After Oliver stormed out of the conference room, Lucille was left to explain things to Shane. She didn't know much about Anne Katherine's motives so there wasn't much to discuss.

"Well", Shane began. "This is definitely something."

Lucille nodded.

"I would've never seen this coming. What do you think of this?", he asked.

She shrugged her shoulders. "We make it work", she answered. "Anne Katherine could make or break this campaign. If she wants a divorce, he'll have to give her one."

"We can spin it in his favor after he gets elected", Shane said. "Wait about a year. Maybe 16 months after election. We say they drifted apart-"

"We can't say they drifted apart", Lucille interrupted. "That makes it sound like he can't handle running the state and making time for his wife. We say the two have realized they don't love one another as lovers but as friends. Something like that."

Shane nodded. "It could work."

Lucille backed away from the table. "I'm going to see if I can reach out to Anne Katherine. Set up a meeting or something."

Shane was eyeing her up and down as she stood. She saw him looking at her but she didn't realize he was checking her out.

"I know I might be dressed very inappropriately right now but I wasn't planning on coming in today. I do apologize."

"It's no problem", Shane said as he stood up also. "I don't mind at all."

Lucille smiled and nodded. "It was nice meeting you."

"Likewise", he said. Shane watched her closely as she walked out of he conference room. He knew in due time, he would have no choice but to ask her out.

Lucille walked down the hallway to Oliver's office. She really hoped he was inside.

One reason being because she needed to talk to him about what just happened. The second reason being, he was her ride home.

She turned the knob on the door and poked her head inside.

"Can I come in?", she asked him.

"Since when do you ask?", he joked.

Lucille smiled as she entered.

"I just wanted to check on you. You left pretty fast back there. You're upset."

"I'm not upset", he confessed. I mean I think I should be upset but I'm not at all."

"Do you want to divorce her?", Lucille asked.

Oliver grinned. "Hell yeah."

"I'll meet with her tomorrow and talk about the timeline of how things will go and-"

"No. No I'll do it", Oliver answered. "I'll do it now", he said standing up.

Lucille didn't have time to suggest against it. His mind was made up so she let him go.

"Antonio will take you back to the hotel", he said. "I'll let you know how it goes."

Lucille smiled and nodded. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow then."

He waved goodbye as he exited his office. Lucille was nervous. She didn't understand what this meant for them. Did she even want to? She couldn't help but think maybe she should've kept her mouth shut about the divorce.

__________________

Lucille was lying on the bed in a complimentary hotel robe. She had her curly hair stuffed into a messy bun at the top of her head. She played with the stray pieces while reading the latest issue of Cosmopolitan, one of her guilty pleasures.

She kept her phone near her, hoping Oliver would call. At this point she would've been happy for a text. Hell, an email. She just wanted to know what happened with Anne Katherine.

After she was done flipping through her magazine, it was a little after 11. She crawled under the sheets, and settled into bed. She was almost certain Oliver had reconciled with his wife and she knew she had no right to be upset if that were the case. But it wasn't the case.

She pretended to be sound asleep when she heard the sound of a key card being scanned in. She could hear his body moving gently around the room. He was being considerate of not wanting to wake her, little did he know that wasn't a problem.

When she heard the shower turn on, she actually decided to let the sandman take over. She drifted off into a light sleep. She came out of it when she felt weight on the other side of the bed. Strong arms snaked around her waist, pulling her close.

"Are you okay?", she mumbled out, still half asleep.

"Of course I am", he whispered.

Neither of them acknowledged the elephant, or elephants, in the room: her now ex-boyfriend and his possibly soon-to-be ex-wife. For now they enjoyed the weird relationship they had. They found comfort in one another even without a sexual relationship.

She rested her hand over his. "Goodnight", she mumbled inaudibly.

He pressed a kiss against the back of her neck. "Goodnight."

__________________

A month later and things were getting more and more awkward between Oliver and Lucille. The sexual tension was rising, there was no denying that. But they refused to acknowledge it.

Lucille was back at her apartment, without Aaron. Oliver had taken over the hotel room where she had been staying before.

He was spending more time with his son which was exciting for him but he just couldn't explain to him why he wasn't sleeping at home. He blamed it on work and the young boy never questioned it further.

Anne Katherine had kept her promise with the deal Oliver had made with her. She would get her divorce as long as she put forth effort in helping him win the election in two months. Also, Oliver made it clear that he would be in his son's life. That would be in writing.

From then on, Anne Katherine was at Oliver's side at every public function he attended, sometimes even with their son, which was great. People loved a family man.

