For the first time in a long time, as long as he could remember, Andy was in a wonderful mood. He flipped the pancakes and took a sip of his coffee, the smell of the food hitting him. He was really hungry, and he knew Sharon was as well. Things were going great; they'd had a great night together, and he was really looking forward to the day.
It was mid-morning, and they were now just getting around to eating breakfast. They'd been busy all morning, first, with a very early wake up from Sharon, where they'd had some alone time before Hannah woke up. Thankfully, they'd finished and had started to doze off again when Hannah got up. They spent the next hour with her, some of it, just relaxing together in bed, Hannah drinking her bottle, and the three of them, together, as he'd wanted for a very, very long time.
Andy knew it was taking Sharon a long time to figure out her feelings, but she'd made great strides last night and even throughout this morning. She had been more affectionate, more in tune with his needs and wants, more in tune with them, meshing as a couple.
He checked the pancakes and glanced to the news. Sharon had a small television in her kitchen area, explaining to Andy she spent a lot of her time there. He had to agree it was nice; he'd caught up on all of the national news of the day. Andy looked down as the cat rubbed against the back of his leg. That crazy cat, now named Alfred, and he chuckled to himself that the name had stuck. The cat seemed harmless enough, barely appearing, but when he did, he was pretty calm. Andy only hoped the cat brought some joy to Hannah, Sharon too, as even that, was a step for Sharon, taking in a cat.
He checked the pancakes and then plated them. He had just a few more to cook before he finished. Sharon was down the hall, dressing Hannah, who was already tired and ready for her nap. It was going to be a lazy day; they were good with that and seemed to have a lot to explore, even with their relationship, for a nice lazy day. The plan was to let Hannah take her nap now that she had been up for awhile. After they'd all spent some time hanging out in Sharon's bedroom, they'd brought Hannah to the kitchen to feed her and play with her. The time seemed to fly by, and suddenly, she was tired, and the adults still needed to eat. Andy volunteered to make pancakes and had plans to serve them to Sharon as a breakfast in bed situation. He looked over at her table, and while he waited for the next round of pancakes to finish, he grabbed the flowers to add to his tray. He was going to romance Sharon as much as he possibly could now that she had finally admitted she wanted to trust him and be around him.
Andy checked the tray, satisfied that everything was almost ready for their breakfast. He'd prepared the pancakes, had warmed some syrup, cut some fruit, and he had coffee for both of them. They were tired, but this was a good tired, a 'stayed up in each other's arms all night' sort of tired, and he was hoping that maybe, just maybe, if they finished their breakfast quickly, they'd have time for more, even possibly a shower together after, before Hannah woke up from her nap. He had not had to take one of his pills last night, and he wasn't sure if that was the norm or a fluke, but he was happy about that. In his eyes, this morning would just further test his need for the pills. He was hopeful that now with his stress levels coming down that he really wouldn't need them. Sharon had really helped reduce his stress in many ways, but just talking to Andy, pouring out her heart that she was trying to trust him and move forward with him was helping so much.
Andy put the finishing touches on the tray, and before he left the kitchen with the tray, he moved all of the bowls into the sink. He liked to clean up as he cooked-he didn't even know how Sharon felt on the topic, and while he had done some of that, he didn't think she would mind that he'd abandoned the clean up process to be with her. He looked down at his appearance and quickly took off his robe. He took a second to discard his white t-shirt; he had it on with his boxer shorts and the robe over it, mainly to work the kitchen, but he wasn't about to waste more time. Sharon, she had looked wonderful last night in her new nightgown. She had a name for it; he couldn't remember, but what he did remember was how it looked on her. She'd tried to change this morning, but he'd begged her to stay in it, just a little longer until they had to get dressed for the day. Breakfast in bed was not a call to be dressed for the day.
"Sharon, I hope you are back in bed. Breakfast is ready, and I have plans for the morning after you refuel with food," he called down the hall, and immediately, he froze, realizing that was the worst thing to do, yell down the hall. His goal was to spend alone time with Sharon while Hannah napped, and by yelling, he was digging a hole. Hannah might never go to sleep. He sighed and reminded himself to apologize to her for being so loud.
He wiped off his hands, and as he was about to carry the tray out of the kitchen, he looked up quickly at the movement he noted in the corner of his eye. He froze in place when he spotted the front door open in front of him and wanted to hide when he locked eyes with those at the front door.
"What the-" Ricky said and glanced around, reaching for the only sort of "weapon" he could find, Sharon's briefcase sitting on a small table by the door.
"Sharon!" Andy yelled down the hall, not worried at all about waking Hannah. They had bigger problems, and he glanced around quickly, looking to the door and then down the hall, hoping Sharon would appear. He then looked down at himself, just in his boxer shorts and closed his eyes. He'd seen Ricky at the funeral, but Ricky had no idea about him or who he was. As Andy looked back at Ricky, he groaned again, spotting Sharon's dad behind Ricky at the door. "Sharon, come here now, PLEASE!" He tried to grab his t-shirt, but he felt it hit the floor as he continued to stare at the front door.
"Andy, what in the world is going on out here?" Sharon called as she ran into the room from the hall, and Andy instantly groaned again. It didn't look good. Both were barely dressed. He was standing there in the kitchen, just in his boxers, and now, Sharon, who was still in her blue nightgown thing from the night before, appeared, and it wasn't something a woman would want her adult son and her father seeing her wear.
"Mom, are you okay? Grandpa and I are here. Who are you?" Ricky said, now the briefcase in front of him like he was ready to hit Andy on the head with it.
