Shane allowed herself a wry smile as she considered the fact that a year ago before Shay had come into her life she hadn’t even known that this time on a Sunday morning existed.  Sure, she knew what dawn looked like as Saturday night ebbed into Sunday and she often found herself extricating herself from an unknown bed to return home and sleep off the excesses of the night before.  This time however mid Sunday morning it was like discovering a new part to the week.

As she walked along the pier and watched as families passed her by in either direction she began to question what it was that she had with Paige and Jared.   The excited conversation of months ago when they had discussed moving in together seemed like a distant memory.  It had never materialised.  In fact neither of them had referred to it again both realising that they were happy with the status quo and moving in together was too much too soon.

As she walked alone surrounded only by strangers Shane slowly allowed her mind to wander to those places she fought so hard to keep hidden on an ordinary day.  The more she thought about it the more she realised that her relationship with Paige was inextricably linked to Shay.  It’s not that Shane didn’t care for Paige or indeed that she didn’t enjoy spending time with her – it was just that underneath it all Shane knew that without Jared, she would have been gone a long time ago.  A long troubled sigh escaped her lips as she finally permitted herself to voice what she had known for some time.

Shay had changed her life so completely.  She had never known love like the love she had felt for Shay.  Actually, that was not entirely accurate.  She had never known love like the love Shay had for her.  That was the crux of it all really.  It was the realisation that there was another human being on this planet who could love her unconditionally that had so altered the equilibrium in her life.  Growing up Shane had felt no love by anyone.  Abandoned by both her parents and passed around from foster home to foster home being loved was not something she had ever experienced.  Right at the beginning before she had come to understand the system she had been foolish enough to let herself love.