3/4


It took me a moment to fully understand what she had said and when I opened my eyes, she was still looking at me with a soft, warm expression and an emotion I had only ever seen glimpses of so far.

So this was it, the moment was finally here when she would tell me how she saw our future. Suddenly, I became very calm because this was a conversation we should have had months ago and maybe, just maybe we'd be starting the New Year with a new outlook on life. Maybe we would go through life together, as lovers rather than friends, or at least as potential lovers.

"Tonight is for you, Sharon, and the choice is yours. Would you like to talk now?"

Sharon nodded and took a deep breath. It surprised me to see that she also seemed nervous. Why on earth should she be nervous? All she had to say was simple yes, or a no – but with her, the one who had to think everything through to the smallest detail, nothing was ever quite that simple and that is part of what I like to much about her. She isn't the type to say yes, but mean something else. Once she commits to something, she is all in, for richer for poorer, for better for worse. I had seen it in how long she clung to her marriage with Jack. She isn't the type to give up on people easily. I'm actually another example of that, with the many chances she gave me during her long tenure in IA.

My cheek felt cold when she moved her hand and let it run down the length of my arm instead until her fingers wrapped around mine with gentle pressure.

"I do want to talk now, Andy. You know, I've always said I'm a married woman and that's what I kept telling myself. I've never let myself look beyond that – and I realise that I should have. The truth is, I am no longer married now, not on paper and I haven't been in my heart for a long time. I realised something that night we attended the Nutcracker. I was angry with you and I was hurt."

I opened my mouth to speak but before I could say anything, she shook her head.

"You don't need to apologize again, Andy. You have and I have forgiven you, we have moved on. But I felt something else that night: I felt disappointment. Disappointment because that night maybe for the first time I realised just how much I had come to like you and how much more than a friend you had become to me. I've used my marriage as a shield in the past and it's had its uses, but I haven't been completely blind to where our friendship was headed, Andy. I have actually thought about what it would be like to really date you, to be more than just your friend Sharon, particularly once I was divorced. Of course I have and part of why it hurt so much was that I feared we would never have a chance at this now, never have a chance at dating, at being a couple."

'Aw Sharon, my Sharon - how I long to reach out and pull you into my arms, kiss away the tears that are about to fall from your beautiful eyes, tell you not to cry…'

But she shook her head almost as if she had been reading my mind, "No, please let me continue, Andy. I've planned what I wanted to say to you, and I'm not finished yet. Andy, I am so grateful you found a way to get through to me. I had buried myself so deeply in my anger, and in the hurt, I think your letter was the only way to help me out of there. You reached out to me, and you found a way for us to be friends again. I've never really said thank you for that."

Thank you? How could she be thanking me after all that?

"Sharon, there is no need to thank me. I broke it, I needed to fix it."

"No, you need to know how much that means to me, Andy. I know I'm not the easiest person when I close myself up like that. I can be cold and distant - but you knew how to get through to me. Believe me, there haven't been many people in my life who know how to do that and I am so, so grateful you knew. I want you to know that, Andy."

She chuckled self-consciously, "Look at me, I've been talking and talking and I still haven't answered your question."

As far as I was concerned, she could have talked all evening and I could have listened to her and watched her wonderfully expressive face.

"Take your time, Sharon," I said, and then, because she hadn't yet turned me down and that had to mean something, "I think I like where this is going."

"Oh, gosh, I hope you do!" squeezing my hand for emphasis.

"Because in the end, my answer is really quite simple: What I feel for you is so much more than friendship, Andy, and if you still want to, I'd really like tonight to be a date."

'Aw Sharon, my Sharon, you use so many words and complicated sentences for something so simple, and yet, this is exactly you, the woman I have fallen so hard for. Well spoken, considerate, measured, never saying anything you haven't thought through. Oh sweetheart, and now you are sitting across from me with that hopeful smile and you almost seem unsure of yourself.'

"You have no idea how happy that makes me! I'd love to date you, Sharon, really date you, with flowers and dinners and late night phonecalls and secret letters. Everything."

Happy smiles and happy giggles from both of us, her eyes so full of wonder and joy – so I gently disentangled my hands from hers, placing a quick kiss on her knuckles first, to pour her a glass of wine and propose a toast.

"To dating."

"To us!"

"To us," I repeated in wonder as the clear sound of crystal glasses meeting rang through the air.

This time, I was the one to caress her cheek, just briefly, before taking her hands in mine, "You are no longer a married woman and you are out with me on our very first date, but there is one more point to discuss, isn't there?"

The radiant woman across from me, my date, tilted her head and raised an eyebrow.


Author's Note: Yay! Andy finally got his answer and our two lovebirds can at last date for real! But what else could Andy want to discuss? Sharon will give us her own account in the next (and final) chapter of this little fic.

On a very personal note: With this chapter I have now published over 100,000 words. I'm still quite blown away by the sheer number, but even more so by all your wonderful comments and your support here. Thank you for inspiring me to write!