Chapter 12

The next morning, Tony was woken up by his body clock. When he had looked into the dumbfounded face of his assistant coach in Hawkeye Stadium, Des Moines, Iowa, not even 24 hours earlier, telling him that he was sorry but that he had to go, his inital plan had been to take the first flight back on Sunday morning, just like Angela had booked and paid for. If he got up right now, he would make it; but of course, he didn't. The evening had turned out other than he had expected, ... and so had the night. Their lovemaking had been all about understanding and forgiving, they had cherished each other, empathized with each other and shown each other their unconditional devotion. Tony had never felt closer to Angela, as if he had touched her heartstrings. There was no way he would sneak out of this warm, cozy bed now and leave her alone.

Tony turned toward Angela, who was still fast asleep beside him, and propped his head up to look at her. He watched her ribcage move rhythmically with every inhale and exhale, her bare shoulders peeking out from under the fluffy duvet. Her hair was tousled, her make-up gone and her jewellery was lying on the bedside table. He loved to see her like this; so natural, and so raw. The longer he looked at her, the more he had to think about what she had told him the night before, that he had made her feel like a neglected flower in a pot on his window sill. He shook his head. He had done far more to that flower than neglecting it. He had become aware of that when he had seen her on that stage, in that breathtaking red dress. She had been completely herself then, true and authentic; just like she was right now. If she really were a flower, he had never seen it blossom as beautifully as last night, as if it was endemic and would only thrive within this particular environment. He had not only neglected that unique flower on his window sill, but he had taken it out of its natural habitat, had put it in a pot and set it aside, just to have it near him, to possess it; like some obsessive flower hunter would do to complete his collection. It had to be only a question of time until that flower, lacking the natural ability to adapt to its new, alien environment, would eventually die, no matter how often he watered or fertilized it ... and it would be all his fault. This sudden realization struck him painfully. How could he have been so blind and insensitive? Why hadn't he seen how much Angela had been struggling with the unfamiliar circumstances of her new life? Why had it taken a half-baked college student to rub it under his nose?

Angela started to move beside him, which pulled him out of his accusative thoughts. She blinked, then opened her eyes and smiled happily when she saw him looking at her.

"Good morning", she said softly.

"Morning, Beautiful," Tony replied equally soft, "Sleep okay?"

"Wonderfully."

"That was some night, hugh?"

"It sure was." Angela caught a glimpse at the clock on his bedside table. "You missed your flight."

"You weren't honestly thinking that I would leave at dawn after a night like this, were you?" he said, twisting a tendril of her blonde hair with his index finger.

"At least I hoped you wouldn't."

"Angela, listen, I might have assigned my priorities inaccurately at times in the past, but I do know how important it is for us to work this out ... now. I can assure you that much. We belong together, Angela, and I would never forgive myself if I let you walk out of my life for good."

Angela could feel he meant every word he had said, and it warmed her heart. He was so honest about his feelings that she thought she had to be as well. It was time she told him about her ineptness to be a housewife in Iowa, about the urge to go back to work, her inner need to leave Branford; not him, only the city. So she started, "Tony, there's something ..."

"No", he interrupted her, "let me go first, please. I did some thinking while you were still asleep and I've made a decision."

Angela sat up and leaned against the bed's backrest, tightly pulling the duvet under her armpits. The rest of sleepiness instantly fell off of her for she could feel he was going to say something very important. "Okay, go ahead", she said.

Tony cleared his throat. He had just made the decision while watching her sleep and thinking about the flower pot analogy, but although it had taken him only a few minutes to come to the conclusion he was about to tell her, he was absolutely sure that it was the one and only way for them to go on. He knew she would try to talk him out of it but he wasn't willing to negotiate this, so he'd better come up with a good enough explanation right from the start.

"Angela, when I saw you among all these advertising people last night, I realized something. I realized that's the place where you belong. When I saw you on that stage, I recognized a woman I had missed for quite some time; the distinguished, self-secure and charismatic Angela, the one who takes matters in her own hands, who's independent, self-sufficient and strong. I saw you flourishing like a long-forgotten flower in that ballroom yesterday, ... sorry for alluding to the flora once again, but this really describes it best; as if you had been kissed awake from a long sleep and not by me, that's for sure." Tony felt his heart ache, conceding his own faults so honestly wasn't easy but it was necessary, so he went on, "I know you better than you know yourself, Angela, I should have realized earlier that keeping you away from your agency would necessarily make you miserable. I'm sorry that it took me so long to understand. I want you to be happy and satisfied, Angela, so please, ... go back to work, because without your work, you're not yourself."

