At the sound of a creak on the stairs, Tony looked over his shoulder and couldn't help but to smile as he watched the unmistakable slippers poke their fuzzy pink heads out from behind the wall. "Oh hey Ange, I thought you'd gone up to bed for the night." He whispered, admiring the way in which the television glow twinkled in her eyes.
"Tony," she admonished, "you know I always say goodnight before I go to sleep." Her tone indicative of the fact that he should have known better. Angela walked over to the couch and took a seat next to him, crossing her feet on top of the coffee table.
Tony smiled again at the sight of the ridiculously fuzzy pink slippers, thinking that no other grown woman on the planet could pull those off yet somehow, she makes them look cute. "I know you usually do, but you're exhausted," he defended himself. "I thought maybe after your bath you started to read in bed and crashed with a book in your hands … as you've been known to do." He teased and nudged her shoulder with a raise of his eyebrow. "I had already made a mental note to check for the light under your door so I could turn it off for you." She smiled at his thoughtfulness wondering once more how she had gotten so lucky.
"Tony," she whined, swatting his arm. "I don't always do that!" She tried to defend herself, but despite her best efforts she gave herself away when a smile came over her lips. She thought about the many, many times she'd hear him come up the stairs and pretend to be asleep. He would knock lightly on her door and she would ignore it, just so that he would come inside her room and turn off her bedside lamp. She loved how the smell of his cologne would linger in the air just long enough to help her fall asleep.
It was Sunday night, and with the exception of Jonathan still being away at camp, things were finally back to normal. Samantha was tucked into her bed sound asleep, Mona had turned in for the night back to her apartment, and Tony had been watching the Mets game.
"How are they doing?" Angela asked.
"Terrible," he complained, "I can't believe how many errors they've had in this game. It's downright embarrassing at this point." He confessed in frustration.
"Right …" Angela said, confused. She didn't have much interest in sports at all, but she enjoyed spending time with Tony and loved that he would try to teach her despite her inability to retain any of those teachings. Tony mumbled something at the screen and she smiled at him, mesmerized by his boyish charm.
He turned towards her and for a moment, she seemed to look right through him before realizing he was looking at her, at which point she looked away. Tony smiled. "That was one hell of a weekend huh?" He asked cautiously. It's not every day you find out that your first kiss as a child away at camp ended up being your best friend and boss twenty years later.
"It certainly was." Angela replied wistfully, her lips curling into an enchanted smile.
Not knowing where to go from there, they both stared in the direction of the television, neither really watching it, as memories of that night 20 years ago danced in their heads. They were so young. So innocent. Then Angela remembered that he had gone there on a bet and had his friend time it and suddenly it didn't feel so innocent anymore. But then her heart swelled when she remembered that he went back to carve her name into the rock. 'I guess he was always this sweet and charming.' She thought, but there was something that had been bothering her.
"Tony?" She began hesitantly, "Why didn't you tell Mother and Samantha that I was Ingrid?"
"Come on Angela," he scoffed, "… did you hear those two? Do we really need that kind of pressure? They'd be planning our wedding right now!" He chuckled. "Besides … I think it's kind of fun, you know? You and me, having this little secret … Don't you?" Despite his earlier denial of any belief in fate, even he was intrigued by this turn of events.
"I … I guess." She whispered.
"Ay oh, oh ay! What's with that I guess?" he challenged. "You wanted them to know?"
"I don't know Tony," but she did know and she was building up the courage to ask. Playing with the ties on her robe she finally spat out, "Are you … are you embarrassed?" She asked, unable to make eye contact.
"Embarrassed? Are you kiddin' me? Angela, why would I be embarrassed?" His eyes were wide.
"I don't know." She replied sheepishly, looking down at her fidgeting hands.
He looked over at her and saw that she was actually contemplating this being true. 'How could she actually think I'd be embarrassed of her?' He thought. "Angela, look at me." He waited for her to look up before continuing. Her eyes were glistening with unshed tears and she bit down on her bottom lip in an effort to keep them that way. "You are beautiful, and smart and funny and classy and loving and … beautiful." His tone was loving and sincere.
