"Damn it," Jack said, with a disbelieving look on his face as he looked from Rusty's winning hand to his own. He slumped back in his seat and stared at Rusty's pleased smiled. "Damn it," he repeated.
Rusty smiled and raked his earnings to the pile in front of him. "So..." he started nonchalantly, "you and Sharon. Why'd you guys..." Rusty trailed off and sort of shook his head. When he'd first found out Sharon was married, Rusty had been surprised. But now that he knew her better and knew Jack, he was surprised they were separated.
A semi-serious look settled on Jack's face. "I think you should ask Sharon what she's comfortable with you knowing."
"So, Sharon," Rusty said later when he was on the couch with a ridiculous text book in his lap. Jack was gone, so it was just the two of them again. Rusty had felt if he was going to ask, he should do it when he had her alone. If the Raydors were together when he asked, Rusty had no doubt Sharon would shoot Jack a look and an awkward feeling would follow. Sharon hummed from her desk, signaling for him to continue. After a brief pause, he asked, "Why won't you give Jack a chance?"
Her head raised and she looked at him with an arched eyebrow, surprise written across her face. "Excuse me?"
"Well," he set his book aside, "he just seems like he still really loves you, and you guys are still married-"
"Separated," she reminded, looking back down at whatever was on her desk.
"Yeah, I know, but you don't seem to actually want to get a divorce." He waited quite awhile for her to reply. When she didn't, he said persuasively, "And he still wears his wedding ring."
Something between a chuckle and a snort came out of her throat, "I just wish he would've remembered to do that while we were actually married." The meaning of what she said hit him just before she realized what she let slip out. She looked at him with a look very similar to the one she had after she'd told him that the reason they knew she wasn't his mother was the fact that she was actually there; the surprised and slightly horrified look. Her head started to shake 'no', "I, I didn't mean to say that." She shook her head with more purpose and waved her hand, "Forget I did." She looked at the work in front of her again, but Rusty suspected that she wasn't actually reading anything.
"Why?" He asked after a long time. He wasn't questioning her, he was questioning him.
The end of her pen started tapping quickly on the desk as she seemed to consider her answer, "I don't know. You'd have to ask him." The teenager opened his mouth again, but Sharon stood and cut him off, "I think I'm going to leave this for tonight and come back to it tomorrow. I'm tired, so I will see you in the morning. Goodnight," she smiled, then walked to her room before he had a chance to stop her.
Rusty sat there, with his hand still on his text book, in silence for a long time, processing what he'd learned. It certainly explained why Jack didn't want to tell him, new relationships weren't usually strengthened by telling the other person you'd stepped out on their caregiver and it wasn't exactly proper etiquette to tell someone that someone they knew had been cheated on. It also explained why Sharon didn't want to take Jack back despite the obvious spark still between them.
It definitely explained that.