Chapter 4

Angela had run from the apartment, stumbled down the stairs and through the entrance door of the apartment building. She had been wandering around the little village and had eventually sat down on a bench at the parking lot of the local supermarket. Hours had passed since she had left the apartment. It had become dark in the meanwhile - the supermarket had closed and the parking lot was deserted. She had been crying at first, and at some point that crying had turned into a silent sobbing. Eventually she was just sitting there, motionless and petrified, staring into the void with tear-stained eyes. The pain and the disappointment over Tony's reaction numbed her so much that she didn't realize she was freezing cold and shivering.

"Ma'am, is everything alright?" a voice asked all of a sudden.

She lifted her head and stared into a young man's face which looked vaguely familiar to her.

"Oh, Mrs. Bower, it's you! Has something happened? Why are you sitting here in the dark in this freezing cold? You're trembling all over." He pulled off his jacket and laid it around her shoulders. It was one of the jackets for Tony's baseball team. Angela suddenly realized who that young man was, when he took a seat beside her on that bench.

"Call me Angela. You're Timothy, right? You're on Tony's baseball team", she asked cautiously.

He had been sitting at their kitchen table once, she remembered. Tony had quite earnestly told him to work harder both in his history as well as his literature class, otherwise he would be barred from the team. He was one of the students who had come to Wells College with a sports scholarship because he had an extraordinary talent the college liked to deck itself with. But even such students had to perform well in class; playing baseball like a pro wasn't sufficient to get a degree.

"Yes, Mrs. Bower, uhm, Angela." He felt a bit awkward calling her by her first name, since she was his teacher's fiancée, but also fond of being allowed to address her so casually. "I showed up at your place after I had really messed up the last history exam." He grinned roguishly.

Timothy was a good-looking young man; tall, broad shoulders, rugged features with bright blue eyes. He glanced at her with a flawless smile. He remembered her quite well. She had greeted him shortly and slightly embarrassed after having rushed into the kitchen unsuspectingly with a "Are you in here, Darling?" on her lips. Tony had been lecturing him about the necessity of good grades and had tried to talk him into a tutoring program, but Timothy had only been staring at Angela. She had taken a drink out of the fridge and had shown him a friendly and sympathetic smile upon leaving the kitchen; she knew Tony could be a demanding and strict teacher. After being alone with his coach once again, he had been struggling to pay any attention to him at all.

"Do you want me to escort you home?" he asked, but Angela only shook her head. "But you can't stay out here, Mrs. Bow-, sorry, Angela. You'll freeze to death." Timothy still had to bring himself to calling her Angela for she demanded respect and devotion in his eyes. He gathered all of his courage for the next question he had on the tip of his tongue. "May I buy you a cup of coffee then? There's a little diner right around the corner. You could warm up in there."

Angela hesitated. Should she really have a cup of coffee with one of Tony's students? But she didn't know where else to go and she was well aware that she couldn't remain sitting on this bench forever. Well, what of it! He wasn't a child anymore but a senior college student, so she eventually nodded in approval.

"Why not? I'm really a bit cold." She had only grabbed a thin pullover on her escape out of their apartment which didn't warm her at all. She had been sitting on that bench for a long time; for how long she didn't know. Timothy's jacket gave her a bit of warmth, but she was chilled to the bone and terribly cold. She got up from the bench, hesitated once more, then she said, "Let's go!"

They walked a few steps beside each other up to the next corner, then Timothy led the way, opened the door for Angela and they entered Marjorie's Diner. They sat at one of the tables, it wasn't very busy. Timothy ordered two coffees at the counter and put them on the table. Angela was absent-minded and stirred a lot of sugar into her cup, although she usually drank her coffee without sugar. She still didn't fully comprehend why the evening had gotten so out of hand. Since when was Tony so insensitive? She longed for the Tony who used to care for her, who could read her wishes in her eyes, and whose mission seemed to be to make her life easy. 'Isn't that a bit selfish, Angela?' went through her mind. 'You aren't the center of the universe, Tony has every right to pursue his own career.' Besides, it was she who had pushed him to even have a look at this job opportunity in the first place. And it had been her own decision to come to Iowa to be with him as well. It was difficult to admit to herself that this kind of life, the life of a housewife, simply wasn't for her. Actually, she should've known better. Michael had tried to make a 'Mrs. Michael Bower' out of her, a housewife and mother, a woman who would take every load from him for his very own professional ambitions and build the cozy nest he could let fall himself into after one of his strenuous trips. But her aspirations had always been higher than being a mere decoration on her husband's arm - and that hadn't changed a bit since then. She wanted to be more than just the baseball coach's spouse, even if she idolized this particular baseball coach. 'Why only can't I live without my job?' she asked herself and sighed heavily.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Timothy asked daringly. He had observed Angela and had noticed that she was haunted by preying worries. Her facial features and demeanor expressed a great deal of helplessness and sadness. His heart jumped into his throat for she was significantly older than him and moreover she was his coach's fiancée.