She smiled softly before whispering "you said beautiful twice." One single tear, having betrayed her, was now making its way down her cheek and Tony reached out and wiped it with his thumb.
"That's because you're always twice as beautiful as any other woman, anywhere and at any given time. Any man would be a fool to not want to be with you Angela." He admitted, his voice cracking. Tony turned his gaze back to the television needing to break the tension that was building between them again.
"Thank you Tony" she replied, despite him having looked away.
They silently watched the game for a few minutes before feeling it was safe to speak again. "So … we didn't really get a chance to catch up when I got back from Florida on Friday. I'm sorry I didn't stay up that night, I was just so tired from the drive and then I had to unpack and repack to leave for camp the next morning…"
She gently squeezed her hand around his upper arm and interrupted him, "Tony, you don't have to apologize, you were exhausted I completely understand."
"I know, but I was really looking forward to hearing all about your summer and I … I missed our night time chats" he admitted. Looking away, he returned his eyes to the game but his mind was still very much on her. "I really missed you Angela. It's good to be home again," his eyes never leaving the tv.
'Home' she thought, her heart feeling as though it might burst at any moment. "I really missed you too Tony." Still, his eyes were laser focused on the tv. But his ears deceived him as she watched the one in front of her turn red.
"So, tell me!" He paused to clear his throat, "What kinda trouble did you get up to for three weeks here on your own?" His tone now cheerful as he tried to lighten the mood.
He was really looking forward to hearing all about her summer. Tony had become so accustomed to their nightly conversations that he spent most of his nights in Florida wondering what Angela had been up to. Every night he fought the urge to call her and ask her about her day, thinking it might be inappropriate for him to be prying into her life. It was one thing for her to come home and voluntarily share her day with him, but it felt different to call and probe. With him not there to keep an eye on her, he was worried she'd have been a big ball of overworked stress by the time he got back. He knew she'd spend most of her days working but hoped that she was getting out and doing some fun stuff too, to balance it all out. 'Just not too much fun' he thought to himself one evening as he recalled the events from his first night at Angela's house. Remembering how she said that nothing was going to happen in that house with Grant and wondered if things were different now that she was home alone. The idea that she might be entertaining a friend there did not sit well with him - that was the night he went down to the hotel gym to sweat those thoughts out of his head. Little did he know, she had spent many of those same nights on the couch alone with a tea in her hand missing his company.
"You know me, most of my time was spent at work to be honest. I did go out with Wendy and Isabelle a couple of times. We may or may not have had a little too much to drink one of those nights but I told myself it was okay … not much trouble I could get into with you being a safe distance away all the way in Florida." She teased with a wink.
"Ay Oh Angela, you're the one that kissed me!"
Angela giggled "Yes well, that remains up for debate … But I do know that you're definitely the one that initiated the kiss 20 years ago, so I guess at the very least we are even."
"God … can you believe how crazy that is?" He asked her, once again deep in thought.
"No. I really can't." Angela couldn't help but to go back to that night again and smile as she thought about their very first kiss.
"Tell me more Angela, come on! I'm sure you have more stories to tell. You come home every night and you always have a list of things to talk about. How can this be it?"
"I probably did at the time Tony, I don't remember them now."
"Man, I should have called you every night and gotten it all before you forgot," he joked.
"You should have," she whispered in earnest and this time, they both had to look away.
She began to think back to the last three weeks and continued, "I told you about losing the Post-it account when you called me that one day at the office, other than that work was pretty uneventful. I went shopping a few times after work. I told you about my date nights with the girls." She couldn't help but to notice that he looked disappointed with her lack of news to share, 'he looks so damn cute with that pouty lip' she thought. "Aw Tony, I'm sorry." She was genuinely feeling bad about how sad he looked. "I'll tell you what, the next time you abandon me for weeks at a time and I have something I want to tell you when you're not around, I'll jot it down on a Post-it so I don't forget to tell you when you return." She couldn't help but to giggle at his expression as he tried to regain control of his gaping jaw that dropped at her dramatic use of the word abandon.