Angela stared at Tony. One the one hand, she was relieved that he had noticed she was missing her agency and that he was fine with her going back to work, but on the other hand, she wasn't sure how the decision he had mentioned earlier would fit into his deliberations. Did he want to go back to a weekend-only relationship? Did he want to postpone the wedding? Did he want to - her heart skipped a beat - break up? She thought it was necessary to make him understand that she had tried the best she could, that she had been serious about supporting him with his career, that she would continue to work on becoming the woman at his side he wished her to be. So she explained, "Tony, I came to Branford to repay for some of the favors you did me all these years, I'm definitely not leaving you alone right now because of my selfish needs."

"You don't have to repay anything, Angela", Tony answered to that remark with some incomprehension. What did she want to repay for? "You already paid me, every month on the dot, remember? I was your housekeeper and it was my job to do you favors."

"Don't be ridiculous, Tony! You know you did far more than what your contract demanded from you."

"And you paid me better than any other housekeeper in town", he replied.

"I'm not talking about money, and you know it", Angela reminded him, "You were my housekeeper and friend and moral support for so long, now I want to be yours. Is that so difficult to understand?" she asked.

"Friend I understand. Moral support I understand. I would like to add lover to the list, ..." he smiled mischieviously, "but housekeeper? Really? Like the grocery shopping, cleaning, washing, cooking type?" he shook his head, "Why is that so important to you?" Tony really didn't have a clue. He remembered her having sudden attacks of playing house once in a while, like on their two-year anniversary, when she had insisted on making dinner for him, or like when he had been sitting in the wheelchair after she had accidentally knocked him over, or during his first teaching internship, when she had literally begged him to be allowed to care for her own household, but that she was so eager to play a traditional housewife right now didn't make any sense to him.

Angela hesitated. Explaining what this was all about she would be showing him her blind side, and that was her feeling of being inadequate to be Marie's successor as his wife. It would make her completely vulnerable and she felt as if she was presenting him the perfect reason to break up with her ... on a silver tray and tied with a fancy ribbon. But she had maneuvered herself into this impasse and now there was no way out other than being honest. "Isn't that what a traditional Italian marriage is like?" 'Come one, Angela, don't hold back the most important part!' she reminded herself and pushed herself to say, "Your first one was like this, wasn't it?"

"You want to be a housewife because Marie was a housewife?" Tony asked perplexed. "What gives you the idea I want you to be exactly like her?"

"Well, ... you loved her so much and ... I'm so different from her", Angela tried to explain her misgivings.

"Yeah, so what? I'm not anything like Michael", he looked deeply into her eyes, "and you love me nonetheless, don't you?" and when Angela nodded he added, "See!"

Slowly, Tony began to put two and two together, but he couldn't believe the picture he saw after having assembled all the pieces of the puzzle. She hadn't really taken that hiatus from her job only because she thought he wanted her to, had she? She didn't try to be someone else than she was just because she had the feeling he wanted her to be a copy of his first wife, did she? She wasn't insecure about his complete devotion to her, was she? No more misunderstandings, clear words were definitely called for right now, he decided.

"Have you been thinking that I want you to be any different from what you actually are? That I pictured you with a bun hairdo and an apron, a kid on your hip and a duster in your hand, taking care of the house while I'm off teaching?"

The way Tony had put it, it really sounded a bit ridiculous, Angela had to admit. Now she started to feel silly but she knew exactly where her inhibitions came from; she had always suffered from a low self-esteem, beginning with her teenage years, and her unsuccessful relationships, especially her failed marriage, hadn't exactly helped to strengthen it. She just couldn't believe that any man, and Tony was a man after all, wouldn't hope deep down his heart for a devoted wife who took off every hardship of her husband's back unselfishly. Michael had been a typical man like this and her incapability to be the wife he had wished for had eventually destroyed their marriage.

"But you would appreciate it if was like this, wouldn't you?"

"No, actually I wouldn't."

"No?" The way Tony had brushed away her question surprised Angela completely.

"No", he grinned.

"Why no?" Angela couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"Because you wouldn't be yourself anymore", Tony explained.

"Not myself?"

"Angela, you are no housewife. Don't you think I'm well aware of that? And I don't want you to become one because it would mean that you'd have to change, and I don't want you to change because I love you exactly the way you are. ... You're perfect." Tony smiled.

'Ooooh, what a nice thing to say', Angela thought, 'he's so sweet, but could he really be serious?' She had to check. "You do?"

"Yes, I do. These two sides of you had me mesmerized the first day I moved into your house!"

