Chapter 79:

"Are you okay?" she asked, approaching the bed carefully.

"Yeah, can't you see?" he said sarcastically.

Sharon sat down on the edge of the bed without looking at him.

"Why are you here?"

"I don't even know," she said coldly. "Cat threatened to invent lies about me if I don't come here and fix things with you."

"Well, at least you're honest," he said, continuing with the sarcasm.

"But I don't think I'm ready to make peace with you when you're like this," she finally looked at his angry face.

"So you kicked me out of your apartment and I'm the bad guy?"

"I needed some time alone. Why is it so hard for you to understand?" she said firmly and got up, straightening her shirt.

"I didn't know that time alone included Reyes," he said angrily, without moving from the bed.

Sharon looked at him and felt like slapping him. The way he continued to lie there, throwing sarcasm at her, seemed like disrespect toward her.

"Goodbye, Andy," she turned around and walked to the door.

"See you… sometime," he said just before she slammed the door. He stared at it for a while, feeling emptiness inside.

Sharon almost ran to the front door. She couldn't wait to get out of there, to get some fresh air. She felt like she was suffocating inside the house of the man who couldn't care enough about her to get on his feet and talk to her like a normal person.

Eric got up from the couch as she walked past him quickly. He watched her, confused, while she opened the door and left without saying a word.

She started walking to her car when he called her name and she looked back. Eric ran toward her, panting.

Sharon stopped walking at once, frowning at him. "Can I help you?" she asked coldly, crossing her arms on her chest.

"Maybe," he said. "I really wanna do right by your daughter," his voice was quiet now, almost begging.

"I don't think I can help you with that," Sharon wasn't impressed.

"You could convince Cat to accept my apology."

"Why should I? You screwed her up so badly..." she sounded pretty angry now.

"Maybe to you it's not a good enough excuse, but I was truly scared for my life," he tried to sound as honest as he could.

Sharon rolled her eyes and shook her head.

"I really do care for her," he said gently.

"Goodbye," Sharon said for the second time in a few minutes, and got in her car. Eric watched her with frustration on his face as she backed out of the parking space and drove away.

(***)

"Well?" Cat asked when Sharon came back home, but she could see on her mother's face that it didn't go well.

"Where's Rusty?" Sharon slumped into the armchair and looked at Cat tiredly.

"In his room. What happened?"

"Nothing."

"And the cabin?" Cat asked, although she knew they weren't going.

Sharon sighed without saying a word.

"I don't get you two. Last night you were just fine, and –"

"What?"

"What what?"

"What do you mean, last night we were just fine?"

"Oh, I might have heard you… playing scrabble," Cat smiled mischievously.

Sharon's face turned red in a matter of seconds, and she felt a heat wave striking her body as the embarrassment stung her skin.

Cat looked at her, smiling, waiting for her reaction.

"I…" Sharon stuttered.

"You… were having fun?" Cat continued to torture her mother.

"Catherine! This isn't funny," Sharon said with a stern voice.

"It really is," Cat laughed. "Why are you taking it so hard? I'm all for having fun… and being naughty," she knew that saying that word would embarrass her mother even more.

"I'm not…!" Sharon could barely speak.

"Naughty?" Cat completed her sentence.

"Who's naughty?" they heard Rusty's voice suddenly and both women jumped.