This is the first AU I've written about a parent in this series. I wondered what would have happened if Sharon moved without her kids. Either Jack was granted custody or if the kids decided to stay with him or if she insisted. I'll leave the reasoning up to you but I'd be curious to know how Richard and Sharon would have met without Mary Anne and Dawn interfering. Let me know if you'd be interested in more AUs!

Enjoy!

Sharon hummed to herself as she started to throw a few dinner items in the cart. She paused at the dessert aisle before shrugging and thought why not. It wasn't like she had someone to stop her from buying up all the brownie mix. Not since the divorce anyway where she took a long hard look at her kitchen cupboards and realized that she didn't have anything sweet to drown herself in. She took a deep breath as she reminded herself it was a good thing to come back to her hometown. That leaving the kids with their father was a good idea.

She gripped her cart reminding herself that she could always visit. She just had to get away for a little bit. Maybe she'd move back to California! After all, most of her friends lived there. Keeping her eyes on the sweets lining the shelves she grabbed the dark chocolate cake mix and vanilla frosting. Sharon could bring it home to her parents and have a slice or two.

"May I move your cart?" asked a male voice as she snapped back to attention. "I need the vegetable oil."

"Of course…" she turned to grab her cart and practically felt her heart skip a beat.

Okay that might have been an exaggeration but Sharon knew, just knew, that it had to be Richie. She knew that dark hair and the slope of his nose. It may have been twenty or so years since she last saw him, but you don't forget the face of your first love. She nearly dropped the can of jimmies that she grabbed for decorations.

He didn't look up from the bottom shelf looking for the cheapest store brand bottle (of course he would!). Instead she focused on him. They weren't seventeen anymore but he had aged like fine wine. Richie Spier was still lean and tall as he was then. There was no wedding ring on his left hand.

"Miss are you," he started to say as she noted that his voice was just as deep as it was then. Her blue eyes met his for a moment as his eyes crinkled confused and soft at the same time. "I'm sorry for staring its just that you look an awful lot like someone I miss."

Pursing her lips Sharon swallowed and put the jimmies in the baby seat.

"Richie?" she said, trying to keep her voice level and only heard the slight crack.

"Sharon?" He said his voice was pleasant and faint. "Sharon Porter?"

"Well it was Schafer and I'm thinking of going back to my maiden name," she said absentmindedly, running a hand through her hair. SHe was reconnecting with him in the middle of the baking aisle of all places! The place where she turned because she felt at her lowest. "I moved back into town a few months ago, 8 months ago to be exact after the divorce."

"Really?" said Richie, his eyes searching her as she put her now wedding ringless hand on top of the wheat bread as if telling him she was available. "California treated you well." She could see Adam's apple bob in his throat practically. "Very well."

"Yea," she said, picking up candles to fiddle around with. "Not well enough though, I mean I'm divorced and… well tell me about you! What do you do now?"

I noticed no ring, she thought, wondering if he even had a girlfriend or divorced like her. There was no way she could bring that up without a proper conversation leading up to it. Richie, or she supposed Richard now, straightened himself out.

"I'm a lawyer now," he said relaxing. "My wife passed away about 12 years ago and I've been raising my daughter myself. She's going to our old middle school believe it or not. I walk through that school and I have so many memories. What about you?"

He paused before scratching the back of his own head. Maybe that was a little too much information as Sharon internally felt both sad and elated at the same time.

"I'm sorry for your loss," she said, reaching out and touching his arm then turned back to his question. "I'm looking for a job in town. I have an interview lined up at the Humane Society. I have two kids, Dawn and Jeff, but they're living in California. It would have been hard to move in the middle of February and they have their friends. I'm spending time with my parents though and meeting old friends. Remember Harry Kuhn? I ran into him at the library sale."

"Yea, he was that funny kid in the grade below us."

It was silent as shoppers started down the aisle. A few of them were going to meet them in the middle blocking the cake stuff. A lady with her daughter in the baby seat was enthusiastically throwing all the party items in her basket.

"I should probably finish my list. The milk is next…"

He sounded kind of hopeful. That this was the opening she needed to keep walking and talking together.

"Would you care if I walked with you?" asked Sharon not daring to pass up the moment of them being together. It felt like old times. Like no time has passed. "That is if you're okay catching up. Maybe planning on dinner on Friday?"

Her voice was almost hesitant hoping that Richie didn't pick up on it. She wanted him to know that she was interested but not enough to seem too eager. Theodore, the man her parents set her up with, was nice but it wasn't everyday that she saw her old and much beloved boyfriend.

"That sounds like a great plan."