"I'd like that." He replied, sincerity in his tone.
"You would?" she asked, surprised. She didn't know much about baseball but she did know that it was a long drawn out sport. The little indicator on the corner of the screen told her that they were on 7 and she knew there were 9 in total, this meant that there was still plenty of time for her to undo the damage should she feel the need to.
"Sure I would! Why wouldn't I like that? It would mean that you were thinking about me." He admitted shyly.
"I suppose that's true."
"Angela, we are best friends who help raise each other's children. We live under the same roof and we've shared our entire lives together for over a year … well maybe not our entire lives" He corrected as he shrugged his shoulders but immediately moved on "I think it would be weird if you didn't miss my company while I was away. I know I missed yours." Fascinated by his admission, Angela gave him a warm smile.
Suddenly she felt giddy and knew she was going to have a hard time falling asleep tonight, "I need some chamomile in my system," she announced as she stood up from the couch.
"Do you want me to make you a tea?" He immediately offered.
"That's okay Tony, I'll do it, you watch the game. Would you like one as well?" She asked.
"Sure I'll have one, thanks."
All the anxiety she had felt earlier on that night was melting away and with a big smile on her face Angela nearly skipped her way into the kitchen.
Several minutes later she walked back out to the living room with two mugs of warm tea in her hands. Reclaiming her spot next to Tony on the couch, she sat down to watch the rest of the game with him.
"Do you miss it?" She asked him as the game ended.
Looking over at her confused, he clarified, "playing ball you mean?"
"Yeah" her voice was a whisper.
"Well, I did. I do … some aspects of it I guess. You know Angela, it was like living a dream. It was living a dream. In the beginning it was everything I had ever dreamed of and wanted, but as time went on I began to miss Marie. Then after Sam came along, I missed her too. I don't miss being away from the ones I love, that's for sure." His eyes widened when he realized his slip and he cleared his throat, Angela's eyes glistened and she swallowed back a lump that formed in hers. "You know … Sam, away from Sam." He explained. He paused for a moment, gathering his thoughts. Surprisingly, this was not something he thought about often. Things happen, you move on. "I guess there are things I miss … the money for one," he chuckled, "but the trade off has been pretty good." He smiled at her.
"Tony, if you could go back knowing what you know now … would you have made that steal into third?"
Impressed by her proper use of the term "steal" he smiled. "Given that Marie's fate was already sealed at the time, I wouldn't change a thing." He reached out and squeezed her hand, then stood up and walked over to the television set to turn it off. "Bed Time?"
"Yes," she uttered mid yawn thinking he couldn't have timed that question any better if he had tried.
Tony gestured for Angela to walk up ahead of him, "after you." When they reached the upstairs hall she walked him to his bedroom door. "Good night An…." Tony's gaze followed his hand as he reached to turn the handle on his bedroom door. Angela also reached out and placed her left hand over his, stopping him mid sentence.
"Tony?" He looked up at her in anticipation. "It's really good to have you home again," she said smiling softly, "Good night." Leaning into him she placed a soft kiss on his cheek, her right hand squeezing his upper arm before it slowly trailed all the way down to his hand as she turned to go to her own bedroom. His knees grew weak as he felt the tingling sensation she left behind.
Tony's eyes widened when he opened his bedroom door, his jaw slackened, mouth gaping in amazement. "Ange…" he whipped his head around to call her but her door was already closed. As he turned his head back to look inside his room, the overflow of his emotions began to well up in his eyes. He walked over to one of the small yellow squares and pulled it off the wall.
'Dear Tony, Today I watched Jim Peterson walk around the office for a whole FIVE minutes with toilet paper stuck to the bottom of his shoe - it was hilarious!
A.'
Overwhelmed by all of the emotions coursing through his body, he laughed through the unrelenting tears as he looked around his room and saw that there had to be hundreds of these notes stuck all over his walls, his lamp, his dresser, they were everywhere! "God, she's amazing," he whispered. Making his way over to his lampshade he grabbed another note and read it.
'Dear Tony, I may or may not be a little tipsy right now and thinking about the last time I was drunk and you kissed me on my birthday … missing you.