"Two sides?" What in the world was he talking about? Angela herself was mesmerized right now. Nobody had ever told her she was perfect. As long as she could remember, people had been criticising her. When she was a teenager, she was too fat and too boring to belong to any kind of clique. When she started to work, she was considered to be too ambitious for a woman, and when she was married, her husband had told her she was too much focussed on her career for a wife. In the eyes of her mother she was too uptight, too prudish and too skinny. There seemed always to be something wrong with her. Her father had been the only person who had backed her unconditionally, who had called her 'my beautiful princess' and had given her the feeling of being loved no matter what she did or looked like. Was Tony really only the second person in her life who looked behind her facade and did he really like what he saw? "What do you mean with 'two sides'?" she asked.

"In Fairfield, when you're coming down for breakfast in the morning, well, ... for juice and coffee", he had never been happy about her not having a real breakfast at home before starting into her tough working day, "and you're all dressed-up and styled, you're so strong and determined; you're invincible, hands-on 'business Angela', on top of every situation, not afraid of anything in her business world. But there's this other Angela, the true Angela, you can call her, the one only very few people have the privilege of seeing, ... and I'm one of them!" Tony grinned. He remembered how she had fought to keep up the image of being his steadfast boss when he had first become her employee. Only when she had lost her job at Wallace & McQuade, when she had broken down and had cried in his arms, had she allowed him to have a look at this other Angela for the first time, ... at the vulnerable, insecure woman. It had been a tremendous sign of her trust, he had understood.

"Do you know which moment of the day I always like best?" Tony asked.

"No", Angela shook her head. She was totally captivated by Tony's characterization of her. Was it really possible that he knew her that well? It seemed as if she was an open book to him.

"The moment you come home from the office. With every piece of your protective shield you're shedding, tough 'business Angela' vanishes a bit and sensitive 'private Angela' appears." Because Angela threw him an uncomprehending look, wrinkling her forehead, he went on explaining, "First you put your briefcase on the little bench next to the door, then you hang your coat on the rack; first two pieces of your shining armor. Then you pull off your jacket, if you're wearing one, or you open the uppermost button of your blouse, and you slip out of your high heels; next pieces, you're hardly protected any more. Eventually, you loosen your hair and sometimes you even let me massage your neck or your feet. Then I know for sure that 'business Angela' is gone and my beloved, true Angela is there. I've always loved this particular moment."

Angela looked at Tony in total awe. This had to be one of the most profound personality characterizations someone had ever made of her. This could only be done by someone who really loved her, she was positive about that. How could this man be so strong and macho on the one hand and so sensitive and empathetic on the other?

"And when you're coming downstairs, after having changed, in your pink bathrobe and bunny slippers, devoid of make-up and jewelry, I always think to myself, 'How can anyone be so beautiful in a worn-out terry cloth bathrobe?'"

Angela stared at Tony. Her heart was melting away. He had complimented her before, had told her that she was beautiful, but what he had just said was so loving and so intimate, that it took her breath away. "And do you like both sides of me equally?" she asked cautiously.

"It's the mixture, Angela. I just love the mixture. It amazes me that you can be so tough and strong when you're in business mode but so shy and warm when you're not. I guess I don't get the one without the other. Which brings me back to the decision I've made ..."

Tony left his last remark hanging in the air without any further explanation. Angela held her breath, very anxious to find out what exactly it was that he had decided. Her stomach convulsed and she suddenly felt sick. If he broke up with her right now because he had realized that neither of the two Angelas he saw in her was able to live with him in Branford, her world would collapse. Tony obviously could read from her facial expression that she was very worried, because he stroked her cheek and tried to calm her, "Relax, Sweetheart, we're gonna make it. Trust me!"

"What have you decided?" Angela asked hoarsely. She was very tense despite his assurance that everything was okay; she wasn't convinced at all.

"I'll quit", Tony stated as casually as if it was the most natural thing to do.

"Quit?" Angela screamed, completely appalled, "Why would you quit? That would be a stupid thing to do! This is your dream job, Tony, and you love it! Don't tell me you don't love it! And you're so good at it. You just can't quit! Job offers like this don't come along on a regular basis", Angela stammered.

"Gee, don't you want to have me back in Fairfield?" He was a bit surprised how vehemently Angela tried to talk him out of it. He had expected some kind of resistance from her side because he knew she would look at his decision from the career perspective first; at least 'business Angela' would. Maybe he should try to engage the 'other' Angela into the conversation?

"Oh no, Tony, don't get me wrong", Angela put right, "I would love to have you back in Fairfield, ..." - alright, there she was, the 'other' Angela - "it's just ..."

"Just what?"

"I don't want you to let go of this once-in-a-lifetime career opportunity just because of me", Angela clarified.

"Only for you! I wouldn't let go of it for any other reason", Tony defended himself.

