Meanwhile, across town, Andy was brooding in his own living room, distracting himself from thinking about Sharon. Because nursing a bottle of whisky wasn't an option, Andy had cooked himself dinner, put a load of laundry in the wash, and decided to clean his gun. He was wiping down the barrel when his doorbell rang, causing Andy to startle and almost drop the heavy metal onto his dining table. Assuming who would be on the other side, he could hear his heart pounding in his head as he made his way to the door. He felt absolute relief, remorse, and still the burning coals of an anger he had been fostering over the course of the last ten days. When he looked through the window near his front door, he let out an exaggerated breath. Provenza.
"Haven't seen enough of me yet?" It was a joke, but you'd never be ever to tell by Andy's clearly frustrated tone. "Very funny. Can I come in?" Provenza returned the snarky greeting and took a step into Andy's house.
Provenza moved towards the dining table upon seeing the project his friend had started on, willing to let him finish up while they talked. Andy moved towards the kitchen. "Want a drink?" Provenza had been keenly aware of his partner's distress over the last week, and spun around a bit too quickly at the supposedly casual question. When he deciphered the look on his concerned friend's face, Andy clarified, rather annoyed. "Calm down. I've got water and iced tea. There's some soda in the garage."
"I'm fine, thanks." Provenza was curt again, but reassured his friend hadn't done the dramatic thing and started drinking because of his recent heart-break. "So. Big plans tonight?" Provenza wagged an eyebrow in the direction of Andy's disassembled gun.
"Don't tell me you came over to criticize my choice of pastime," Andy returned to the table, sitting caddy-corner to Provenza.
"No, no. Just surprised to see you here alone, that's all." He was trying to be cautious, but he also wasn't willing to beat around the bush for the rest of the night.
"Psh," Andy let out a huff and creased his eyebrows, "I don't usually invite my dates over to watch me do laundry and get in bed by 9pm."
"I'm just surprised you invite your dates over at all. Sharon must be more progressive than I thought." Provenza made a face at Andy, causing the other man to roll his eyes.
"Is there something I can help you with?" Andy was not amused. He hadn't explicitly told Provenza what happened between him and Sharon, but he expected a seasoned detective to at least be able to pick up on the fact that he did not want to discuss it.
After a pause, Provenza replied. "Do you want to tell me what you did to so royally piss off the captain?" Andy snorted and shifted uncomfortably in his seat.
"I punched that Rickman dirtbag. FID got their panties in a bunch. That's it." Andy wasn't willing to have a conversation with Provenza about Sharon until he figured out how he felt himself.
"Oh bullshit 'that's it,'" Provenza scoffed. "Besides, we all know that part. It's not the first time. Why's she so uptight about this Rickman idiot?"
Andy took a moment to formulate his response. "It's not Rickman, it's me. We're not exactly… It just got complicated, her being my boss and everything. We decided to call it quits. No big deal. Everything's fine." Andy wasn't exactly reassuring, but he was trying to be relatively casual about the whole thing.
"Everything's fine my ass." Provenza had had enough, it was time to get the real story out of his friend. "If everything were fine, you wouldn't be huffing around the office like you did when you got divorced, and she wouldn't be making Bambi eyes at you over my shoulder. What the hell did you do?"
"I didn't do anything," Andy was annoyed now. "It just wasn't working anymore. Christ. I don't really think any of this is your business, anyway!"
"Listen idiot," this would not be the first time Provenza had to give his friend a cold, harsh reality check, "a couple months ago you were writing out a deathbed confession so she'd know you loved her. I can't believe you two casually decided your relationship was too complicated and amicably broke it off." Provenza was grandstanding now, but Andy refused to let his cool visage slip. "Well, I don't know what to tell you, old man." Provenza furrowed his brow at the nickname. "I'm fine. She's fine. I think you're making more out of this than there is." Andy was ready to escort his friend out of his house. He hadn't wanted to talk about this in the first place, and he certainly hadn't planned on lying about how he and Sharon broke-up. But this was ridiculous! It was none of the old man's business!
"Alright well, if you don't want to tell me the truth, you should at least come up with a more believable story. Next time someone asks, just tell 'em she kicked your sorry ass to the curb. That I could believe!" Provenza stood up, not willing to continue a clearly unproductive conversation.
"Yeah alright, don't let the door hit ya." Andy scoffed again. At least this conversation was over.
After Provenza left, Andy proceeded to finish wiping down his gun, practically rubbing a hole into the stock. He also proceeded to think only about Sharon, working through the sludge of his own feelings and the last ten days.
Jesus, he thought, maybe I should just go over there.