Chapter 2

Another day was over, she had survived another day. You could only see it this way. After having emptied her last cup of coffee in the morning, and she drank far too much coffee, she had cleaned the kitchen, although there wasn't much to do. Usually, Tony only had two slices of toast in the morning and a coffee. You couldn't call that a cozy breakfast à deux. Angela wasn't sure why it was so important to her all of sudden. In Fairfield, her breakfast had also only consisted of a glass of orange juice and a cup of coffee. Back then, it had been Tony who forced her to take her time for a nutritious and healthy start for the day. But she had always been on the run to her agency, not having any time for Tony who had greeted her every day with a joyful "good morning, Angela" on his lips. Now she faced the very same situation; she would be standing in the kitchen in her bathrobe, greeting him happily, "good morning, Honey!" and if she was lucky, she would get a quick kiss on her cheek. If she was really lucky, he would take her in his arms, look deep into her eyes and kiss her tenderly on the mouth. But recently, she wasn't really lucky very often. Now it was him who was in a hurry every morning, who had a sip of coffee passing by, who ate his morning sandwich standing at the kitchen counter and who called out to her "until tonight, Sweetheart!" with a full mouth.

Had he also felt this empty after she had vanished through the door in the morning? Like a piece of furniture you place somewhere in the rearmost corner of your room until you need it again? She hoped he hadn't, because it was a lousy feeling and the mere perception that Tony might have felt like this during all his housekeeping years made her uneasy. Maybe being alone in this apartment was the problem? Tony had the kids to look after, and Mona, who had used to come home from the office earlier than Angela. He had taken care of the house and he had eventually started to go to college. He had never been bored like she was now, he had always known what to do with his free time. Well, she didn't. She didn't know what to do with her free time. And she had so much of it! How many more afghans was she supposed to knit? They already had countless of paintings, they could just as well start an art gallery. She had read all the books from the latest bestseller list, she might consider literary criticism as a second career. Time seemed to pass slower out here. In bustling New York she had sometimes been surprised about how fast the day had come to an end, here she thought the second hand moved on so slowly just to mock her. It felt as if a day in Branford had 48 hours instead of 24.

When they had still been living in Fairfield, she loved to come home. When she had opened the front door in the evening, tired and worn-out after a long, stressful working day, the table had always been laid nicely, a delicious dinner had been prepared and her family had been there. These family dinners with everybody talking across each other, had been the highlight of every working day, something Angela had been looking forward to during a tough meeting or when she had to do some dull paperwork. Like Tony had always done back then, Angela tried to surprise him with a home-cooked meal every evening to the best of her abilities. She had even learned how to cook - at least a bit. An elderly lady from the neighborhood had befriended her and had shown her some of her family recipes, although these were mainly home cooking meals and dishes typical for the Midwest. Nothing somebody from the metropolitan East coast was used to. And her new friend couldn't teach her the Italian cuisine either, which Tony mastered so skillfully. But Angela tried very hard and read every available cookbook - time never ran out. On the weekend, the two of them would cook together, so her repertoire expanded gradually and she was able to surprise Tony with a tasty dinner from time to time.

Like every late afternoon, Angela was standing in the kitchen, chopping some onions, a pan with hot olive oil waiting on the stove. Tonight it should be pasta with a simple but savory tomato sauce. That was a dish she already mastered quite well, although she wasn't able to chop this stupid onions as thoroughly as Tony. She opened a bottle of red wine mainly for deglazing the onions but she poured herself a glass too. The cooking wine needed to be tasted after all, so she had a sip ... no corky taste - good! Into the pan with it! She startled a bit at the hissing sound of the liquid touching the hot pan. She had already brought a huge saucepan with salted water to a boil. As soon as Tony would be there, dinner had to be ready fast, because on Friday nights he was very hungry usually after an extensive practice with his baseball team. Maybe she wasn't the best chef, but from her former position as president of the Bower Agency she knew how to organize herself and her time managing skills had always been legendary.