"But if you regret your decision one day, you'll make me responsible for it."

"Angela, the only thing I could ever regret in my life would be if I gave up on us for some stupid job. I'll find a job in Connecticut, there have to be teaching jobs in Connecticut. This time I won't be a rookie applying. I'll fulfill my contract with Wells College, which means I have to stay for another quarter, get a good reference, and then I'm sure someone in the Fairfield area will hire a promising, committed and", he brushed through his hair in a faked vain manner, "handsome history teacher like me. And I will sure find a team to coach, even if it has to be Fairfield's junior high cheerleaders, I don't care. The only thing I care about is being close to you, and if you are in Fairfield, I have to be in Fairfield. It's that simple!" He shrugged his shoulders and grinned self-satisfied.

"Are you sure you want to do this, Tony?" Angela asked, still a bit insecure about it. She felt as if two souls were dwelling in her breast, just like Tony had described these two sides of her. One, the tough and ambitious Angela, wanted him to pursue his career, but the other, the doubtful and self-conscious Angela, the one in need of a lot of love, wanted him to leave Iowa and return to Connecticut.

"Angela, I never was more determined in my entire life. I just know that it is the right thing to do. I shared my first kiss with you when I was a boy at summer camp, and when I'm old and senile I want to share my last kiss with you as well. So please, let me do this for us, and I promise, I will never charge you with my the decision." Tony looked at Angela questioningly, hoping he had convinced her that this was no sacrifice from his part whatsoever, but that he was acting in his very own interest. He could see that Angela was wrestling with the idea, how she was weighing the pros and cons. If she could, she would make a list, went through Tony's mind. This was another trait of hers in which she differed from him; he was all impulsive, skittish and tended to decide things with his gut instinct, whereas she was all rational and decided only after having deliberately thought through every detail. They were a wonderful dream team!

Then, after minutes which seemed like hours to Tony, he could see that with the two souls dwelling in Angela's brest one was getting the upper hand; and he could also tell which one. The gradual change in Angela's facial expression left no doubt. She no longer frowned and her eyebrows, which had been raised for most part of their discussion, were slowly back at their original spots above her beautiful brown eyes. A slight smile was beginning to form at the corners of her mouth and her eyes started to sparkle. Eventually, she pursed her lips and teased him tenderly, "Handsome history teacher, hugh? I bet every highschool and college in Connecticut would like to have one of those."

"So you came back, Grandpa", the young woman at Tony's feet noted.

"Yep, I did. And it was the best decision I ever made, Violet. I found a job as a history and PE teacher at Barlow High School in Redding and became a baseball instructor at The Clubhouse, a semi-professional ball academy located here in Fairfield. So everything worked out pretty well."

"And when did Grandma and you get married?"

"Well, shortly after you were born, Sweetie. Your mother was already expecting you when I returned, so Angela and I decided to wait until after the delivery. We wanted to have the entire Thomopoulos-family with us on our special day." Tony had to smile when he thought back to the day he had finally married Angela, after seven years of friendship and two years on a rollercoaster ride as a couple. But since that day, their relationship had been running smoothly and none of them ever doubted that Tony's decision to leave Branford had saved their love."

"I guess you told me the entire story for a reason, Grandpa, didn't you?" the young woman discerned.

Violet had come to her grandfather that day in a desolate condition. She was 25 years old and in a serious relationship with her college mate Jason for almost two years. Jason had recently graduated and was planning on working as a volunteer for a development aid project in Africa for an entire year. This news had caught Violet off guard for she had been thinking of him moving in with her after his graduation. So she was now at a point of not knowing how to proceed with her relationship. That had been why she had come to Grandpa Tony for advice. The two of them had always been very close. Violet had been Tony's first grandchild and was the apple of his eye. He had babysat her many times, when her mother had been attending college classes, because Tony had wanted Sam to graduate despite her early motherhood; so grandchild and grandfather had bonded from early on. Tony had been Violet's confidante on many occasions, and he was the first person she had wanted to talk to after Jason had let her in on his plans.

"Sure. I'm your old, wise grandfather, remember?" Tony grinned.

"What shall I do?" Violet was desperate and clueless, "Shall I go with him to Africa? Shall I stay here and finish college first? Shall I beg him to cancel his plans? Shall I break up with him?" The last possibility made her cry. She buried her head in her grandfather's lap and Tony gently stroked her hair.

"Violet, Sweetheart, if you listened to what I just told you, you'd know what you have to do", Tony encouraged her.

"Go with him to Africa, like you went with Grandma?"

"No, that's not what I wanted you to get from my story."

