Mrs. Novak…. Ch.2

Two weeks before...

Chanel and Shawn had dinner at Le Bistro du Paris. They were celebrating their 5th wedding anniversary and Chanel's 30th birthday. It had been the most perfect day. Shawn had planned out their entire weekend. They had a jam packed staycation in New York City. He booked a room at the Ritz, he wanted to wow her. He had them prepare the room with her favorite flowers, peonies. There were red and white rose petals on the bed. Candles on the dresser, and a tray of her favorite desserts. In the middle of the dessert tray there was a card that read, "Happy 5th Anniversary Mrs. Novak".

When Chanel walked into that suite she felt like the luckiest woman alive. She was literally living the life of her dreams. Perfect husband, perfect job, perfect condo in Williamsburg just minutes from Manhattan. The only thing she didn't have was a baby. Chanel had wanted to be a mom for as long as she could remember. It was her ultimate dream and it had taken a lot of patience waiting all these years to start trying to get pregnant. Shawn was more reserved, he had these big career plans and a baby just wasn't in the cards for him, at least not yet. Chanel understood what he meant, after all, his ambition and drive is what she fell in love with to begin with.

Shawn knew how much Chanel wanted a baby but the truth was, he didn't. For years he'd been holding her off with the career excuse. When Shawn was 21 he gifted himself a vasectomy. He never told anyone this and now he had Chanel and he didn't know how to tell her, so he never did. He knew for as long as he could remember that he didn't want to be a dad.

*******

It all stemmed from years of physical, verbal and emotional abuse from his own father. Shawn hated his father, he felt like he always had. John, his father, was the definition of wrong, of bad, of evil. He beat Shawn's mom and sisters to the point where they all left. Shawn was the youngest of 5 and the only boy. He had it harder than anyone else because the expectation was for him to be just like John. So his mother and sisters resented him for what they saw as "preferential" treatment. Shawn never told them that it was really about survival. If Shawn didn't do what his father said, behaved the way his father wanted him to, then John would beat Shawn to a pulp. One time he beat him so bad he broke his arm, to his mom and sisters he would always say he got in a fight with another boy, or he fell or whatever random excuse he could think of on the spot.

This made him even more disliked by his family. Now they felt like on top of being like John he was also useless because he was so clumsy and a troublemaker. After everyone left things only got worse for Shawn. Now his father had become angry, bitter and even more violent. On more than one occasion John would get so drunk that he would start hallucinating. On these days Shawn would get really scared and hide. He had found this little nook in the kitchen, a hole his father had never fixed and big enough for him to hide in it.

By the time Shawn reached high school, he was almost 6 feet tall and had grown to be bigger than his dad. One day when Shawn was in the 10th grade, John went on one of his benders and was turned down at the bar by a woman known to everyone as a prostitute. John punched the woman and got himself kicked out of the bar and banned. This enraged him and he went home to take all that anger out on Shawn. This time however, Shawn stood his ground, he fought back and when John couldn't fight anymore, he threw Shawn out of their apartment.

Shawn's best friend Andy knew all about John's drinking and his abusive ways. Andy's mom, Gelena, was also aware of Shawn's hardships, so when he got kicked out Gelena took him in without any hesitation. This turned out to be the best thing to ever happen to all of them. Shawn gained a mom, Andy a brother and Gelena was happy to raise these two boys and turn them into good men. Andy's father died about a year prior to Shawn moving in, so Shawn being there was also a bit of a break from the grief.

Andy and Shawn graduated high school together, both got accepted into NYU and both pursued law degrees. Andy wanted to help immigrant families so he went into immigration law and Shawn went into corporate law. He wanted to make a lot of money so he never had to feel like he did when he was a kid.

After law school, Shawn got an entry job for a small firm in the Bank of America tower in midtown. One day while walking to work, he stopped at the local Starbucks and ran into the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. He stared at her like she was his sustenance. He got lost in her green eyes and he admired her long brown hair, the pencil skirt that she wore fit just right, hugged all the right curves. She was taking her wallet out and getting ready to pay when Shawn interjected and offered to pay for her coffee in exchange for her name.

She laughed and said, "does that dumb shit work on other women". Shawn felt a little embarrassed and replied, "not sure, i've never tried that before". Truth is Shawn didn't have a lot of experience with women. He had dated a few in the past few years but nothing ever serious. In college he had a pregnancy scare freshman year so he got a part time job and saved all his money to get a vasectomy for his 21st birthday. Shawn was terrified that if he had children they would turn out like John or worse, he was scared that he would turn out like John and mistreat them.

Chanel was beautiful in a way that just radiated light. She knew she was beautiful but she grew up in a household where it wasn't celebrated and it didn't matter, so she never exploited it.

Shawn apologized to her for making her feel uncomfortable and turned to walk away. Chanel said, "hey, wait up. I never said you couldn't pay"

She could tell he was a bit shy, so she felt a little bad for teasing him. After Shawn paid, she extended her hand and said,

"hi stranger, I'm Chanel".

"Hi Chanel, I'm Shawn. It's very nice to meet you. Do you work around here?"

"Yes, it's actually my first day as a receptionist for some law firm"

"Oh, congratulations" said Shawn in a positive tone.

"It's not the greatest, but I just moved out of my parents house and this job pays well enough for me to make rent every month. How about you stranger?"

"I'm a lawyer. I work here in the tower on the 23rd floor"

"No shit!!! My new job is on the 23rd floor!!"

"No way! It wouldn't happen to be at Smith & Giles, would it?"

"Yes!! That's it!! Oh wow, so does this make you my boss or something?"

"I'm nobody's boss" he said laughing.

"Ok, then stranger. Let's go to work!"