"Angela, what are these fliers doing in the trash?"

Without turning from the soup she was stirring, she shrugged. "Junk mail."

"Coupons are not junk mail," Tony groused.

"What do we need those for? Between both of our incomes, we're fine."

"Aye-oh, it's still crazy to throw away money. When I was doing the grocery shopping I saved every penny I could."

Turning the heat of the burner down, Angela then turned around. "All right, I'm sorry. I'll take a look through them. They're such a hassle, though. How am I supposed to know what I'm buying at the store until I'm there?"

"You mean you don't make a list?" As she sat, he set the papers down in front of her on the table.

She shrugged again. "Only if I'm trying a certain recipe."

Running his hand down the length of his face, he said, "Explains those three sacks of flour in the cupboard."

"I'm doing the best I can. I'll start baking cookies or something."

Hearing the hurt in her tone, Tony took a breath and scooted down next to her. "Let me give you some tips—"

He only went on for ten minutes or so, but Angela tuned out somewhere after two. Something about the staple foods; butter, milk, eggs, cereal, and so on, then something about the foods you check before leaving home; flour, sugar, those things. Here and there she might have picked up something about preparing certain meals and then how to select produce. She couldn't even pretend to care. Her head was throbbing and was tired of smelling the same chicken soup that'd been simmering since four o'clock. In another hour she'd be on her way to another bowling meet and having her head pounded with crashing pins and gossip.

Resisting all urges to rip up the papers as soon as Tony finished and stood, she forced a smile and thanked him, not caring how genuine it appeared.

So the next morning was spent clipping coupons. Even in a better mood than the day before, she still found it a dreary task. Saving thirty cents on oatmeal just wasn't worth the mess or the time. Frankly, it made her miss her job, too. Typos in the ads mocked her as well as other glaring issues. What was worse was the more clever snippets. It made her wonder if she was missing too much being away for such a long period of time. The market was always changing. Making a commercial now was vastly different than it was just two years ago. The economy was different, people's needs were different, and she knew every year was one step closer to the new millennium. There was no telling what to prepare for then.

She wasn't getting younger, either. Her name and reputation would only carry her so far. As the youngest generation was growing older, she herself was becoming outdated. The 'old-timers' wouldn't stick around forever. Not without something outstanding and modern. Eventually, she would have to retire unless by some miracle Jonathan or Samantha expressed interest in taking over. This was something she hadn't considered when taking this time off, now it was all she could think about. Alas, as with every other damning thought, she was forced to bury it and push on. Wanting to move on to something else, she cut out anything that looked remotely familiar she might have seen in the pantry and stuffed the clippings in her purse.

Per Tony's request, Angela presented him with the receipt after the next grocery shop. While impressed by how much the compilation of coupons saved up in the end, she remained firm on her disinterest. What good were an extra few bucks while they were living here? The absence of department stores alone made up for any hit she was taking in her own pay.

No, she scolded herself. There was plenty to be saving pennies for. The wedding, the honeymoon… she knew better than to go beyond those two things by now. Maybe this was a good opportunity to bring the summer plans up again or at least make starting the conversation easier. Logically, she knew she shouldn't be so nervous discussing wedding plans with her finance. Nevertheless, the perturbation was there. It was something to consider, anyway.

Irrational as she told herself it was, she was most afraid of hearing that he wanted to put off the wedding again. She saw no reason for it, but she could see every day that he was a different man than he was when he proposed. A bigger fear was hearing that he wanted to stay, move west permanently and start fresh. What would she do then? Even if she could rebuild her agency from the ground up, she knew there was little need. Perhaps in one of the cities, but those were hours away. The clients were based in New York and Los Angeles. Simple as that.

But then what about Tony? It came back to what she'd been saying to him all along. He'd made more than his fair share of sacrifices for her sake and the kids'. She couldn't be selfish — she wouldn't be selfish. Giving him up wasn't an option either, so keeping quiet, as always, was the only solution.

For now…