The relationship between Lucille and Anne Katherine, though it was never significantly great before, was strained because of the whole Aaron deal. She'd apologized to Lucille but Lucille still couldn't forget what happened. She had no choice but to move on though.

"So have you started dating again?", she asked unashamedly.

Lucille rolled her eyes but answered anyway. "I was with Aaron for 6 years. I'm not sure I'm ready to jump back in so soon."

"Well when you're ready I know someone who would be a good suitor for you", Anne Katherine answered.

'Oh so do I', Lucille thought to herself. 'Your husband.'

But instead she asked, "who would that be?"

She followed Anne Katherine's eyes over to Shane. The sly grin on her face told Lucille she'd been plotting on this for some time.

"Definitely not", Lucille answered.

Lucille had to admit, Shane was undeniably good looking. She bit the inside of her cheek as she checked him out from across the room while pretending to be invested in the files in her hand.

"Okay, he is undeniably handsome, sexy, scrumptious", she thought to herself coming to a conclusion.

"You see the way he looks at you, don't you?", Anne Katherine asked, pushing the issue.

Lucille giggled. She did catch him a few times, but she did nothing to let him know she was interested. Which she wasn't. She was in no predicament to be dating, especially not now. And not him.

"I can't deal with you", she finally answered.

"What's all this whispering about?", Oliver asked as he approached them.

Lucille brushed it off but Anne Katherine was excited to let him in on the secret.

"I think Lucille should go out with Shane", she whispered excitedly.

Lucille searched Oliver's face for a reaction and quickly looked away when his eyes turned to her.

"Is Lucille interested?", he asked shoving his hands into his pockets.

The question was for Anne Katherine yet his eyes remained on Lucille.

"Of course she is. Look at him", Anne Katherine answered.

Lucille sighed. These stay at home moms literally had no excitement in their lives. She was at least happy to see Anne Katherine making an effort to get along with Oliver though, even if it was at her expense.

"They certainly have my blessing then", Oliver said.

Lucille spoke up, "All of this is rhetorical. Shane hasn't exactly expressed interest in me."

She said it to reassure both herself and Oliver.

"Well either way", Oliver said. "Excuse me", he said before walking away from the women.

"There's no shame in making the first move", Anne Katherine chimed in before she also walked away.

Lucille looked over to Shane who was still deeply invested in his work. What harm could one date do? Besides, Oliver had been terribly distant with her over the past month.

She wondered if it had anything to do with the divorce bombshell. He said he wasn't bothered that she'd kept it from him but maybe it was a front.

She was so deep in thought she hadn't realized Shane was now looking right back at her with a smirk set on his face. He'd caught her staring. Her cheeks heated up as she turned on her heel to exit the conference room quickly. She ran right into Oliver.

He cleared his throat. "Excuse me."

"Can we talk?", Lucille asked.

He nodded. She led him down the hall to her office. Once the door was shut she wasted no time.

"What's going on?", she asked.

He looked at her questionably.

"You've been detached for the past few weeks. I just wanted to make sure we were okay."

"We're as okay as we can be for the moment", he answered.

"What does that even mean? You're talking in code." She seemed agitated. "Just say what you mean."

"We are fine", he answered. The look in his eyes begged her to drop it. So she did.

He was walking out but before he left he turned back to her.

"If you wanna go out with Shane", he trailed off. He was hesitant to continue. "He seems like a nice guy."

Lucille nodded as he exited her office. Shortly after there was a knock at the door of her office.

Shane stepped inside, greeting Lucille with a somewhat stirring smile.

"What are you so happy about?", Lucille asked fumbling around papers at her desk, trying to seem only half interested.

Shane chuckled a bit and pointed behind himself. "So I just spoke with Anne Katherine", he said.

Lucille could feel her face heating up. "Oh yeah? About what?", she asked not looking up.

"She seems to be under the impression that you are.. interested in me."

She looked up at him. "Sounds like some water cooler gossip to me", she laughed it off.

He nodded. "I figured as much. There's no way a woman as beautiful as you isn't already taken."

Lucille blushed. "Well thank you but unfortunately I am newly single."

"I'd say I'm sad to hear that but I'd be lying", he said. "Because since you're single you can join me for dinner."

Lucille smiled. "I'm sorry but I'm not in that place right now."

"I can respect that", Shane said.

As he turned to walk away, Oliver's words floated to Lucille's mind. She shook her head but proceeding to speak up.

"Shane", she said.

He turned around to face her. "Yeah?"

"How about coffee?", she asked.

------------------------------------------------------

Shane boutta be eyeing Lucille and drinking that coffee like...