"No? What did you want to get me from it instead? Please, Grandpa, tell me what to do." Tears were running down Violet's cheeks. This was her first serious relationship and she was very much in love. She felt alienated by her boyfriend when he had told her about his plans to go to Africa for a year. Well, he had asked her to come with him, to suspend her studies for a year and join him, but she wasn't too sure whether this would be the right decision.

"You have to talk to him, Violet! That's what your Grandma and I did. We talked with each other about our expectations, our needs, our wishes, ... our fears. You have to be honest with yourself and with Jason, and then you have to decide what's best for you. See, Angela had tried to deny her personal needs just to please me, to become someone she thought I wanted her to be, and it had made her miserable. If we hadn't talked about it, if she hadn't confided in me about her anxieties, we might have broken up."

"But weren't you the one who denied his personal needs in the end by quitting your job and returning to Fairfield? Grandma wasn't able to follow you, so you had to follow her. Did you never think it was unfair?"

Tony had to smile. He had never asked himself this question; others had, like his friends and Mrs Rossini.

"A relationship consists of give and take, Violet. Sometimes you give, sometimes you take. With going back to Fairfield I gave, you're right. But there were times that I had taken, like when I started to go to college. I had a full-time job as Angela's housekeeper but she had given me the freedom to schedule my day around my classes to be able to go to college. She supported me during my internships with taking care of household chores she was paying me for. And not to mention ... she pushed me to accept that job offer from Wells College. Without her, I wouldn't have gone there in the first place, well, I wouldn't have graduated at all without her. If it wasn't for her, I would've spent my life being a housekeeper without a higher education." Tony gave her time to let that sink in, then he continued, "So, ... no! I never thought it was unfair. It was the right thing to do, aaaand ... I got something in return", he put his hand under Violet's chin and lifted it to meet her eyes, "The best life I could ever imagine. Being married to your Grandma for almost 25 years now is the best thing that ever happened to me. If I had stayed in Branford, stubbornly offsetting who's moving in with whom like a five-year-old, I would've ended up alone; with a great job maybe, but alone. I knew that I would never meet someone like your Grandma again, so I had to balance my job against love ... and I voted for love."

"But Grandma voted for her job", Violet pointed out.

"Well, not quite. Your Grandma voted rather for her herself, ... don't ever give up yourself for a relationship, Violet! If someone ever demands that from you, send that someone to hell! For someone who asks you to change for him, doesn't really love you. I sure didn't demand it from the woman I loved more than myself. Angela's job is an integral part of her, you have to understand. It's not only that she likes to work ..."

"A lot!" Violet interrupted Tony. She had always been amazed about the working ethic of her grandmother.

"... yes, a lot, but her work turned her into the person she is and without her work she's just not herself. She wasn't the person I had fallen in love with anymore without her work. So, if I wanted to have my Angela back, I had to bring her back to New York; and that's what I did. Got it?"

Violet thought for a moment, eventually she nodded. She laid her head on Tony's lap once again and let him stroke it. "You're a dream team, Grandpa. You know each other so well, and you love each other so much, that either of you cares for the other's needs first. That's great! I wish Jason and I could be like that."

"Oh, Sweetheart, it takes time to build up a relationship like our's. Rome hasn't been built in a day either. It's a lot of work and it needs a lot of talking. So why don't you call Jason and invite him over for dinner tomorrow? There's an Italian feast in the making with minestrone, spaghetti alle vongole, and your great grandmother's tiramisu. He can have dinner with us and then the two of you go for a walk and do some talking. What do you say?"

"I think it's a very good idea, Grandpa. Thanks so much! What would I do without you?" Violet stood up and gave Tony a compassionate hug. "But your story isn't finished yet, is it? What happened when you got back to Branford after that award ceremony in New York? Did you meet Timothy again?"

"Sure I met him, I was his teacher and coach, remember?"

"It must have been difficult to face one another, not only for you I mean, but for him as well", Violet assumed, "I bet he was ashamed."

"We had a good talk though."

Tony remembered it as if it had just taken place yesterday. He had known that talking to Timothy was inevitable. They had to get along with each other for another quarter after all, until Tony eventually would leave Wells College and Timothy would graduate. In Des Moines, when they had been practising for the friendly game against the Hawkeyes, the boy had kept his distance, had carefully avoided to be alone with his coach. Tony had noticed that their relation had become even more tense but hadn't been able to understand why of course, not yet; Angela would wise him up about 48 hours later, but he hadn't known back then.

Timothy for his part, had been the only member of the team who had an idea to where the Coach had left so unexpectedly. As much as he had wanted to gain Angela over, he had wanted her to be happy in the first place. And he had known that if the coach showed up at that award ceremony, she would be very happy. So he had silently wished for Tony to swallow his macho pride and follow his fiancée to New York.