Ange'
"She kissed me!" he whispered, shaking his head and noticed that there was another Post-it stuck to the back of this one. Licking his fingers to pull them apart he read the one beneath it.
'YOU kissed me!
Ange. x'
"Hah!" the sound he made was a cross between a sob and a laugh, he looked up trying to catch his breath, willing his heart to stop racing and his eyes to stop crying." He continued making his way through the room in astonishment, reading the notes one by one.
'Dear Tony, I really hope you're letting Samantha have some fun. For some reason an image just popped up in my head of you running a young boy off the beach because he was paying too close attention to her … and now I'm giggling.
Ange'
'Huh, this actually isn't far from the truth,' he contemplated "does she know me or what!" he whispered.
'Dear Tony, I lost the Post-it account today - no, the irony is not lost on me. In fact, these are samples. Anyway, I really missed not having you around to tell me that it was their loss and that I'll get the next one.
Angela'
'God, I wish I could have been here for her, she must have beat herself up for days over this,' he thought.
'Dear Tony, I may or may not be a little tipsy right now … missing you.
Ange xo'
'Dear Tony, Wendy and Isabelle took me out for drinks tonight. I think they feel sorry for me because I'm all alone. They never stop talking about how cute you are, you really do need to look less cute when they come around because I don't like them talking about you in that way.
Ange xo'
'Yup, she was definitely drunk here,' he laughed.
'Dear Tony, I want you to know that I opened the cupboard this morning and although there was a very tempting box of crunchy crawlers in there I did NOT touch it.
Angela'
'Ay oh, you better not have!' But then his mind went back to that first morning when they argued over crunchy crawlers and he secretly hoped that her note included all crunchy crawlers and not just the ones that came in a box.
'Dear Tony, I went to the grocery store today because I ran out of orange juice and I had to ask for help because I had no idea where to find it. When are you coming back? I'm lost without you! Well ... I mean I can't run a household without you - you know what I mean.
A.'
Tony cleared his throat.
'Dear Tony, I had a really tough day at work today. Remind me to fill you in when you're back but I really missed our evening catchup tonight more than any other night yet.
Ange'
'Dear Tony, Mother is acting very strange, I think she thinks I'm lonely but I'm really not although I do miss you all terribly.
A.'
'Dear Tony, I went shopping after work today and now I'm really missing Sam. Can't wait to resume our shopping dates. I will definitely go overboard but you owe me this because you took my baby girl away from me for three whole weeks!
Ange'
Tony wondered if she realized that she had referred to Sam as her baby girl in that note.
'Dear Tony, It's Sunday morning and I slept in for the first time in … I have no idea it's been a while. I woke up with a craving for waffles with whipped cream - gave it a go - they were definitely not as good as yours.
A.'
'Dear Tony, I miss my babies, this house is way too quiet without them.
Angela'
His heart swelled with love at the sight of Angela referring to the kids as her babies.
Tony continued making his way through the bedroom reading her notes for close to three hours. When he came to the last one it occurred to him that he should have counted them all as he went - but going back to do so now seemed daunting and not an option, so he just safely placed them inside his bedside table drawer and got into bed. He lay there wondering again how he had gotten so lucky to find her. This family was everything to him and he loved them all so very much. With the notes replaying in his mind he couldn't help but to feel loved and realized that's what she must have been doing upstairs that whole time that he thought she was in bed reading. 'What if I had come upstairs?' He wondered. 'Nah, she knows I'm glued to the couch when the game is on' he laughed. His mind took him back to that first kiss they had shared, the one that he didn't even know was her until about 36 hours ago. 'Could it really be that there are other forces at play here? Forces beyond our comprehension?' Tony didn't know what to make of any of that. What he did know is that he and Samantha were very lucky to have ended up in this family.
He quickly found that sleeping would prove to be an impossible task, he was so excited and couldn't wait to see Angela in the morning. "Who am I kidding? I can't sleep!" he said as he reached over and reopened the drawer. After taking the notes back out and reading them over and over again, he finally fell asleep with hundreds of little reminders of just how much Angela had missed him lying all around him on his bed.