But Angela only shook her head. Never in her life would she tell one of Tony's students anything about her private life. She wouldn't tell anybody, not even her mother. She wasn't very good at confiding in other people about her worries and hardships. She always wanted to handle everything on her own; she needed to be strong and invulnerable. But this was a friendly, polite and courteous young man who didn't deserve that she remain quiet and ignore him.

"What are you doing out here at this hour?" she asked.

"My roommate has a lady visitor", he replied with a knowing grin, "therefore I had to make myself scarce. I like walking around the city. I'm from Minnesota but applied for a place at the local universities in vain ... I'm not really a gifted student." He shrugged. "The sports scholarship brought me to Branford. It's a pleasant spot, I like it. You aren't from this area either, are you?"

Angela laughed slightly. "No, I grew up at the East coast."

"The East coast is long."

"New England."

"I'm not that bad at geography, Angela." It came more naturally to him now to call her by her first name. "There's more than just one New England state ..." He wanted to start a conversation with her, but she was so reserved.

"Connecticut." It seemed to her that Connecticut wasn't only a different state, but a different country. A different universe almost.

"It's supposed to be nice there, I've heard. I've never been there, never left Minnesota before coming to Iowa." He took a sip of coffee.

"Yes, it's very nice. The metropolitan cities along the coast are terrific. I love New York." Angela also had some coffee and frowned after having swallowed. Why did this coffee taste so terribly sweet?

"You came here with Coach Micelli, didn't you?" He strongly hoped that he hadn't overstepped a boundary but he couldn't think of any other topic, and he simply wanted to know.

Angela only nodded.

"And don't you like it out here?"

"What makes you think I don't like it out here?"

"I don't know ... you look so gloomy. And your eyes were glowing when you talked about New York." It hadn't gone unnoticed by him that thinking about New York and Connecticut had lifted her spirits a bit. He didn't know it of course - but it had been the recollection of the happier times that had eased her momentary sorrow, the times when things between Tony and her had been uncomplicated and just blissful.

The conversation manoeuvred Angela's thoughts in a direction which made her uneasy. She didn't want to talk about herself and most definitely not about her argument with Tony, so she tried to change the subject. "Which position are you playing, Timothy?"

"Second Base."

"Oh, that was Tony's position." Angela didn't know that much about baseball but she most certainly knew Tony's position as a pro with the St. Louis Cardinals.

"Yes, I know", Timothy answered shortly.

"I bet he gives you a hard time", she said and threw him a knowing glance. "He expects a lot from somebody who plays his position, I suppose."

"You know him well."

"Oh yes, I know him very well actually."

Again, Angela couldn't suppress a heavy sigh and took another sip of this much too sweet coffee. It warmed her body a bit at least, even if it tasted terrible. It didn't thaw her heart though; she shivered thinking about her ugly fight with Tony.

Timothy noticed that he had hit a sore spot. He would have liked to inquire even more why she was so downcast. Did the coach have anything to do with her sitting on a bench in the supermarket parking lot at night? But he didn't dare to probe. She might feel cornered by him and for all the world he wanted to prevent her standing up and leaving. He enjoyed the presence of this remarkable woman too much. He had to come up with something; a neutral but still personal question. He didn't want to do small-talk but to get acquainted with her.

"For how long have you known Coach Micelli?"

"Nine years." Angela didn't say any more. What crazy nine years that had been! One could write a whole book about it.

"Wow!" Timothy was truly impressed. "Then you've left the seventh year itch already behind you." He knew that they weren't married. The coach always talked about his fiancée when he mentioned her. In addition, her name was Bower and his Micelli, although this didn't necessarily have any particular meaning nowadays. Timothy asked himself what the reason might be for them not being married yet after such a long time. That this reason was the fact that she had been his boss for eight years didn't come to his mind of course.