Angela was looking forward to the weekend. Tony had Saturdays and Sundays off and spent the time with her - on most weekends that was. During the season, Saturday was matchday with Tony standing at the sideline and coaching his team. Home games would only eat up a small part of their weekend. Angela would usually sit in the stands, cheer on the boys and admire the way Tony did his job at the sideline so eagerly and full of energy. After the game was over, there would be a short de-briefing with the team, they would evaluate the final score, and then he would donate the rest of his weekend completely to her. With away games it was entirely different. Iowa was a big state and some of the trips to the other colleges and their teams were quite long. Some Saturdays, Tony would sneak out of bed even before Angela woke up. When she opened her eyes and saw the empty space he had so recently been lying in, she snuggled into his pillow which still smelled of him. Sometimes, he stayed away for the night, when a late night game wouldn't allow the drive back home. That was even worse! Going to bed without him was almost intolerable for Angela. It reminded her of the time before Tony and she had become a couple. Her bed had always looked too big for her alone and there had been nights she simply stared at it, wishing he would be there to share it with her.

Angela was in deep thought, stirring the sauce on the stove, when she felt a tender kiss on her neck. Tony! She turned around and there he stood directly in front of her nose with a boyish grin on his face. He looked so good! He was a bit worn-out, his hair was tousled, his hoodie a bit sweaty, and he had the big sports bag still on his shoulder. She loved to see him like this. This was her Tony. She still had to get used to the Tony who left the apartment every morning in a suit with shirt and tie, briefcase in hand.

"Hello, Sweetheart!" he said. "I'm sorry that I'm a bit late again. But the boys needed another session of hitting practice, otherwise we won't have the slightest chance against the Drake Bulldogs from Des Moines next week. They're the league leader and haven't lost a single game so far. But I'm here now!"

He took her in his arms and gave her a forceful kiss on the mouth. Angela was blissful; all the hardship of the day seemed to be blown away with a single kiss.

"How was your day? Did you miss me?" she asked jauntily.

"Oh boy, did I miss you!" Another loving kiss followed and Angela melted like butter in his hands. Then he broke the kiss and lifted the pan's lid. "Hmmm, this smells delicious. I'm hungry like a wolf. Let me have a quick shower first, I put on some fresh clothes, then we gonna have dinner, okay?"

"Okay! Hurry up." 'Oh, how I would like to join you in the shower, Honey!' crossed her mind and she startled a bit at how naughty this thought acutally was. She almost didn't recognize herself, as she had always been the rather prude, uptight and reserved type. But Tony was so adorable and the mere perception of hot water running down in muscular, well-shaped body brought her blood to a boil - it was boiling just like the tomato sauce on the stove right in front of her. She shook her head, 'I guess this happens when there's nothing else to do than killing the time until your most favorite guy gets home', she thought.

Dinner always compensated her for the fast breakfast in the morning. Eventually he had time for her, eventually he focussed on her, eventually they were together. Tony talked about his day, about the students he had in various classes. Angela knew some of them by name, especially his problem kids. He was wrapped up in caring about each and every one of them individually, of arousing their interest for history, art, and literature. 'That's why I urged him to become a teacher', Angela always thought in moments like that. The shine she saw in his eyes and the pride she heard in his voice when he talked about his students' successes managed to conjure a smile on her face as well.

"Tony, have you already been thinking about what we might do at the weekend?"

She loved being surprised by his ideas. Sometimes he would abduct her into the mountains for two days or take her for dinner and dancing to one of the near small villages. Once they had made all the way to Dubuque and had laughed about how well-lit it was. Mona had teased them once - they hadn't been together yet - telling them that there was enough electricity between them to supply a city like Dubuque with it. But Angela's dearest memory was the one of the small log cabin in a wildlife reserve Tony had once rented. With a full picnic basket in the car, they had lived like hermits the entire weekend and had spent most of it in that little alcove bed under a cute red-white-checkered blanket. If the choices had been hers, they would've never left that place.

Tony hesitated. "Uhmm, Angela ... I have to tell you something." He looked at her briefly, but then avoided her eyes and she could read from his face immediately that there wouldn't be a romantic weekend - once again.

