Shannon stopped walking when she reached the ladies restroom. She slowly turned around to face Katherine, hiding her trepidation. She thanked god they were in a public place and things would hopefully not get too heated with so many people about. She took a couple of quick breaths to steady her nerves, wishing she'd thought to bring her drink with her.

'So you wanted to talk?' she asked as her heart pounded in her chest. She clasped her hands together and stood up straighter, grateful she was wearing skyscraper heels.

Katherine tilted her head looking down at her. 'I thought you might appreciate the opportunity to clear the air.'

Shannon scowled, finding her tone somewhat condescending. If Katherine wanted her to apologise then fine, she would say she was sorry but that was as far as it went. 'I'm not sure there's a whole lot we have to say to each other,' she said desperately searching for the right words. 'I'm sorry you got hurt, I'm sorry for my part in it but...'

'It's okay, I know you're not sorry that you've got Joe,' Katherine said her face inscrutable. 'If you hadn't wanted him you wouldn't have done what you did. Well, unless you're the type who goes after guys' who are in relationships.'

'I'm absolutely not that type.' Her voice sounded shrill to her own ears and she tried hard to swallow her indignation. Of course, she couldn't expect Katherine to think any differently. 'Look, I am sorry, I'm not proud of myself. I shouldn't have had anything to do with Joey until your relationship was over.'

Katherine waved her hand dismissively. 'If you'd done that then we'd be married by now and that would have been an even bigger calamity.'

'I see,' Shannon said although she did not.

'Yeah, you did me a favour, kind of, because at some point you'd have come back into Joe's life and he would have realised what he was missing.' Katherine closed her eyes giving Shannon just a hint of how she was feeling. 'You don't know how hard it is for me to admit that.'

'I'm-'

'Don't say you're sorry! I didn't drag you over here to haul you over the coals, if I was going to do that to anyone then I'd do it to Joe.'

Shannon breathed a sigh of relief. 'So why haven't you done that to him?' She had to admit Katherine had let Joe off the hook lightly, it had only been Joe's mom who'd experienced any real animosity from her.

'There's no point me speaking to Joe,' Katherine said and Shannon had to strain to hear her as the music went up. 'He'll stonewall me, besides I've humiliated myself enough where he's concerned.' She looked over to Joe's table. 'You guys must have had such a laugh at my expense, at how foolish I was trying to hold onto him.'

'No, we didn't,' Shannon said shifting her weight from one foot to the another. 'In a way, I wish I was more like you. The first time around I dumped Joey on a whim, thinking the grass was greener and all that.'

'Don't do that again.' Katherine took a deep breath. 'If you and Joe split up all this hurt will have been for nothing.' Shannon nodded, not daring to interrupt. 'I want to wish you well, I do wish you well. This move to London is probably what Joe needs, he needs to step out of his parents' shadow and be his own man.'

'Yes he does,' Shannon said feeling her heart rate slow as the conversation was coming to a close.

'And he needs to grow up,' Katherine added pointedly.

Shannon stifled a laugh, she guessed Katherine was entitled to the odd dig. 'Joey does have some growing up to do, we both do,' she admitted feeling like a school girl talking to a teacher. 'Thank you for wishing us well.'

Katherine gave her the briefest of smiles. 'That's okay, you can go now.'

Class dismissed, she thought as she scurried back to Joe's table and sank into her seat.

'Are you okay, babe?' Joe asked his eyes narrowing as he looked over to where Katherine was still standing.

'Never better.' She grabbed her drink and took a sip of it letting the alcohol relax her. 'I don't know what you were looking so worried about!'

                                                                              ~~~

'Hey, Katie,' Donnie said waving a hand in Katherine's face. 'You look a million miles away.'

'I do? I guess I am.' She laughed nervously. 'Sorry, what I meant is I feel a million miles away.' She looked over at Joe's table and they all seemed preoccupied with each other, not paying any attention to her. 'Did you see I was talking to Shannon a few minutes ago?'

'Yeah I did,' Donnie said raising his eyebrows. 'Why'd you think I was keeping a safe distance?'

She let out a small laugh. 'I can control myself.'

'I'm sure you can but Shannon can be...impetuous.'

Kat shook her head. 'She was perfectly nice, I didn't get any vibes that she was about to go psycho on me.'