Angela remained silent once again. How had they come back to her relationship with Tony again? What did this young man want from her? Why wasn't he hanging out with his friends in some bar, it was a Saturday night after all, but was sitting here with her and asked her all these intimate questions?

"You don't really fit into this environment here", Timothy now stated.

"What makes you believe that?"

Angela was surprised. He was right, she felt out of place once in a while. She didn't really like the music they were listening to here, she didn't know what to talk about with these people, and she couldn't always laugh about their jokes. But that it was so obvious for an outsider left her puzzled. She was a master at hiding her feelings from others and throughout her years as an executive she had learned to keep her private worries to herself. It daunted her that a college student who barely knew her had obviously been able to see them now. Timothy seemed to be an empathetic and sensitive young man.

"I'm not really sure whether this is the right place for me", slipped out of her mouth and she was aghast at it. She put her hands in front of her face, then she covered her mouth, as if she could take back in what had just had popped out of it. How could she have made such a confession in front of Timothy? She had never done something like this! Why did she allow him to look that deeply into her soul? She definitely had to get out of this diner, before she poured out her entire heart to him.

She stood up abruptly, before Timothy was able to say anything or further invade her mixed-up emotions, and said, "Uhm, Timothy, I think I should be going." She closed her eyes and massaged her temples. "It's been a rough day." She pulled off his jacket and held it out to him. "Here's your jacket, thank you!"

"You can't go outside without a jacket, Angela, it's much too cold. I'll go with you, you can leave it on then."

Angela wasn't sure whether this was such a good idea. He had something about him that inspired confidence and he seemed to be a lot more mature and adult than his peers. She didn't want to tell him any more about herself under any circumstances but she appreciated his willingness to help and his good manners ... and she shivered thinking about going outdoors without a jacket.

"Alright", she said eventually and slipped on his jacket once more. Timothy left a five dollar bill on the table, yielded to Angela and placed his hand as gently as possible on her back to guide her to the door. His touch was ever so careful, for Angela didn't even feel it, but Timothy's hand burned like fire.

They were walking beside each other through the streets of Branford, neither of them saying a word, when suddenly a black Jeep came to a halt a few feet ahead of them. The driver's door opened and Tony got out of the car.

"Angela! Where have you been? I was worried about you." He approached them and one could read from his face how relieved he was to have finally found her. "I've been driving around here for I don't know how long, looking for you." Only now he recognized Timothy, one of his most talented ball players but by far laziest students. "Timothy?"

"Good evening, Coach. I accidentally ran into your fiancée and because it was so cold I gave her my jacket." Timothy felt uneasy from one second to the next. A moment ago he felt like the master of the situation, now, in the presence of his teacher, he felt like a little schoolboy.

"Thanks, that was very kind of you." Tony took the jacket from Angela's shoulders and gave it back to Timothy. Then he pulled off his own and laid it around her in a gesture which seemed possessive to Timothy but in reality only expressed Tony's loving care for Angela. "Come on, Angela, get into the car. Let's drive home. Can we give you a ride, Timothy?"

"No thanks, Coach. I'd rather walk", he refused while slipping on his jacket. It was still warm and smelled heavenly! Of her!

Timothy observed the two. He had seen them together a few times. She used to come to their home games and cheered them on. Once in a while she picked him up after a practice or said goodbye at the bus before a trip to an away game. The coach and his fiancée had always looked very much in love on such occasions. One could see how much she enjoyed being with him, neither could the coach hide his pride that she belonged to him. But today, Timothy perceived things differently, today the atmosphere between them was freezing and it didn't have anything to do with the chilly wind which was blowing through Branford at the moment. Something had happened between them, something which had driven her to that bench of the supermarket's parking lot.

Tony put his arm around Angela's shoulders and tried to lead her to the car, but she turned around to Timothy. "Thank you very much for your jacket, Timothy. That was very kind of you. Thanks for the coffee, too. I hope you can return to your room now." She blinked and smiled at him gratefully.

"My pleasure, Angela."

"Have a nice evening, Timothy." With these words she again turned around and got into the car. Only seconds later they were gone.

Timothy remained standing there without moving, looking in the direction the black Jeep had vanished.

What a woman!