"What?" she asked, already somewhat irritated.

"The boys are still in need of an additional fitness training, their condition is just not like I want it to be! If we want to finish better this season, we need to practice more stamina." Tony had a bad conscience and felt being torn between his responsibility as a coach and his stunning fiancé, whom he had neglected the entire work week. "I'll make up for it on Sunday, I promise!" Her sad and disappointed face broke his heart. "I'm sorry Angela."

She swallowed and suppressed some tears. She had always been a master of controlling her emotions and keeping her inner state to herself. She put aside the fork, she had lost all appetite, took a sip of wine, put the glass back on the table and remained silent.

"Angela?" Tony was confused. Did she understand? Was she angry? Sad? Disappointed?

Angela took a deep breath. "I understand", she said flatly. "Another weekend you have to work. Sometimes I really ask myself why I came here. I don't get to see you anyway." Now she was close to tears. "Which was the last weekend we had only for ourselves? Without a squeezed-in practice here or a meeting with a future scholar there? Do you even realize that we hardly have any time together?"

This was not the way she had pictured it. It had been hard enough to leave behind her old life, but the prospect of living with Tony in Iowa, as the woman at his side, had made her brush away all her misgivings. Her mother had only shaken her head and had said, "Angela, want do you want to do there in this no man's land? You're a city girl. This wasteland is going to drive you crazy in no time!" Leaving the Bower Agency to her mother hadn't been easy either. She had worked so hard for so many years for it and having success in her business provided her with a great deal of satisfaction and self-esteem. Some of her clients had expressed their displeasure that she henceforth would no longer be working on their campaigns and one or two had even threatened to look for another agency. She had been willing to take the chances just to be with him. What for?

"I know, I know. I am sorry, Angela, but I can't help it. Sunday will be ours completely. I promise! I already have an idea for a nice getaway. You'll like it, I'm positive about that." He gently stroked her cheek and looked deep into her eyes. 'How come his hands are so warm and soft?' Angela thought. Like always, she couldn't say no to him when he was looking at her with his puppy dog eyes. His brown, warm eyes managed to soothe her every time.

She sighed, raised her eyebrows and smiled at him while slightly shaking her head. "Why do I always fall for your promises?"

"Because you love me!" he said mischievously. He stood up, took her hand and asked her to stand up too. He pulled her close, cupped her face and looked at her. "Tell me, Ms. Bower, what are your plans for tonight?"

"I've planned to go to bed early with a good book", was her nonchalant response but she had to struggle to stay earnest.

"I see, with a good book ..."

"Yes, it's supposed to be very inspiring", she teased him.

"Inspiring? Uh-huh, ... I could think of something else." His voice had a lusting undertone. He pressed her body to his, stroked her blond locks and let his hands travel slowly down her back.

"And what would that be?" She didn't want to let him off the hook so easily. It ought to be quite a bit of an effort for him.

"Well, how about a game of gin rummy?" He kissed her ever so gently behind her earlobe, then on her neck. "We could also watch a documentary on TV." His lips worked their way to her collarbone. "There are still some boxes in the garage, we could also unpack those." He studded her cleavage with feathery kisses. "Oooor ..."

"Or what?" she asked breathlessly.

"Or we leave everything here as it is, the deck of cards stays in the cabinet", he stroked her cheek, "the TV remains switched-off", he breathed a kiss behind her right ear, "we let the boxes be boxes", another kiss behind her left ear, "and we indeed go to bed early, ... but without a book." His voice was velvety-soft now.

"How could I resist this?"

"You simply can't, Baby!" He grinned at her.

Tony loved to seduce her. For so many years he was only allowed to do that in his fantasy. Now that they finally were a couple, he enjoyed making unambiguous compliments and luring her into his bedroom with suggestive remarks. It now seemed like a crazy idea to him that he had once planned to save himself up until their wedding night. How could he have ever believed that he would be able to resist her feminine charms for that long? He took her hand, set one foot behind the other and was slowly dragging her behind himself towards the bedroom.