Watermelon

Lead the Way

"Did you need to get anything else?" Camila asked as she and Shawn walked side by side through the store. He had only a bag of ground coffee in his hand.

"Nope. I just came for this." He held the bag up. "The coffee couldn't wait." Camila smiled and nodded in understanding. Shawn stayed with her through the entirety of her grocery shopping; he even helped her grab a few more things from shelves she was too short to reach. He helped her place all of her items on the conveyor when she went to checkout and even put the bags in the trunk of her car for her. 

Camila couldn't help but stare at him in awe as he loaded her groceries into the car. She found him. She really found him. Or maybe he found her. It didn't matter — the point is that Shelby was right. The universe was pushing them together. That simple thought triggered visions of a beautiful wedding and even more beautiful babies.

Calm down. Too soon for that, she reminded herself. 

"You ready for ice cream?" he asked, breaking her from her thoughts.

"I'm always ready for ice cream."

"That's fair." Shawn stepped toward her and instinctively interlaced his hand with hers. Camila flashed him a smile — clearly caught off guard but not put off by the sudden affection. Shawn faltered for a moment, pulling his hand away awkwardly. "Oh, um...s-sorry," he chuckled nervously. Camila reached and grabbed his hand again, interlacing their fingers once more and giving his hand a squeeze.

"Lead the way."

They both smiled shyly at each other before Shawn began tugging her in the direction of the ice cream shop. 

"So what have you been up to for the past twenty months?"

"Working mostly," she giggled.

"Sounds like it paid off if you got a promotion though! What's your job now?"

"Vice President."

"Whoa! What?" His eyes were wide and so was his grin. "Shit...if I would've known I would've bowed or something." They both laughed. 

"It's...definitely crazy. And a huge change."

"Clearly if it means moving to Toronto."

There was a small beat of silence before Camila decided to admit her secret to him.

"You wanna know something funny?"

"Hm?"

"One of the main reasons I accepted the new job was because I knew it meant I might run into you again," she admitted. "Although I was kind of worried that I'd be too late."

"Too late?" he questioned.

"We've been over this: you're like...the perfect guy. Even back in St. Barts I couldn't believe that no one had snatched you up yet. I kind of thought that maybe coming up here and finding you was a lost cause."

"You do realize I could say the same thing about you, right?"

"What?" Camila was genuinely confused by his statement. Shawn nodded as if it were obvious.

"You're literally my dream girl, Camila," he chuckled. "I think that's what made that goodbye so difficult. I met the most incredible woman and had the most perfect week with her and then had to say goodbye thinking I'd never see her again. It really fucking sucked."

"Yeah..." Camila sighed. "I remember. Wait...so you really felt that way about me?" 

"Of course."

"Damn...I guess I never thought that maybe you felt that way about me too." 

"I was literally begging you to try long-distance," he chuckled. "That wasn't just because I thought you were kind of okay. It was because I was crazy about you."