Tony was sitting in his hotel in St. Louis when he decided to call Samantha. He walked over to the phone and picked it up to dial.
"Sam?" Tony asked when he heard somebody pick up on the other line.
"Dad?" Sam questioned.
"Yeah, it's me. I'm in St. Louis, I wanted to call and let you know. I'll be home in a few weeks and we can go for dinner."
"Who is the person you want me to have dinner with? Is this a friend of yours?"
"She works with me, but she is also a friend."
"Oh it's a she." Sam's voice perked. "I take it she's more than just a friend; like the other two stepmothers I've had?" Tony sighed, but he knew he deserved that because he'd been married multiple times since Marie died.
"I feel differently about Angela than I ever felt about the others."
"Oh, as if I haven't heard that line before." Samantha said sarcastically.
"Samantha." Tony replied irritated.
"Look dad, sure, I'll have dinner with you and your friend; but that's it. And I'm not calling her mom."
"Nobody is asking you to." Tony responded. "All I want you to do is come to dinner."
"Fine." She sighed. "But I still want to make sure this isn't a trick. I'll be taping things for my newest book."
"You haven't learned that you can trust me yet?" Tony asked.
"You lie, cheat and steal for eighteen years and then you expect me to believe you when you come back one day and buy me a chocolate egg crème?" Sam questioned. Tony shook his head. He knew this would happen; but he had to get Samantha to understand and trust him again. There was a knock on his door. When it opened, there was one of his fellow teammates standing there.
"I have to go for now Sam. I'll talk to you in a few days."
"I'm not just going to be sitting here waiting for you."
"Bye Samantha." Tony hung up the phone and looked at him.
"We have to leave in the next twenty minutes or so to prepare for the game. Everybody else is getting ready and I find you on the phone. Where is your head Micelli? We have to get going!" With that, he walked out of the room and looked down at the phone.
"My head is with my daughter; if only my body could be there." Tony thought.
Angela sat on the couch working on a campaign when the phone rang. She reached back and picked the phone up.
"Hello?" She asked.
"Angela?" A female voice said on the other end. Angela took her glasses off.
"Mother, what are you doing calling me?" She asked.
"Is that anyway to talk to your mother?" Mona questioned and Angela sighed.
"I'm sorry; I was just waiting on a call from somebody else."
"Tony?" Mona ventured. Angela laid her glasses on the coffee table. "He was cute."
"He promised he could call from the baseball game. He's been gone almost a week and I haven't heard anything."
"Maybe he's busy Angela. He can't spend the entire time he's gone on the phone with you." Angela sighed again.
"But at least a few minutes would be nice."
"Have you called him?" Mona asked. Angela shook her head even though Mona wasn't in the room to see her. She rubbed her forehead with her hand.
"No mother, I haven't called him."
"Do you remember why your relationship with Gary didn't go anywhere?" Mona questioned. "You always expected him to make the move because he's the man, but then the relationship fizzled because he felt that he was doing all the work. You have to call him too. It's the 1990s; no man is going to be upset getting a call from a beautiful woman."
"Thank you mother." Angela smiled.
"I suppose Tony wouldn't mind getting a call from you."
"Thank you mother." Angela replied more sarcastically than she did the first time. "I'll learn eventually."
"Just remember what I said okay?" Mona paused. "I just got home from a date. I'll be going to bed. I think I might come see you and Jonathan in a few weeks."
"Well mother, Jonathan is still in boarding school for another month. If you want to come at the end of the month, he should be home for the summer."
"Good. I'd love to get to spend time with my daughter and grandson." Angela ran her hand over her head.
"What has gotten into you?"
"Nothing; I just know time is short and I want to spend that with my loved ones. I live in London and I miss you."
"Good night mother." Angela said softly.
"Night Angela." She hung up the phone and then looked at the receiver. She wished Tony would call; but maybe Mona was right and she needed to call him. Angela didn't want to seem too forward but she didn't want to lose Tony either. She felt she needed this relationship more than anything. There was something different about Tony. Something she'd never felt before and she wasn't sure what was going on. She was scared, but this was a ride she didn't want to let go on either. She could only take it a day at a time. And she'd start off tomorrow by calling Tony.
