Chapter 48:
Sharon walked on the path leading to the entrance door of her mother-in-law's enormous house. She always appreciated the beauty of this old building. When her children were still living with her, they used to visit this house a lot, but after they grew up and moved out she had no reason to go there anymore. Although she liked Karen a lot, she preferred severing every connection to Richard after they separated, and stayed away as much as she could from his family. Seeing the house after years of not visiting this place brought up some very old memories, from the short time she was happily married.
She entered the house and looked around. Sykes and Tao were standing in the entrance hall and it looked like they were engaged in a conversation, but Sharon could tell they were examining the people around them. She nodded at them and continued to the big living room, where she saw her mother sitting on a couch with Provenza and Flynn. As she drew closer to them from behind, she started hearing their conversation, and panic took over her.
"…and she had her first boyfriend when she was 17. This one time, I came back from work and caught them –"
"Mother!" Sharon said loudly and they all turned to look at her.
"Oh, hello, darling," Angela said calmly.
"Hello, Angela," Sharon emphasized her name to express her resentment. "Thank you for having a nice conversation with my detectives, but they're supposed to be doing something very important right now," she glared at Provenza and Flynn and then looked back at her mother.
"Alright. Let me just finish my sentence," Angela said.
"NO, Mother, why don't you go over there, to your grandchildren?" Sharon pointed at the other side of the living room, where Cat and Chris were standing and talking with their uncle Dany, Richard's brother. "Let the lieutenants do their job."
Angela got up and squinted at Sharon. "You never stop working," she stated and turned to walk toward her grandchildren.
"Yes, you know me," Sharon said monotonically, "always work before embarrassing stories about my life."
Provenza tried to stifle his laughter while Angela expressed her disgruntlement with Sharon's sarcasm and walked away. "Your mother is truly great," he said, amused.
"Too bad I can't say the same thing about your professionalism right now," her voice was stern and quite menacing. Provenza got up quickly and started to examine the guests as he walked around the room.
Sharon sat on the couch next to Flynn and sighed tiredly. He watched her quietly, his gaze moving down slowly from her face and resting on her chest just as she looked at him.
"Andy, really?" she whispered impatiently, "we're in a wake."
"Yeah, shame on me. I really loved the guy and now I'm fantasizing about his wife during his wake," Flynn whispered back and Sharon fought the urge to smile. She loved his sarcastic humor.
"Fantasizing?" she whispered.
Flynn looked around and saw that no one was close enough to hear them. "I miss you," he whispered.
Sharon dropped her gaze sadly and stared at his tie to avoid his eyes. The truth was, she missed him very much, but she was too afraid to start seeing him again.
"Sharon! Thank you for coming," she heard Karen's voice to her right, and turned to look at her before getting up to greet her while Flynn also got on his feet and took a few steps away from them so they can talk, although he could still hear them.
"Karen, how are you doing?" Sharon asked gently.
"Oh, I'm fine, I guess," she said sadly, "but, Sharon, I want to apologize to you."
"What? Why?" Sharon frowned.
"You know… for Richard. I probably don't know half the things he did to you, but –"
"Karen, stop. There's no need for that."
"Yes, there is. I've failed with Richard as a mother. He was my responsibility."
Sharon directed Karen to the couch and they both sat down. "Karen, Richard was a grown man when he started with his addictions and the bad things he did. Look at your two other sons; you've done a great job with them."
Flynn listened carefully to their conversation. Sharon didn't like talking about her past, so he saw it as an opportunity for learning something about it.
Guests started leaving and came over to say goodbye to Karen. The conversation was cut short, and Sharon excused herself before going to the bathroom. She walked down a long, deserted corridor, and thought about what Flynn said to her a few minutes ago. She wanted to be with him so badly that it almost hurt physically, as if the pain was in her blood.
Suddenly someone grabbed her from behind and put their hand on her mouth while dragging her into a room to her right that she had just passed by.