The night Tony had returned from New York, he had run into Timothy downtown Branford on his way from the airport to his apartment and had grasped at the opportunity to clear up the matter for good. Sitting in the huge armchair in front of the fireplace in Fairfield now, the conversation with Timothy was running like a film in front of his mind's eye, he felt as if he was beamed 25 years back into the past.

xxxxxxxxxxxx

"Timothy, can I have a word with you? There's something we have to talk about", Tony asked bluntly.

"Uhm, ... yeah, ... sure, Coach", Timothy replied tensely.

"Come on, I buy you a beer at Mel's Bar", he invited the boy, putting a hand on his shoulder and showing him a slight smile. He didn't plan to berate him, he only wanted to make clear that he expected him to stay away from Angela from now on.

They entered the tiny bar across the street and Tony ordered two beers. He didn't really care whether it was appropriate for a teacher to have a beer with his student, but reassured himself that Timothy wasn't a minor anymore and that it would be a talk between two men in love with the same woman, and not between a teacher and his student. Still, Tony didn't know how to start the conversation, and he was grateful for Timothy doing so.

"Uhm, Coach, I'm sorry", Timothy began feebly.

"For what?" Tony replied.

"Well, you know, ..." Or didn't he? But why would he engage him in a conversation then? He had been in New York, Angela had told him everything, and now he wanted to tell him to piss off, that was as sure as night followed day.

"I don't blame you for having a crush on Angela. I know too well myself that it's not easy to escape from her magnetic pull, believe me. I tried for many years."

"So you're not angry with me that I kissed her?" Timothy asked cautiously.

Tony inhaled deeply. He pictured Timothy's hand caressing Angela's breast, which was even more difficult to stand than the image of his lips on hers, but he swallowed his anger and went on, "If the situation was any different between us, I might call for you to clear that up like men, but I'm your teacher after all, and I thought we had a special connection, Timothy. You were almost like a son to me, the son I never had. Learning that you went after my fiancée wasn't easy to accept, I have to admit."

"I'm sorry, Coach. I wished she wasn't your fiancée. It was the only reason for keeping my feelings a secret for so long, but last week it just overwhelmed me to see her being so sad and I couldn't help but wanting to console her. Then one thing let to the next and ..." Timothy could still feel the delicious taste of Angela's lips touching his, although he was well aware that it had been a onetime experience, that it would never happen again. "But she made clear that there would never be anything between us. She said she loved someone else, ... I guess she meant you." Timothy's heart ached, he eased the tension with gulping down half of his beer.

Tony's heart, on the contrary, jumped for relief. So the boy had understood. Good.

"So you went to New York, didn't you?" Timothy wanted to confirm his assumption.

"Yes. I did."

"She was happy to see you, I guess."

"Oh, yes", Tony had to think about Angela's emotional words at the end of her acceptance speech, "she was. I should've agreed to go with her from day one. But hey, I retrieved my error just right in time."

"No hard feeling between you any more?" For a split second he wished the Coach would say, 'we broke up', but knew as well that it would never happen.

"No, no hard feelings any more. We talked about a lot of things, ... including you", he looked at Timothy, "and eventually found a way to move on." Tony didn't want to be more precise. He had to talk to Prof Graham first and hand in his resignation officially before he wanted to tell anybody about it, especially the students.

Tony noticed that Timothy lost all his body tension. One could literally witness how the final realization of having lost his love for good was slowly seeping through every fiber of the boy's body. But Tony could also see that Timothy's feelings for Angela were true and sincere, he knew he wouldn't be stalking her but trying to heal from her rebuff. He sympathised with him and was willing to give him a bit more insight about what his relationship to Angela was about. Tony felt Timothy had a right to know why he had never had a real chance against him.

"Angela is a terrific tutor, isn't she? She was mine too, I know what I'm talking about. I would've never made it through college without her", Tony explained.

"Your tutor at college? I could swear Angela said that she met you like nine or ten years ago. So how could she have been your tutor at college then?" Timothy asked surprised.

"I graduated from college only last year, Timothy, this is my first teaching job. I was working for Angela when she suggested I should enroll at college, and she supported me ever since I did."

"I never knew you worked for her advertising agency", Timothy stated.

"I didn't. Well, not directly at least. I worked as ..." Should he really tell him? Depending on what the boy did with the information, he could be a target of ridicule for his remaining months in Branford. But Tony had never withheld the fact of being a housekeeper, he had always had the feeling that it wasn't anything he needed to be embarrassed about, and he wouldn't start now. "I was Angela's housekeeper for seven years."

