but he is using you.'

Shannon took a sip of her drink to give herself time to formulate a reply. 'Okay he's using me, but your loyalty is to him so why are you telling me this stuff?'

'Because I don't want to see you get hurt,' he said his brows furrowed. 'I dunno Shan, this whole thing, it's not like Joe. If he's having doubts about marrying Kat, which he should be, he should be dealing with them. Having an affair's not the answer.'

Shannon chewed her lip thinking. 'Why are you so sure he's got cold feet?'

'Cos Joe and Kat are so dull together, you come along and suddenly he remembers what a relationship can be like,' Donnie said reaching for his drink. 'He needs to dump Kat, the whole thing's unfair on you both.'

'Are you sure your dislike of Katherine isn't clouding your judgement?' Much as she'd like to believe him, Joe had told her all about his animosity towards Katherine.

Donnie sighed and shook his head. 'I'm sick of saying I don't dislike Kat, I think she's a great person as it happens. For much of the same reasons, I think Joe's great. She doesn't deserve what the pair of you are doing to her.'

Shannon couldn't miss the disapproval in his voice and she felt a stab of guilt. She had nothing against Katherine, but more than that she'd never seen herself as the sort of woman who went after men who were already taken. She knew what it felt like to be on the receiving end.

'Look as soon as Joey's married, this will all end,' she assured Donnie. 'He know's I won't be his mistress, that's so last century!'

Donnie put his drink down, the glass clanging against the table top. 'So why don't you end it now? Cos from where I'm sitting I think we'll have this exact same conversation after the wedding but then you'll be saying you'll finish it when Kat's pregnant. Then it'll be when the baby's born, then there'll be another excuse. You'll end up wasting years on Joe.'

Shannon sat back and silently reflected on his words. There was a fair chance he had summed the situation up perfectly.

~~~~

As soon as she had another day off Shannon invited Joe around to her apartment before she lost her nerve. She knew she had to end it for her own sake if for nothing else.

'Hi,' he said as she invited him in. He kissed her a little too enthusiastically reminding her of an overgrown schoolboy. She tried to tell herself that it wasn't cute even if deep down she thought differently.

'Joey we've got to stop seeing each other like this,' she said getting ready to launch into her speech.

'Yeah and we will, when the time comes,' he said and he kissed her again.

She pushed her hands against his chest, irritated that he wasn't taking her seriously. 'I'm serious Joe. This isn't fair on me. I want a normal relationship and I'm not going to meet anyone else when I'm seeing you.'

She saw a flicker of hurt cross his face, finally a reaction.

'Have you met someone?' he asked his eyes meeting hers.

She shook her head not willing to lie. 'No and I'm not going to while we're carrying on like this. I'm sick of it. Why should my life be on hold while you're going full steam ahead making plans for your future?' She let herself feel resentful, she had to keep every reason why she should end it now to the forefront of her mind.

He grabbed hold of both her hands. 'But it's not the future I want,' he said speaking rapidly. 'I love you, Shannon, I'm in love with you. I don't want to marry Kat. Please just give me some time to sort things out.'

His face was so open as he pleaded with her that she desperately wanted to believe him. 'I wish that was true...'

'It is, I promise you. I want to be with you, I want us to have a future together but I don't know how to sort things out with Kat.' He let out a deep sigh. 'It's such a mess.' Sitting down he dropped his head into his hands and she was tempted to comfort him but she held back.

'You need to finish with Katherine,' she said sitting down next to him and crossing her arms in her lap. 'If you love me, you'll dump her.'

Joe held her hand again. 'I will I promise, just give me some time. We've been together for years, we're supposed to be getting married, I have to do it the right way.'

Shannon took a couple of deep breaths. 'There is no right way. The longer you leave it the worse it will get.'

Joe looked down at his tie, flicking an imaginary piece of fluff off it. 'You're right, I've got to do it but I don't want to hurt her any more than I have to. Surely you can understand that?' She looked into his blue eyes, trying to read if he was sincere or not.

He put his hand into his jacket pocket and brought out a box. 'I got you this,' he said smiling as he handed her the box. Slowly she opened it feeling strangely apprehensive. Inside were a pair of crystal earrings and a matching necklace.

'You can't give me these,' she gasped as her stomach flipped.

'Of course, I can,' he said as he smoothed a piece of her hair behind her ear. 'I'm serious about you.' He smiled at her, giving her his best boyish grin, and she felt butterflies in her chest.

'I don't know Joey, it doesn't seem right,' she said as her hands played with the jewellery box. 'I told you I won't be your mistress, and you can't buy me with gifts.'

'I'm not trying to buy you,' he said and she could hear the hurt in his voice. 'I love you, Shannon, and I wanted to get you something nice, you deserve it.'

She looked at the present again trying not to smile. It was a gift, nothing more. 'You still have to finish with Katherine or I'll finish with you.'

'I know Shan, I understand,' he said kissing her softly and she let herself be momentarily reassured. 'I'll do it tonight.'

~~~