Shannon kept checking her phone with an almost obsessive compulsion, searching for messages from Joe on every medium possible. She told herself to stop being so stupid, it wasn't like Joe bothered much with social media at the best of times so he was hardly likely to take it up now. And she had told him not to contact her.

She scrolled through Facebook looking for Katherine's profile having had more than a passing glance at it over the past few months. When she couldn't locate it she realised Katherine must have blocked her and her stomach sank. The timing suggested that Katherine must know about her and Joe, and if she did know then why hadn't Joe been in touch? Impulsively she called Donnie.

'Hey,' he said sounding pleased to hear from her. 'I wasn't sure you'd still be talking to me after the other day.'

'Actually, you were right. I called it off with Joe, whatever it was,' she said sounding braver than she felt.

She heard Donnie let out a deep breath. 'You've done the right thing Shan. I don't think Joe should be with Kat any more than you probably do but he shouldn't have brought you into this.'

Shannon nodded to herself. 'That's pretty much what I told him, to sort it out with Katherine first.' She hadn't thought he'd take so long to do so though.

'I bet she'll be kicking him to the kerb,' Donnie said with a rueful laugh. 'She knows something's gone on between you, I don't think they'll be marching down the aisle anytime soon.' Shannon's heart briefly rose before sinking again. So Katherine did know, and Joe hadn't been in touch, that could only mean one thing. They were working on their relationship.

She swallowed hard trying to hide her upset. 'Well it's up to Joey and Kat to sort out, I don't want to be involved.'

'Best that you're not,' Donnie said lightly. 'So what are you going to do today?'

'I've got work this evening, I guess I'll just hang out for a while.' She'd barely been out lately, creeping around with Joe had negatively impacted on her social life.

'Don't hide away,' Donnie said.

'I'm not, I just want to enjoy my own company before I head off to work.'

It wasn't a lie, she enjoyed being alone sometimes, and she could hardly tell all and sundry about Joe. She felt disconnected from her friends keeping such a big secret to herself. Only Kelly knew the truth, and since she was working on Kat's wedding, Shannon preferred to keep the gory details to a minimum.

~~~~

Joe stared blankly at his computer screen, the stats on some apartments the company was considering buying were failing to hold his attention. He was supposed to have his recommendations ready for his dad by the end of the day although he knew it was a superfluous exercise. Adam Cooper would have already made his decision and he'd either congratulate Joe for coming up with a proposal he liked, or he'd take great delight in pulling it to shreds and pointing out exactly where Joe had gone wrong.

Just wait until Adam found out about Shannon, it didn't bear thinking about.

Joe swung around on his chair before buzzing his secretary to have her bring him more coffee. He already had three half drunken cups on his desk so what was one more?

'Could you take these cups away?' he asked as she placed the fresh coffee in front of him. 'Please,' he added when she gave him a pointed look.

'Don't forget you have a meeting with Mr Cooper in ten minutes,' she said before leaving and he grimaced at the reminder. He turned back to his computer screen and minimised the report, logging onto Facebook instead. He rarely went on there but boredom got the better of him. He checked his notifications and saw he'd been tagged in a number of pictures from the engagement party. It seemed so long ago. Looking at the images of himself and Kat he couldn't believe how happy they looked, and he was certain they had been happy that evening. He wasn't thinking about Shannon then, not really.

A sharp knock at the door snapped him out of his reverie as his dad entered the office without waiting to be called in.

'Hi Adam,' he said looking up from the computer screen as his dad took a seat in front of him.

'How are those proposals coming along?' his dad asked.

'They're getting there,' Joe said not even attempting to hide his boredom.

'Right.' His dad raised an eyebrow. 'And how's everything else coming along, you seem distracted?'

Joe frowned. 'Everything else?'

'The wedding plans. I try to leave that sort of stuff to your mother but lately you seem to have lost your focus,' Adam said adjusting his tie. 'Is everything okay with Katherine?'

'Yeah, sure,' Joe said hastily wondering what had brought on the father-son talk.

'She'll make a good wife Joe,' his dad said. 'You've done well.'

Joe nodded. If he had to write a ten point report on all of Kat's attributes that would be easy enough but his doubts would remain.

'I know your mother has never really taken to her,' his dad admitted surprising him. 'But that's cos she's your mom so probably no one is ever going to be quite good enough. But Katherine is, even if her family are a little wacky.'

'There's nothing wrong with her family,' Joe said feeling a little defensive on Kat's behalf. If only her family were their only issue.

'No but they're not really our kind of people. Katherine is though, she won't let you down.'

Joe made a noncommittal noise, he should be glad to have his father's approval but at that moment he couldn't care less.

'Is that all Adam, it's just I've got this report to be getting on with...'

His father stood up clearing his throat. 'Yeah, and don't forget we've got that fundraiser tonight. Tell Katherine to wear a dress.'

Joe pulled a face. That was about the last thing he wanted to do, and it was about the worst time ever for him and Kat to play the part of the happy couple. Still, he knew there was no getting out of it. His father gave him a curt nod and left the office.

Joe turned back to his computer and began to scroll through Katherine's profile on facebook. There was no embarrassing pictures or status's from her, the public image she presented was flawless. His dad was right, she'd be the perfect corporate wife. Unlike Shannon who would probably flirt with a CEO in front of his wife, he thought ruefully.

He then looked for Shannon's profile, finding her on Donnie's friends' list. He hovered over the 'add friend' button before telling himself not to be so stupid. He didn't need to inflame the situation even further. He'd have to content himself with looking at Shannon's public posts only, however, they were plenty of profile pictures. Shots of her holding cocktails and wine glasses, probably drunk, pouting selfies, even a picture of her in a bikini. He could well imagine what his dad would say although his eyes lingered on the picture for far too long.

He took his phone out of his pocket and brought up Shannon's number. He had to speak to her and at least let her know...but know what exactly? Was he going to stay with Katherine because that would be the sensible thing to do? Because she might make the better wife? He shook his head thinking that was absurd, no wonder Shannon had said he was 'transactional', he was thinking of the marriage as a business arrangement.

Just as he was about to touch the 'call' button Katherine's name appeared on the screen and the phone vibrated in his hand.

'Hi Kat,' he said his stomach sinking.

'Hi sorry for calling when you're at work,' she said speaking rapidly. 'But I was talking to my mom and she was saying we should go for counselling.'

His mouth dropped open. 'You've told your mom?'

'No I haven't,' she said the pitch in her voice dropping. 'She was talking about the wedding and having premarital counselling to iron out any issues we might have later on.'

Joe had to stop himself from scoffing. They had plenty of issues to iron out now.

'So I've rung around a few people and I've got us an appointment for this Friday at six. I've checked your diary and you've got nothing scheduled.'

'Oh right, that's great,' he said sarcastically. 'Thanks for consulting me.'

'Joe I'm trying to work things out,' she said tersely. 'I want us to move on.'

'Whatever,' he said letting his irritation out. She always was a bit controlling, he shouldn't be so surprised.

'Please don't be petulant, it's just something I thought we could try,' she said sounding equally irritated. 'Just come along to one session please.'

'Counselling,' he said throwing the idea around in his head. 'Okay, since you've already made the appointment.'

'Thanks, Joe,' she said injecting some enthusiasm into her voice.

He ended the call no longer feeling as annoyed as he initially had. Counselling itself might not be such a bad idea. Not premarital counselling as such, but maybe an independent third party would help Katherine come to realise their relationship was in terminal decline. If she worked it out for herself she'd hopefully agree to go their separate ways without him causing her any further pain.

~~~