"Hey," Andy held up his hands, "relax, Ricky. I'm supposed to be here."
"Mom! Mom are you okay?" Ricky yelled at her, his eyes widening at finally getting a handle on what she was wearing, now a bit panicked. He pointed at Andy with one hand and continued to hold the briefcase with his other.
"Ricky," Sharon's dad stepped in and reached for his arm, his eyes locked on Andy. "Ricky, I know him."
The scene seemed to be frozen in time, no one sure what to do; all were stunned. Andy finally realized that something needed to be done and glanced down where he saw his robe. He picked it up and moved to Sharon, offering it to her. Sharon, who had been standing there, her arms crossed, looked to him, and her eyes widened as she realized how she was dressed too. She put the robe on, and the two looked back at the visitors where her dad was now closing the front door.
"Mom, who is he?" Ricky gestured to Andy. He looked to him, his eyes narrowing, and he pointed at him too, "You look familiar. Why is that?"
Sharon sighed. Andy sighed, and they both thought they could hear her dad sigh too. Sharon started to fidget, there standing in front of Ricky, her hands gesturing now with the robe on her. "Ricky, I had no idea you were coming, you both," she smiled softly at him.
"It was a surprise," Ricky stated in a very dazed tone with a dazed look on his face. He still had the briefcase in front of him. Sharon stepped forward to take it out of his hands, and only then, did he realize he was still holding it. "Mom?" he pointed to Andy, his eyes still locked on Andy.
Andy finally moved, looking down to realize again that he didn't have a shirt, and he walked back around to the counter area to find it. He reached down and picked it off the floor, and when he turned, he locked eyes with Sharon's dad, giving him a slight nod as he closed his eyes. At that, her dad looked to the chair close to where he was standing and moved to sit in it.
"You're okay, right, Mom?" Ricky asked, eyeing her. "I mean, I get it, divorced and all, but wow, didn't expect to walk in here and see that. I know some kids walk in on their parents, and I realize he's not my dad, but wow," he shook his head.
"Andy Flynn," Andy said as he walked toward Ricky again, now his t-shirt covering him somewhat. He stuck out his hand to Ricky, "Nice to finally met you, Ricky. We didn't meet at your grandmother's funeral, but that's probably why I look familiar. I can assure you that your mom is fine," he tried to smile. "This is, well," he rolled his eyes and gestured between himself and Sharon, "exactly what it looks like here. Sorry you had to walk in here."
Ricky's eyes widened as he realized Andy knew his name, and he looked back to Sharon, who Andy could tell wanted to crawl into a hole and hide. She had his robe pulled tightly around her now, and she gestured to Andy, "Andy is Hannah's dad," she admitted. Ricky shook Andy's hand, still shocked. Andy turned slightly toward Sharon, trying to catch her eye, completely surprised at the admission, but Sharon didn't look at him; she kept her focus on Ricky.
Ricky's eyes widened as he looked from one to the other, and his hand went to his mouth, "Wow, oh," he nodded, still looking between then. He shook his head and turned back around to look for his grandfather. "Grandpa are you feeling okay?" he asked, now slightly panicked. "Is that why you aren't as shocked as I am? Are you okay?"
"Ricky," he held up his hand to still Ricky's erratic movements, "I'm fine. I'm surprised, but I'm not."
Ricky looked to him and back to Sharon and Andy. Sharon tried to catch Andy's eye, but he was looking at Ricky. Hannah started to cry, and Andy quickly sprang into action.
"I'm going to get Hannah and let you three talk," he said, squeezing Sharon's shoulder as he stepped by her. He leaned in and softly said, "So sorry. I'll get dressed too." Sharon nodded, and she just hummed as he stepped around her and walked down the hall. The day had taken a turn; that was certain now.
Andy stepped into Hannah's room where he found her standing at her crib. She'd started doing that not long ago, and it was still almost surprising to him. She looked exhausted, and he just hoped that all of their loud voices wouldn't keep her from napping.
"Hey, Kiddo," he said quietly to her. "You need to get some sleep." He picked up the little blankie bunny she had dropped on the floor, one of her favorite things, and he put her back down in the crib. He really wanted to sit with her in the chair, but Sharon had told him that wasn't working well anymore; Hannah took that opportunity as a sign that she could get out of her crib to play. He ran his hand over her head, hoping she would sleep. Her one set of blinds were letting in some sunlight, so he closed those further, and he turned on her little sound machine that seemed to help her sleep. He took it as a good sign that she didn't get back up right away as he crept toward the door. Andy waited a few moments, and when he felt he could sneak out, he quietly left her room. He glanced back at the living room. Sharon had apparently moved; he couldn't see her in the hallway area anymore, and he could hear them talking. What a morning. Andy wasn't about to go out there in his current state, so he walked back to the bedroom to grab a quick shower and dress for the day. The damage was done, and now, it was time to get over this hurdle. It hadn't been all bad, he smiled to himself.
"Andy is Hannah's dad," kept going through his mind. Sharon had said it. She'd never called him that when referring to Hannah. It was true, even if he'd signed away his rights, but they had never discussed it, his name. She'd avoided it on Father's Day, and even with Hannah, she'd always called him Andy. He hoped this meant that they were making progress in several areas. Hannah's dad. He was. He wanted to be. Today, though, he had to face Ricky and Sharon's dad as the half-naked guy, possibly even the boyfriend, who was obviously enjoying the weekend with Sharon.
He needed a shower. He needed to regroup, and he was afraid he'd need to calm down Sharon after she got done talking to her family and came in search of a shower and clothing soon too.
Yes, it was going to be an interesting day.