She smiles up at me. I don't want to let her go. She takes a step away from me, but I pull her back to me. "Hurry back," I urge and lean down to kiss her lips.
She nods at me and turns to walk to the bathroom. "You two are . . ." Sheila starts to say. I look at her, putting my hands in my pockets. "That was fast."
I chuckle. "At least I waited until I wasn't dating anyone to take the step."
Sheila just shakes her head. "I never wanted you to find out," she admits, and I can't even believe that I'm having this conversation with her.
"It doesn't matter," I finally say to her. "The fact is that you did it." I shake my head. "Not that it matters, but why?"
"He always gave me special attention. He made me feel wanted," she finally replies. "He made me feel like I was number one in his life." Her eyes turn to look toward where Shelby went. "It was no secret who was number one in your life."
"No." I shake my head, and I don't even give her a chance. "I was with you. Committed to you and only you."
"I fucked up," she finally says. "I fucked up so bad there is no other way to say it. If I could go back, I would do it differently."
"Well, you can't change what you did." I look up and see Shelby waiting in the distance, giving me the time I need. I catch her eye and motion with my head for her to come over. She makes her way over to me and she stands next to me, not knowing what to say. I smile down at her, and I slip my hand into hers. "Are you ready?" I ask her, and then she nods and turns to look at Sheila.
"I owe you a thank-you," she says. I'm shocked, and so is Sheila. "I thanked Joseph also." She wraps her arms around my waist. "If you guys hadn't done what you did, it would have taken us longer to get here." She looks at me. "We were always going to be here." I rub her arm. "Also not that it matters, but dumb." She looks up at me and then looks at Sheila. "Having all this." She squeezes me. "But then going to Joseph. I hope you two will be very happy."
"It was over for a while," Sheila says. "I'm sorry that I played a part in that, and for that, I will forever be sorry. That isn't me."
"Have a great night," I tell her and then look down at Shelby. "Ready to go home?"
"Yes," she says, and when we walk away from Sheila, she waits a couple of minutes before speaking. "Are you okay?"
"How did you feel when you confronted Joseph?" I ask her as we step out of the stadium and head toward the parking lot.
"Um, well, I was pissed at first," she says. "But that was because you slammed the door in my face." She side-eyes me, glaring, and I lift her hand to my mouth, kissing her. "So I went in guns blazing." I know I should be angry that she had to go through that, but knowing her, she totally went in there for the fight of her life. "It didn't solve anything, nor did it give me the sort of closure I was looking for." She stops walking. "What it did do was show me that he wasn't worth my time." The wind picks up, and she leans her head back, and I take off the hat she has on her head. "That no matter what I did, I wasn't the problem. He was." She steps into me now, her hands going to my hips. "I did get to call him a one-minute man and tell him he has a small dick." I throw my head back and laugh. "But other than that, it was just a whatever." She kisses my neck. "What happened with Sheila?"
"Much of the same," I tell her, pushing her hair away from her face. "Minus the one-minute-man and small-dick thing, but you got there to remind her."
"Did seeing her . . ." She takes a big breath, looking down and then up again. "Did seeing her . . ." She swallows. "Did you change your mind?" She smiles at me. "It's okay if you did. I'd understand."
"The only thing it did," I assure her, stopping her from even thinking anything, "is made it even clearer that I'm where I'm meant to be."
"Does this mean that we can go and have make-up sex?" She gets on her tippy-toes and rubs her nose along my jaw.
"God, sex with you was already off the charts. Make-up sex is going to be . . ." I stop talking because she turns to grab my hand and pulls me, making me laugh. "Keys?" I say, and she just tosses the keys, not giving me any lip, which makes me look at her.