Tony remained at the computer staring at the screen. He didn't know how many times he had read the message over and over again. Angela wasn't mad at him at all for sending her a message. He felt she was reassuring him that things were fine. At least the past fifteen years have been good to her, he thought. But the more he read the e-mail, the more he still felt something was wrong. He hit the reply key, but he was unsure whether he should reply or not. Tony didn't want to pry or drive her crazy. He reconsidered and hit the Cancel button. Tony closed his e-mail and shutdown the computer.

The words of Angela's message were still playing in his mind, but his heart told him something was wrong. He was in deep thought when his door bell rang and startled him. Tony slowly walked to the door hoping it was someone who had taken a wrong turn. When he opened the door, he looked at her and she looked at him, but she didn't turn away. It was Jolene.

"Hi Tony, I thought I would check up on you," she said with a bit of concern in her voice.

"Oh, hi Jolene. You're the las.. I mean...I didn't expect to see you," he said with his thoughts still somewhere else.

"I know I came without calling you first, but I didn't want to give you a chance to say 'no.' Besides, I know we dated in the past and things didn't work out, but I was hoping I could be here for you as a friend," she said with hope.

"Well, I would like that."

"A good way to start our friendship is by inviting me in. It's kind of lonely out here in the hall," she said with a little grin.

Noticing he was still holding the handle on the door he pulled the door wide open and said, "I'm sorry, Jolene. Please come on in."

Looking around the apartment, Jolene was amazed at how the apartment looked the same as it always had in the past years. The furniture was in the same place, the paintings and pictures were in the same place. There were a few items Tony had added in recent years, but everything else was the same.

"Well, when was the last time you had a good decent meal," she asked.

"Today, actually. I stopped at the 'only restaurant in town' and had some of their lasagna. I've been kinda craving that stuff lately," he said trying to smile.

"What about before lunch? I mean Mr. Micelli, you look kind of thin." Jolene could sense there was something wrong with Tony and she only wanted to help him.

"Well, if you wanted some dinner, why didn't you say so?" Trying to be understanding, he offered to cook them dinner so they could keep each other company and she accepted without hesitation.

For the first time in a long time, Tony felt like cooking something decent. He would have loved to make lasagna, but knew it would be too much for his stomach. He took a couple of Tums and decided on his famous spaghetti and meatballs instead. After about forty-five minutes in the kitchen cooking, dinner was ready.

"Oh, Tony, You should own the only restaurant in town! This is fabulous," Jolene expressed in delight.

"Thanks Jolene. Actually I haven't really cooked like this in a long time," Tony said drifting back into time.

"I know."

"Look, Jolene, I'm sorry things didn't wo..."

"Don't worry about it Tony. I know about Angela. I know you love her still," Jolene said interrupting him.

"Yeah. . . I do. I just can't get over the times we had together. I mean she knows everything about me." Tony was really getting upset. He'd never really expressed his feelings to someone outside the family. Speaking to a friend about Angela was something he wasn't used to.

Jolene started to say something but he couldn't hear the words that were coming out of her mouth.

His mind was saying, "Ignore it. The pain will go away...someday."

His heart was screaming something else. Tony hadn't listened to the words of his heart in a long time. It was screaming, "Angela needs you! Go to her! She needs you right now!"

Tony couldn't explain this. He looked more confused than ever.

"Tony?" Jolene said with more concern.

"Huh?" Tony asked in a sad, almost crying voice.

"Is there anything you want to tell me right now?" Jolene knew he was thinking of Angela.

"It's funny. I'm thinking so many things right now, Jolene. Maybe I need to be alone." He didn't mean to be rude but he needed to make some sense of what was going on.

"Angela needs you! Go to her! Go right now!!" His heart continued to scream.

"TONY!" Jolene yelled.

Tony snapped back to the present and noticed a frustrated Jolene sitting across from him. He apologized and she did the same for yelling.

"I think it's time I leave you alone now. I think you do need to think about things. Maybe Angela would want you to move on like she has."

Tony escorted Jolene to the door and locked it behind her. Even if what she said was not meant to be hurtful, every word Jolene said before she walked out the door felt like flesh wounds from a rusty knife right into his heart. Tony couldn't move on. He didn't want to move on. Tony was surprised he had survived this long without Angela, the woman who owned his heart. He grabbed his chest, not in physical pain, but in emotional heart break.

He kept hearing the words, "Go to Angela! She needs you! Go to her right now!"

Tony wanted to close his eyes and put every thought out of his mind, heart, and soul! He fell onto the couch with tears in his eyes.

"If there was something wrong Angela would call. Or would she?" His mind asked as he paced the floor.

Tony went back over to his computer to turn it back on, but once again it was conveniently turned. He wasn't sure what was going on, but it was creeping him out.

"What's going on here?" Tony shouted to the top of his lungs, not caring who heard it. He wiggled the mouse with his e-mail already opened, showing the message from Angela. He read that e-mail a thousand times before realizing it was 11 O'clock. The sound of his heart was barely over a whisper now.

"Go to Angela! She needs you. You'll never know how much she needs you until you go."

Tony, being able to breathe a little better, decided instead to listen to the voice in his head instead. "Angela would have told me she needed me."

Deep down, Tony knew this to be false for his heart kept telling him softly and reassuringly that Angela needed him over and over again.

Tony was too tired to listen and decided if he was going to get any sleep at all, that he would try to do it now, or he'd never fall asleep that night.

Talking to himself he said, I'll e-mail her tomorrow to make sure everything is okay, whether she gets mad at me or not.

Tony turned off the computer. This time watching it to make sure it actually turned off. When the computer switched off, he walked towards the bedroom slowly.

So many things had happened over the past three or four days that he just didn't have an explanation for and it was driving him crazy.

How is that computer conveniently turned on every time I look at it? Why was Angela's message the first message I saw? Why is my heart crying out for me to go see her now?

Many other peculiar things were to happen unbeknownst to Tony, but he didn't know what ride he was in for that night. He changed into his pajamas and crawled weakly into his bed. There he would be in for another night of tossing and turning with only a hint of a couple hours of sleep. Then a dream. A dream that would change the course of his life, forever.