"Good morning sweetheart!" Angela said cheerfully as she walked into the kitchen and made her way over to place a kiss on Samantha's head.
"Morning Angela!" Samantha said.
"Good morning Angela," Tony echoed as Angela walked over to the stove where he was standing. "Juice and coffee?" He asked with a knowing smile on his face.
"Good morning Tony, sleep well?" She asked in jest, but Mona flew in the back door before Tony could answer.
"Good morning family! God it's good to have you all back home. One more week and things will finally be back to normal."
"Good morning mother." Angela couldn't hide the disappointment in her voice at her mother's ill timed entrance.
"Hiya Mone!"
"Oh Tony, you look terrible this morning! Did you not sleep?" Mona said with some concern in her voice. "Everything okay big guy?"
"Uhm … yeah … it took me a while to get to sleep," he fumbled. But Mona was no longer watching Tony, she was watching her daughter and her curiosity peaked when she saw that she was glowing.
"How come Dad?" Sam asked.
"Yeah Dad … how come?" echoed Mona, grateful that the kid had beat her to it. He was less likely to be dismissive of Sam's inquiry.
"I uh … I was disappointed with the Mets"
"They lost again!?" Sam shouted, but Mona wasn't buying it. She watched the two of them closely and she knew something was up, she just didn't know what.
"Yes, it was terrible," Angela chimed in, "lots of errors," she added.
Now Mona was certain that something was up. Her daughter hated baseball and Mona would bet her life on the fact that Angela would fail miserably if asked to explain what an error was. Luckily she spared her the detailed examination. There was no question that her daughter was a fantastic liar, it was part of why she was so successful in advertising, but the fact that she just spoke baseball confirmed her suspicions. She watched intrigued as Angela and Tony kept stealing glances at one another when they knew the other wasn't looking and wondered if this had anything to do with that night at camp when they went to visit makeout rock and spent the night at the Motel. Whatever it was, 'it looks so good on them' she gushed … and with that, she decided to give them their space to figure it out. "Well, I have an early class to get to so I will see you all at dinner." Mona said and walked back out carrying her breakfast in her hands, "Sam, would you mind helping me bring this stuff upstairs I can't carry my coffee too."
"Sure Mona." Sam jumped up to help her and in that moment Angela knew her Mother was onto them.
"My God! How does that woman always sense everything?" she asked frustrated as the back door closed behind Mona and Sam.
Tony's eyes lit up. He beamed at her as he said "Probably because you're glowing" he teased.
"Tony!" she whined. "That's the last time I do anything thoughtful for you." She sulked.
"Oh Angela, you know you don't mean that."
"You're probably right." She conceded. "Well I have a meeting I need to get to, have a good day Tony. You might want to schedule in a nap this afternoon." She teased as she began to make her way through the kitchen door but he stopped her.
"Hey Ange? About last night …"
"Yes Tony?" Standing midway between the kitchen and living room with the door half open she turned back to him, wearing a look of innocence on her face that rivaled that of the Virgin Mary's.
Tony's eyes widened as he was taken back by the angelic look on her face. "First of all, I want you to know that the look of innocence on your face right now would make the Virgin Mother herself look guilty standing next to you - and believe me Angela, coming from an Italian … Madonna Mia! That means something." His eyebrows raised and he slightly inclined his head towards her.
"I gotta be honest with you Ange, watching you pull off this look while knowing it's fake … it's a little concerning" He chuckled, causing her to laugh in response. "But what I was going to say is that … it took me 3 hours to read through all those notes last night and then I spent another hour re-reading the ones in my favourites pile." Her eyebrows jetted up in surprise. "Yes - I made a favourites pile." He confirmed unashamed after seeing the look on her face and Angela smiled lovingly at him.
"You thought about me a lot." He said. His face and tone now serious and longing.
"I did." she replied softly. She watched him for a moment, her eyes were deep pools of love and gratitude for the man that stood before her. After flashing him a warm smile, she turned on her heel and walked through the swinging door.