Thanks to hartkins and silvermissstt for helping me with this chapter!

Angela was no better at bowling than she was at cooking. She had no desire to learn, either. Being able to cook a meal for herself (that didn't come out of a box or the freezer) was something she always aspired to learn. A life skill. Nothing wasted. She enjoyed the cooking process, too, though most of that could be accredited to Tony. Bowling was a skill she never needed to learn. Frivolous and unrelated to anything else in her life. Tony and Samantha had dragged her to the lanes a few times when they first moved to Connecticut. That was fine and served as a good night out for the family. Did she like the sport itself? Not particularly. She couldn't say she missed trading in bowling shoes for concert tickets. Now, she was in a bowling alley without Tony and the kids and was being issued her own shirt and shoes. It felt like a parallel universe.

"You just have to get a feel for the ball," Rosie said, showing Angela the proper way to use the finger holes. "Soon enough you'll build up the muscles you need."

"What happened to those wall things?" Angela questioned.

"Wall things?"

"You know, those things they put up along the sides so it won't fall into the gutter?"

Raising an eyebrow, Rosie replied, "You mean the bumpers they use for the little kids?"

With a blush, she nodded.

"They don't let the adults use 'em," another woman chimed in from her seat.

"Oh." Despite knowing it did little to redeem herself, Angela said, "The last time I bowled it was with Tony and the kids when they were younger."

"Just try again. Don't try too hard to roll it down the middle. Work from the sides inward. Right down the middle will make a split. Too far to the side and it goes in the gutter. Remember: the arrows are your guides."

She gave it her best try but still rolled another gutter-ball.

"Are you sure you want me on your team?"

The look in the ladies' eyes told her no, but they lied through their teeth. "Of course we do!"

"Why?" she challenged.

Barbra, the wife of another professor, answered. "It means a lot to Tony."

Angela wasn't surprised, shrugging her shoulders in response. It also didn't surprise her how quickly Tony had made a name for himself in this town. Everyone adored him, students, faculty, and townspeople alike. He made friends wherever he went, she learned that as soon as he moved to Connecticut. She only wished she could, too. When it came down to it, invitations were only being extended to her for Tony's sake. He was her only confidante here and there was so much she couldn't say to him. She refused to burden him when doubt started creeping in. Like now, sitting uncomfortably in a bowling alley with virtual strangers who were only being nice to her because she was Professor Tony Micelli's fiance.

Professor Micelli… Phrasing his name that way brought out a smile. Reminding herself how proud she was of him made it easier to set aside her problems. This was your decision, she told herself. Maybe, as Mona might have put it, this was just another one of her 'geek flashbacks'. Though Iowa might as well be a whole other country, and though she wouldn't be here forever, she desperately wanted to fit in.

. . .

"Hiya, sweetheart!"

Angela smiled when she was greeted by Tony's boyish grin and sing-song voice — things that used to be an everyday occurrence. It was only when the combination surfaced she realized that she hadn't seen it so much the past year or two.

"Hey there," she replied.

"What's the score?"

"… is there a game on?"

Tony chuckled. "No, I mean your bowling score."

"Oh! Um… nothing you'd be proud of."

"Ah, come on."

"… thirty-four."

Feigning optimism, he said, "Hey, it's a start!"

Stepping past him, desperately wanting to shower and wash the stench of the alley out of her hair, she said, "I'm going to let them all down. The girls think I was just nervous today. How do I tell them that's as good as it gets?"

"It takes practice," he said following her into the bedroom. "You do seem a bit tense."

"Those balls are heavy."

"You'll build up the muscle."

"That's what Rosie said."

"See? Don't worry about it."

Angela rummaged through the dresser for her pajamas, glad for once there was so little around to do and wouldn't be expected to leave the apartment for the rest of the evening.

"You sure that's all?" Tony asked, sitting on the edge of the bed as he watched her.

She nodded. "Still getting used to a new routine."

"It's been a week."

Turning around to face him, she said, "That's not too long. You know how set in my ways I am. I don't think I can adjust as quickly as you have."

"So I take it you're not up for listening to my new country album during dinner then?"

"Please, no." She tried not to look too panicked.

Tony laughed. "I'm teasing. How about Sinatra?"

Angela breathed, "Ah, old familiar blue eyes."

Standing up, he walked over to her, stopping to kiss her cheek. "The homesickness will wear off soon."

"Am I that obvious?"

He shrugged. "Easy enough to assume. I was homesick my first month here. But now? If not for Sam, Jonathan, and Mona, I don't think I'd look back at all."

"You don't miss Brooklyn?" she asked with surprise. "Your friends?"

"Of course I miss them, but you outgrow people sometimes. I'll meet up with them next time I'm near the city, but I can't hang back because they're stuck in one place."

Angela nodded, the sick feeling in her stomach getting stronger. "Well..." she said after a minute. "I'm going to shower before we eat."

Squeezing her arm, Tony said, "All right. Will be just about done by then."

Holding her pajamas tightly against her, she asked, "We are staying in tonight, aren't we?"

"I didn't have anything planned. Did you wanna go somewhere? On a walk?"

"Nah," she said, taking her bathrobe off the closet door hook. "I'm looking forward to a cozy night in."

With a grin, he said, "That can be arranged."