After almost a month, Angela was finding what her mother called her "unplanned motherhood" to be more of a challenge than she could've imagined. It wasn't like she'd never raised a child before, and Sam was a girl so Angela should've been able to relate to her more. But Jonathan was much more like his mother than Samantha Micelli ever would be. Was it the Italian thing? The Catholic thing? The Brooklyn thing? Or was it just that Jonathan was a good (OK, nerdy) little boy, while Sam was a little ball of fire?

Angela admired Sam's spirit, but it was difficult when Sam was stubborn about doing her homework. And there was the fighting thing. Angela had noticed Sam's fading black eye when they met and talked to Tony about it on the way to the train station. (It was better than talking about the situation with Grant, although Tony had tried to bring that up again, once they were out of earshot of the kids.) He said Sam had got in some fights in Brooklyn, which was one reason he wanted to move her to Connecticut. He had believed the new environment would be good for Sam.

Angela had believed it, too, which was why she had gone ahead and talked to contractors about the remodeling of the loft over the garage. She liked having Sam around, and Jonathan definitely did. Maybe this would all be easier when Tony was there full-time in the off season. But here Angela was again, a mother whose kid had an absentee father. And this wasn't even her kid! At least Tony called once a week and sent funny postcards, which was more parental involvement than Michael had offered in years, but it wasn't nearly enough.

Anyway, Sam got into a fight today after school with Richard Welling, after he made fun of her Brooklyn accent. She ended up with a bloody nose, and apparently Richard was, according to Mother, no longer a nice-looking boy. Angela told Sam that violence didn't solve anything and the best thing to do when someone called you names was to just walk away and remove yourself from the problem.

Then Sam said, "I don't have to listen to you. You ain't my mother!"

Well, of course Angela wasn't, but she was the closest thing to it until Tony got back. Not that Tony was Sam's mother, except that he did seem to act as both parents, when he was around.

Mrs. Hiller exclaimed, "What a rude little girl!" She was no help with the children, beyond cleaning up after them, cooking for them, and doing their laundry. Well, that was valuable work of course, and Angela was glad she didn't have to do it. But Mrs. Hiller didn't do any childcare, beyond sticking her nose in and giving her opinion.

"Yeah? Well, you're a rude old lady!"

Jonathan looked scared but impressed. Angela was, too, but she had to maintain discipline. "Samantha, go to your room!"

Sam looked mutinous but she went.

"Well, I guess that will be one less for dinner," Mrs. Hiller sniffed and went back in the kitchen.

Angela felt like she wanted to sneak some food to Sam later, when they were both calmer.

"Mommy, when's Tony coming back?"

"Well, Sweetheart, he'll be playing the Mets starting tomorrow. And he and I talked about all of us going to see them play on Saturday. Would you like that?"
"Yeah!"
Of course, that might seem like a treat for Sam, and maybe Angela shouldn't be rewarding her bad behavior. On the other hand, it might mend fences if they went.

"Mrs. Hiller isn't going, is she?"
"Uh, no."
"Oh, boy, I can't wait! Can I go up and tell Sam?"
"Not right now, Sweetheart. She's being punished."
"Oh, OK."

The phone rang right then. Angela wasn't sure if she wanted it to be Tony. On the one hand, she wanted his advice on dealing with his daughter, and on the other, she was afraid he'd think she'd overstepped her role. But what was she supposed to do? Just ignore Sam's misbehavior?

She picked it up. "Hello?"

"Hello there, Madam President."

Grant. "Uh, hold on a moment and let me take this in my office." She had converted one of the rooms downstairs into a home office. She and Michael used to fight about it, since he didn't like her taking her work home, but he didn't live here anymore and she could do what she wanted with the house.

She set down the receiver and asked Jonathan, "Darling, can you hang up in one minute?"
"I can't tell time."
"Count to one hundred."
"OK." He did know how to do that.

She went into the office and picked up the extension there. She heard Jonathan's voice counting, "Forty-seven, forty-eight." She hadn't meant out loud and into the phone, but he could be very literal-minded sometimes.

"Jonathan Sweetheart, that's OK. You can stop and hang up now."
"OK, Mommy." She heard a click.

"Grant, are you still there?"
"Yes." He sounded amused. "I forget sometimes how different it is dating a mom."

He was used to single, childless women. He had offered her the weekend upstate because she would never fool around when Jonathan was home. She had been tempted but, maybe because of Tony, she had decided to postpone the trip until she knew one way or the other about the promotion. Grant had thought she was being overly scrupulous, but he agreed to wait. And then she got the promotion, so, yes, they went away. It was Sam's second weekend in Connecticut. She seemed to be settling in OK, the fights not yet having started. She didn't get along well with Mrs. Hiller, but who did? And Angela felt less guilty about leaving Jonathan, knowing he'd have Sam's company. The children got along well with each other, so that was one good thing.

Anyway, it had been a nice weekend, a good weekend, although Angela had trouble relaxing, worrying about Mrs. Hiller. Maybe she should've asked her mother to look after the kids that weekend, but she was still annoyed with Mother for barging in Tony's first night. And Tony shouldn't even have been there! Things would've gone much smoother with Grant if he hadn't been. And maybe she would've slept with Grant before the promotion. Oh, maybe it was best the way things had worked out, but there were all these complications in her life since she'd met Tony Micelli.

"You still there?" Grant prompted.

"Yes, sorry. What's up?"
"Well, I missed seeing you today, since you worked from home."

"Well, there were some things I had to take care of, of a domestic nature. But I got the insurance company storyboard all done."

"Yeah? Would you like to bring it by so I can take a look at it?"
"To New York?"

"No, I'll be staying at my place upstate."
That was an hour and a half away, about as far as New York, although probably less traffic.

"Gee, I don't know."
"You don't have to stay overnight. Unless you want. But we could get dinner together. Look over the storyboard."

She thought of Sam. That would be three hours just going to and from, and this did not seem like a good night to spend away from home for very long.

"I've still got some domestic issues. Would you mind having dinner in Fairfield?"

"Cooked by your domestic? No thanks."
"No, we could go to a restaurant." Maybe it would do her good to take a break for an hour or so from Samantha. Grant usually cheered her up. Then she could come home and talk things out with Sam.

"OK, you make the reservation and I'll be by after I finish up at work. How about sixish?"
"Great, see you then."

She'd have to let Mrs. Hiller know. Poor Jonathan would have to eat without Sam, but maybe Angela would bring them doggy bags.

Oh, and she'd have to change into something suitable for dinner with Grant. Not dancing though, she didn't want to be out that late.

When she went upstairs, she almost knocked on Sam's door, but she didn't know what to say. Yes, it was better to wait till she got back later.