"Housekeeper? I thought you were a ballplayer."

"I was a ballplayer until my shoulder got badly injured and my career was over and done with from one day to the next. I was newlywed, had little baby girl and no higher education. So I had to provide for my family with countless odd jobs. Then my wife died, and my daughter and I where the only ones left. Some day, I didn't want her to grow up in Brooklyn anymore and looked for a nicer environment for us to live and coincidentally came across Angela's job offer. She was in need for a live-in housekeeper, of course she was looking for a maid initially and a nanny for her son, but she was willing to give it a try. We became friends very quickly, a family later on. Our children grew up together like siblings and Angela and I were living together like, ... well almost like, ... a married couple. Just without one decisive aspect; we weren't a couple. We worked so hard to keep our friendship platonic that we almost lost each other."

Tony had a sip of his beer. The Kathleen-and-Andy-months still upset him. They had been so close to destroying everything between them and if Angela hadn't been so straightforward at their seventh anniversary, if she had waited for him to make the first move, they might have still been only friends.

"Why are you telling me all this, Coach? It's kind of personal", Timothy felt uneasy being told these intimate details.

"Because I want you to know that there's far more to Angela's and my relationship than what you can see on the surface. We're not as young and green as you anymore, we both gained our experiences with love, had to accept defeats and disappointments. This relationship is very special to us and neither one of us wants to risk losing it. Understand?"

"Sort of, I guess." Timothy felt flattered by his coach's open words, for he knew they were a sign of trust. If he wanted, he could make a mockery out of him within the entire community, but he didn't. He couldn't do that to him, and he could definitely never do that to Angela. "Thanks for telling me this. I will keep it to myself, I promise."

"I know you would, otherwise I wouldn't have told you", Tony grinned. "You're a good guy, Timothy. You'll graduate soon and you will be a fantastic ballplayer, much better than I ever was. But see, a sports career is an insecure thing. What happened to me can happen to anybody, that's why I want all of you to leave this college with a degree in hand."

"Thanks, Coach."

"Call me Tony." Tony laid his arm around Timothy's shoulder and waved the waiter to bring them two more beers.

xxxxxxxxxxxx

"That was a good talk you had with him, Grandpa. Did he graduate eventually?" Violet wanted to know more about this guy who had wished for her grandparents to split up but then again had brought them closer together.

"Oh yes, he did. He never really needed it though. He became a very successful ballplayer and earned a lot of money throughout his career. But he established a foundation later on to promote and support young sports talents to stay in school and earn a college degree before becoming a pro. So it hadn't been for naught. Besides, it had strengthened his self-esteem, especially with respect to his father, who had never really believed he would be able to get a college degree."

"You're a good guy, Grandpa", Violet smiled at him. Tony cupped his granddaughter's cheek gratefully in return.

Suddendy, they heard a key in the front door; Angela was coming home. "Oh hello you two", she exclaimed happily when she saw them sitting in front of the fireplace, Tony in the huge armchair and Violet at his feet. The girl jumped up to greet Angela.

"Hi Grandma. Have you been working until now? It's quite late already", she admonished her.

"Violet, Honey, I didn't know you were coming!" Angela did hear Violet's rebuke but was so used to being welcomed home with that kind of remark that she just ignored it like she always did.

"Well, I just dropped by without prior notice. I needed to talk to Grandpa", the young woman explained.

"I see, one of your famous grandfather-granddaughter talks, hugh? What were you talking about?"

"Grandpa told me the story about you and Timothy", Violet informed Angela and could see her grandmother's facial features stiffen instantly upon hearing the name 'Timothy'.

"Timothy?" Angela turned to Tony, "You told her about Timothy?"

"Yes. She's having a difficult time with Jason and asked me what I thought about it. Well, their situation reminds me of the situation we were in in Branford, so I told her how we solved it. And Timothy played an important role, didn't he? I couldn't leave him out", Tony tried to defend himself.

"There's no need to be angry with him, Grandma. It's a great story and it happened a loooong time ago", Violet pointed out.

"Yeah, yeah, of course you defend him", Angela said but only feigning to be annoyed, she had to laugh eventually. "Anyway, it worked out well, didn't it Sweetheart?" She walked over to Tony and placed a hasty kiss on his head, then a tender one on his mouth. Violet loved to see her grandparents like this. They were both in their late-sixties but still so compassionate and devoted to each other.

