All of these things point to how Oliver is choosing to do things differently with Shane, doing "[more] than one thing right in his life," as he said to Shane in From Paris With Love.
Getting To Know Her
We can assume from what we know of Oliver and Holly's story that there's a good chance this is something he never did for Holly, making it all the more important that he's adopted the habit. It could also be a way that, in the absence of a divorce decree, that Oliver is reaching out to Shane.
Keeping His Distance
Another way Oliver is clearly approaching his relationship with Shane differently is in how he's handling the physical aspect of their relationship. We know that it wasn't long before Oliver and Holly were getting cozy with one another, whether due to their life or death circumstances or not. But notice that Oliver never really initiates anything physical with Shane except taking her hand to dance. |
You might be thinking about that time Oliver initiated a hug in the vault in the Treasure Box---good! That's the exception, and it's only because Oliver had seemingly "forgotten" about everything else except what was happening in the vault right there in front of him. Holly didn't exist during his time with Shane in the vault, perhaps explaining his uncharacteristic instinct to reach out to her as she broke down. Notice that it doesn't happen again. Oliver has thought about initiating another hug, however. Everyone was on the edge of their seat when Oliver asked Shane, "Do you know what I want to do---right now?" in Truth Be Told and never got their answer. I talked about it in the Where Are They Now posts, but it's worth mentioning again---Oliver was telling Shane that he wanted to hug her. |
More importantly, it demonstrates the care with which he's approaching things with Shane, which I think we can all get behind. He guards both their hearts by leaving the physical stuff as a last option for expressing affection. Let's be honest, Oliver has done pretty spectacular with all the other ways he's expressed how smitten he is!
I can't wait to see what he does in 2016!
Waiting For A ShOliver Hand Hold,
~C