Chapter 24:

Flynn woke up on Saturday morning and looked lazily to his left. Sharon was sleeping there, her face peaceful. He rubbed his eyes tiredly and remained lying for a moment. First thoughts dawned in his head as he started to regain focus and realized where he was. A glance at the clock, which was ticking quietly on the nightstand, told him that it was late morning. He turned on the side and placed one hand on Sharon's shoulder.

"Sharon… wake up," he said quietly, caressing her shoulder. Sharon moved a little but didn't open her eyes. "Sharon…" he tried again, this time shaking her shoulder gently.

"Andy..." She smiled, again without opening her eyes. Flynn thought he imagined it, but he thought he heard her mutter "I love you." His eyes widened in shock. He froze for a few minutes and watched her, but she still wasn't awake.

"Sharon!" he said now in his regular voice and put his hand on her forehead. This time she opened her eyes carefully.

"What?" she asked, confused. She wasn't fully awake yet.

"I should go soon," he said gently and watched her for a moment, but she didn't react. Eventually he got to his feet and walked to his clothes, which were lying on the dresser.

"Wait…" Sharon muttered and struggled to lift the upper half of her body so she can see him. "Do you have time for breakfast?"

Flynn looked at her baffled hair and felt like walking over to her and caressing it. "Sure," he smiled.

Forty-five minutes later, they were both fully awake in the kitchen. Flynn was sitting at the table since Sharon wouldn't let him help her, and occupied himself with his iPhone, occasionally looking at her. He just finished checking his e-mail when she came to the table and placed two loaded plates on it. Flynn grabbed her hand before she sat down and pulled her to him, causing her to sit in his lap with both legs on his left side. She smiled at him and leaned forward, giving him a long, slow kiss. Each of them wanted to tell the other how they felt, but it seemed like they always expressed their emotions in any way other than words. It was like there was a pink elephant in the room and they both refused to talk about it.

Flynn pulled his head back a little and stopped the kiss. "What did you mutter when I woke you up?" he asked and examined her reaction. He thought he'd heard her well, but he wanted her to answer, though he was pretty sure she wasn't awake when she said it.

"I wasn't aware that I muttered anything," she said, surprised.

"Oh…" his suspicion was confirmed. She was still sleeping. "What were you dreaming about?"

"I don't remember," Sharon chuckled. His questions seemed weird to her. She looked at him for a few seconds and then got up and moved to her own chair. Her iPhone vibrated and she glanced at it. On the screen was John Martin's name and she looked up quickly to see if Flynn saw it too. By the way he was looking at her, he did see it. He frowned and stared at her, waiting for her to do or say something. Sharon took the fork in her hand, ignoring the call.

"You can answer if you want to. Don't mind me," Flynn said, his eyes fixed on her. Sharon shifted in her chair uncomfortably.

"I've been avoiding him all week," she said, trying to keep her voice calm and steady.

"So what does he want?"

"I don't know. By now, he probably wants to kill me," she said sarcastically.

"Do you want to go on a second date with him?"

"Do you think I should?" she asked coldly, knowing that it was bothering him.

"Maybe you could do things you didn't get to do on the first date," he teased her, not sure where he wanted to get with that conversation.

"Do you want me to do things with him that we didn't get to do on our first date?" she didn't back down. Flynn finally looked away from her, frustrated. He grabbed his fork and stuck it randomly in the middle of the plate.

"I don't like him," he stated and took a bite.

Sharon scoffed. She kept quiet for a moment, and then said, "Me neither."

Flynn stared at her for a moment with a confused face, and then smiled. "I give up on my aspiration to ever understand women," he said lightly and Sharon smiled too.

"Really? You? I thought that you figured it all out on your adventures with Provenza and the young women you two like so much," her voice remained calm and nonchalant, but on the inside she felt a burning urge to hear him say that he wasn't interested in younger women, to make her feel secure.

"Is that a reproach?" he said, also keeping his cool.

"Gosh, no," Sharon replied. Her voice was indifferent but her eyes told a whole other story. Flynn couldn't understand how she could be so blind, and not realized how he felt for her. He knew that underneath her façade of confident, strong woman, there was insecurity and maybe even sadness. It made her look fragile to him. He wanted to hug her at that moment, but he just continued to eat, deep in thoughts.