"I just had a wonderful day, guys!" Angela's eyes were sparkling. "I once again pulled the chestnuts out of the fire, I can tell you that. I love it when I get a client to eat out of my hands, and Mr Rollington was indeed eating out of my hands today. He accepted every draft I presented him and even agreed to increase his marketing budget like I suggested. It's been a comprehensive victory." She was in such high spirits, it was almost contagious. Working was like an elixir of life for her, in her office she felt as energetic and strong as ever. Only sometimes, when she was strolling with Tony at a leisurely pace through the park, when the two of them had to take a break and sit on the bench by the pond, she became aware of some of the years which had passed. "Some people might think I should retire, but I definitely still know how to lure a client into The Bower Agency!"

The other two exchanged glances. Tony threw his granddaughter a look saying, 'See, what have I told you? Her job is everything to her!' and Violet just shook her head.

"What?" Their knowing looks hadn't gone unnoticed by Angela.

"Nothing, nothing", Tony answered in a conciliating tone.

"Grandma, did you see Timothy once again after the ... uhm, ... kissing incident? Grandpa just told me about the conversation he had with him in that bar in Brandford after he had returned from the award ceremony in New York." Violet tried to draw Angela's attention back to Timothy.

"Yes, twice actually. I met him at the graduation ceremony at Wells College. It was Tony's last day as their professor and he was officially said goodbye before the graduates were handed their degrees." She remembered that she had been a bit tense to meet Timothy again, but after a short awkward first moment they had all relaxed. Angela had congratulated him on his degree and had even given him a short hug. "The second time was at the foundation assembly of his organization. We were invited and he even mentioned you in his address, remember Tony? He thanked you for insisting he got a degree and called you his role model for how to deal with the younger generation. We were both deeply touched by his words. He was married at that time, had two adorable kids, so he had finally found his match. We get a Christmas card from him every year, up to this day."

"Hey, Grandpa, are there any more public speeches you were mentioned in? First Grandma thanked you in her acceptance speech at that advertising banquet, then Timothy at the gala of his foundation, ..." Violet was impressed.

Angela once again turned to her husband and asked him with wide eyes, "You told her what I said about you in my acceptance speech?" and through clenched teeth she hissed, "What else did you tell her about that night?"

"That we did some talking, Angela, serious, honest talking. That was what my little story-telling was all about, Sweetheart", Tony left it that way, amusing himself about Angela's uptightness.

"Oh come on, guys. I'm not a kid anymore. I can imagine that you had sex that night", Violet threw in matter-of-factly, "No need to be embarrassed, Grandma!" The young woman chuckled. It was so common nowadays to talk about sex, but she knew that her grandparents belonged to a different generation to which sex still was a taboo, nothing you talked about in public.

Angela cleared her throat. She was indeed embarrassed and decided to change the subject, so she asked Tony, "What are we up to for the weekend, Honey?"

"We're having Jason over for our Italian dinner tomorrow and on Sunday I planned to take you to the flea market The Clubhouse has been organizing. I hope to find some baseball memorabilia there, maybe even a Tony Micelli baseball card, who knows?"

"As long as you don't sell the one I once gave you as a present, you can do whatever you want. I'm looking forward to it, it'll be fun. But for now I have to change, I desperately need to get out of these clothes." She took off her jacket and opened two buttons of her silk blouse, "Excuse me for a few minutes, I'll be right back."

Angela's announcement had incited another exchange of knowing looks between Tony and Violet. The latter closely watched her grandmother; she wanted to find out whether what her grandfather had said about her was true, that she would come back down as a different person once she had taken off her business clothes. Angela couldn't help but recognize the two were looking at each other again, both badly trying to suppress a grin.

"What's so amusing?" she asked.

"Nothing, nothing", Tony replied, struggling to stay earnest.

"You already said that earlier. How come I don't believe you?"

"Angela, you go and change, and Violet and I prepare dinner. How about that?" Tony tried to calm the waves.

"What are we having?" Angela was always curious when it came to her husband's culinary accomplishments.

"Irish stew with mashed potatoes and vegetables, and I've already decanted a fabulous red wine to go with it." Tony was a master in making his wife happy about dinner.

"No dessert?" He always made dessert, it was unthinkable that he hadn't cared for a dessert.

"Chocolate brownies!" Tony declared solemnly.

"Hmmmm, sounds wonderful. I'm as hungry as a wolf. I won't be away for long." With his she turned on the spot and scooted upstairs.

"I know, Amore mio, I know", Tony said to himself. He looked at Violet and said, "And the two of us are starting to turn tomorrow's dinner into a feast now. The way to your lover's heart is through the stomach! A motto I'm sure living by since I know your grandmother!" Saying this, Tony pushed open the swinging door to the kitchen and let Violet pass in front of him.

"After you, Miss Thomopoulos, Grandpa Tony is going to show you some of his best tricks now!"

- - - THE END - - -