Donnie laughed. 'Psycho is putting it a bit strongly.' He placed his hand on her elbow. 'Can we move away from the ladies restroom, people will think I'm a creep if I stand around here too long.'

'I didn't think you were overly concerned about appearances,' Kat said thinking he wouldn't have invited her along if he cared about what other people thought.

Donnie shrugged. 'Okay, maybe it's an excuse to buy you a drink.'

'Oh, I already have one.' However, she let Donnie lead her back to the bar. 'I left my drink here with Dani.' Of course, Danielle was nowhere to be seen.

'Dani took your drink while you were with Shannon,' Donnie said grinning. 'And now she's over there with some guy so I don't think you'll be seeing much more of her tonight.'

'What?' Katherine looked to where Donnie was indicating and saw Danielle talking animatedly in the corner of the room. Great, she was supposed to be giving her moral support, not bailing on her when she caught the attention of a good looking guy. 'Looks like I'm on my own,' she said dismayed.

'You can hang out with me if you want.'

'I don't seem to have any other option.' She groaned as soon as the words were out of her mouth. 'I didn't mean it like that. It's just that Dani was supposed to stay with me, and Joe's over there with Shannon. But I don't expect you to babysit me. It's your birthday, I'm sure there are lots of people you need to spend time with.' She took a deep breath, forcing herself to stop rambling.

'I wouldn't have suggested it if I didn't want to,' Donnie said holding her gaze. 'Now let me get you a drink.'

'No let me get you one,' she said her composure returning. 'It's not every day you turn thirty.'

Donnie grimaced. 'Must you remind me.' However, he did let her buy him a drink even though she suspected he would insist on returning the favour later on.

'So,' he said glancing over at Shannon. 'Can I ask what you guys were talking about?'

She shrugged. 'Joe, I guess. In around about sort of way.'

Donnie watched her closely. 'Why? Are you still hung up on him?'

She flinched before telling herself it was a reasonable question to ask. 'No, I don't think I am.' She took a long sip of her drink as she collected her thoughts. 'I've had a long time to think - to obsess if I'm honest - and I can only conclude our relationship was never what I thought it was. I think we'd have been relatively happy together but at my age, I'd like to think I can aspire to more than relative happiness.'

Donnie raised his glass and clinked it with hers. 'I'll drink to that.' She laughed feeling more relaxed than she had all evening but his face was suddenly serious again. 'But Katie, if you're over Joe, why were you talking to Shannon?'

'I'm not entirely sure,' she admitted taking another sip of her drink and avoiding Donnie's eyes. 'I suppose I wanted to exorcise that demon.'

'What?'

'I know, I sound like a crazy lady.' She took a deep breath. 'I guess I was curious. For months now it's seemed like my life has been intertwined with Shannon's and I don't even know the girl.' Normally she wouldn't refer to a woman as a girl but she couldn't help herself. 'I've had all kinds of ideas about her, it's almost like I gave her this power over me.'

Donnie looked incredulous. 'I can tell you now she doesn't see it that way.'

Kat let out a deep breath. 'No, she probably doesn't. This is more me extrapolating. Anyway, I wanted to speak to her and let bygones be bygones.'

'That's generous of you.'

Katherine shook her head. 'Not entirely. I wanted her to know that Joe meant nothing to me.' And she wanted to now make that clear to Donnie as well. She didn't want him to see her as some sort of pathetic figure pining over her ex. 'And I sort of wanted to see her squirm.'

Donnie laughed. 'I can understand you feeling like that.'

'Yeah, I spoilt myself there!'

'I don't think so.' Donnie paused, picked up his drink and then put it back down untouched. 'Totally changing the subject, how about I take you out to dinner sometime?'

Katherine flushed. 'I think I owe you dinner. Remember I promised to cook and we ended up ordering pizza?'

Donnie reached his hand out to hers. 'I think you know that's not what I meant. I don't want to hang out with you and Danielle. I want to take you out on a date.'

Katherine's flush deepened and she was grateful the flashing lights were obscuring her face. 'I guess dinner would be nice,' she said looking at her hand in Donnie's.

'Just to be absolutely clear,' he said forcing her to meet his eyes again. 'You are agreeing to go on a date with me?'

 She took a large gulp of her drink before smiling. 'Yeah, I think I am.'

                                                  ~~~

Thank you for reading. I haven't had time to edit this part as much as I'd like but I'll be on holiday soon so I wanted to upload it before I went.