"Really, it's okay. Don't worry about it… Work comes first… We'll do something another time… Kathleen, it's no big deal… All right, I'll talk to you tomorrow… Bye."

Tony hung up the phone and turned around, surprised to see Angela standing in the kitchen doorway with a bowl of popcorn and clad in sweats.

"Oh," he said, "I didn't realize you were home tonight."

"Yeah," she said as she walked past him toward the couch. "I decided I needed a quiet night in. Watch a movie, you know... I thought you were going out tonight."

"Yeah, Kath… my plans got canceled. But hey, I'll get out of your way. I have studying I need to do anyway."

He started up the steps with haste, only stopping because she spoke again.

"Tony, wait a minute."

He turned around nervously.

Angela took a deep breath. Another week had passed since the conversation with the kids, and despite great effort, nothing was different between her and Tony. It was exhausting. She was sick of navigating her day around his, trying to minimize their contact. What had once been an unspoken agreement about their feelings for each other had become an unspoken agreement to keep away. She was tired of feeling she shouldn't be around him or that he wanted nothing to do with her. At first, she'd thought things would go back to normal on their own. If anything, they were getting worse.

"You don't have to go upstairs," she said.

"I've got to study."

"You can bring your books downstairs."

"I don't want to disturb your movie."

"… You could watch it with me and study later. Rear Window."

Tony's eyes lit up. "Ooh, that's a good one!"

Feeling successful, Angela smiled. "There's plenty of popcorn for two."

He almost gave in, going as far as to walk over to the couch. There, he stopped again, his frown deepening.

"I can't, Angela."

Losing her smile as well, she turned serious. "Why not?"

"It's just… too weird."

She shook her head, saying after several seconds, "We can't go on like this."

"Like what?"

"Avoiding each other," she answered as she stood. "Not talking about what's going on."

He started to get defensive, prompting her to quickly add, "I'm guilty of it, too. I'm not saying it's on either one of us."

"I want things to be normal again, Angela," Tony started after a pause. "I don't know what to say anymore."

"Then maybe there's something more going on beneath the surface. We've always been able to work through things. Now shouldn't be any different."

He moved away from her. "I think I need more time."

"It's been two weeks. How much longer is this going to go on? Days? Months? Obviously, we're not moving on by sweeping it under the rug. We need to talk about it."

"Give me a break. Finals are next week. I need to focus. I can't do this right now. It's been eating at me enough as it is and I've worked hard to refocus."

Her voice wavered when she spoke again, surprised by what came out. "Then maybe this arrangement isn't working anymore."

"What?"

"Us living together."

He stepped toward her again. "Angela… are you… are you firing me?"

"No," she said as she shut her eyes. "I mean, I don't want to. But this isn't healthy for either of us and especially not for the kids. I know they've talked to you. They've talked to me as well."

"They did?"

She nodded.

"What did they say?"

"That I was withholding as much information as you."

"Thank you," he said, meeting her eyes full-on for a few seconds before looking away again.

Angela continued. "I told them there isn't anything to worry about. I want to believe that's still true, but maybe there is some concern."

His frustration had turned to fear, his eyes deep and nervous as he searched for words that never came.

"I don't want you to move out," she quietly admitted after some time. "And I certainly don't want to fire you. I want us to be able to fix this. But if that's what makes sense… if we keep a more professional distance?"

"I don't want to move out, either."

Angela sat back down, letting the silence linger in the air, hoping for something though she wasn't sure what anymore. Tony remained frozen where he was, his worried look mixing with one of sadness.

She waited, but nothing came. Looking at the clock, she saw the movie would be starting soon. She turned on the TV, glad to have some noise at least. She glanced back at Tony, but he'd only moved to lean on the railing.

"Are you going to stay?" she finally asked.

His voice was dry. "No."

"All right."

"I know we need to talk," he added soberly. "But not tonight."

She leaned back against the cushions. "Fine."

Tony had disappeared by the time the opening credits rolled. Seeing Grace Kelly's name appear on the screen, Angela remembered the last time she'd watched one of her films.

It'd been with Tony, of course. They went to see a viewing of High Society last summer. He dropped everything when he saw a Sinatra film was playing nearby and had barely let her grab her purse when he pulled her out the door. Getting there had been stressful (as it always was seeing a movie with him) but as soon as Louis Armstrong's voice came through the speakers singing High Society Calypso, he relaxed and irritated everyone sitting around them as he exclaimed over and over how he'd had drinks with Sinatra just months before.

"We should go to Newport sometime," he said on the ride home, absolutely giddy from the viewing.

"Oh, it's lovely," she enthused.

"You've been?"

"Only once. My father took me shortly before he passed away. I remember being in awe of Jaqueline Kennedy at the time. I wanted to be just like her when I grew up. We drove by Hammersmith Farm and everything."

"No kiddin'!"

"I'd love to visit again. I don't remember much other than the mansions."

"Is it a date then?" he said with a smile. "Maybe later this summer?"

Reciprocating, she agreed. "I'd like that."

Their trip never came to fruition, though, pushed aside for the family trip to Jamaica. She hadn't thought of it again until now.

Would all of this have happened if we'd gone there instead?

She shook the thought out of her mind as quickly as it came. It didn't matter. If they hadn't kissed in Jamaica, they would have kissed somewhere else. They would have had the same conversation prompting the same, dormant relationship they'd spent the majority of last year in. She still would have sent Tony's study group to a motel and Tony and Kathleen still would have spent the night there. That's what she had to tell herself, anyway, because if she could pinpoint the exact moment she could have changed to keep it all from happening… she couldn't even think about it.

It is what it is.