Chapter 10

After a long and challenging day in the office, Angela managed to finish her shower gel campaign for Geneviève. She was a little distracted because she hadn't sleep well. She couldn't forget the kiss she had shared with Tony last night. It distracted her thoughts away from work and everything else. The morning they spent together in the kitchen had been like every morning except there was something new, the air was fraught with tension. Her heart raced and it didn't stop racing like an endless tachycardia. She had been full of energy this morning and it seemed that Tony felt the same. He jumped around the table, tried to come close to her, not missing any opportunity to touch her. When she held her mug towards him for filling it with coffee he cupped her hand with his. When he handed her the butter he stroked his thumb over her soft skin, when she dropped a knife under the table he picked it up with one hand on her arm. He touched her, and not only physically. When he led her to the backdoor, she was almost sure that he wanted to kiss her again. But then Mona came in and the tension was gone.

Angela looked at her watch. Today she wouldn't stay late she swore to herself. For nothing in the world she would miss this evening with Tony. She twitched the folder with the done work shut and was preparing to leave her office when the phone interrupted her action.

"Bower Agency," she said to the unknown person on the other end of the phone. The man on the phone started talking. She heard the words but didn't understand their meaning, her face got pale. She had to sit down. It was the Fairfield County Bank. They cancelled her loan. She expected it earlier, but thought her impeccable reputation would protect her from this awkwardness. Now she knew that she couldn't keep every employee any longer. This meant she had to let go of most of her best workers, which would unfortunately lead to fewer and fewer campaigns and less money. There was no solution in sight to break the cycle of her faltering company. When she hung up the phone, she grabbed her portfolio, the folder and almost fled her own agency.

After reaching home she had calmed down a little bit. She entered the living room to find Tony cleaning some shelves. He heard the door and without turning around he knew it was her. Her high heels did a staccato beat on the floor. He expected her to come over to him but she didn't, so finally he moved to her.

"Angela, nice to see you this early, is everything finished with the campaign?" Tony questioned, but noticing her pale and fearful face, he asked, "Ang, what happened?" He took the portfolio and the folder out of her hands and placed them on the table. Then he took her hands and led her to the couch inducing her to sit down.

"Talk to me, you look like you've seen a ghost," Tony urged her to speak, "I'll be in limbo here if you don't say anything."

"Tony, the bank called me this afternoon. They cancelled my loan, I'm unable to pay everyone next month," Angela buried her face in her hands, "I did everything wrong when I bought the building last year and renovated my offices, I'm over-indebted now and if I don't get a few new accounts I'll be insolvent."

"You bought the building? Why didn't you tell us? Not that I'm the expert in financial business things, but at least you could tell us about it. The 323 East 57th Street for sure wasn't a bargain." Tony was more than a little astonished at her willingness to take a risk like that.

"The former owner wanted to get rid of it and the interest rate was low, so I got it for a good price. The Agency became bigger and bigger and I was sure that life would go on like that. I couldn't have foreseen that a jerk like Peterson would come along and steal my customers," Angela was upset now, "and I don't have to justify my way to conduct business. I wanted it to be a surprise for everyone."

"You can't seriously lose everything because of the loss of only two accounts. That's impossible," Tony tried to calm her down, "it's not like you to calculate so short."

"I'm not going to lose everything but my best employees and that will be hard to cope with. It means I have to work for three in the near future," Angela sighed, the future world would demand her every power.

"You work so much already. I don't want you to get sick with all this work. There's no way that you're going to work as long as you did yesterday all the time. I won't allow that!" Tony could hardly suppress his anger.

"You won't allow that? Who do you think you are? I'm getting angry here. I'm going to do what is needed and you won't stop me! And one more thing: I want the head of Jim Peterson on a silver platter."

"That's what I want, too, and we should work on it together. It's not the right time to pick a fight with me, Angela. Did you finish the campaign for Geneviève?" Tony asked her again.

"Yes, I did and it's absolutely great. I'm sure Jim's eyes will pop out of his head. I put all of my knowledge and creativity in it," Angela told him enthusiastically, "and I don't want to fight with you but if I don't get something to eat immediately I'm going to eat my crocodile leather briefcase."

"You would lose your teeth with this chewy thing. There is something better in the kitchen. Something sweet and tasty for my sweet boss." Tony teased her.

"Chocolate cake with walnuts?"

"How did you know?"

"I didn't, but I hoped."

"Popcorn for dessert? And maybe Breakfast at Tiffany's? You need relaxation."

"I'll slip into something more comfortable and be back in five minutes." She was relieved that Tony had somehow managed to hold her horses. He was right. Fighting was the last thing she wanted to do. In fact, there were more interesting things to do. Cuddling on the couch was a much better option.

"We don't need to watch Audrey, I'm in the mood for blood tonight, maybe Amityville?"

"Angela, you are scaring me! I won't give you a hatchet when we get to Jim, but if you really want to watch a scary movie, I'm with you.'' Tony smiled inwardly. Watching a bloody horror shocker would lead to the opportunity hold her tightly.

Angela headed to the stairs. She got dressed in a light blue sweat shirt and a pair of grey sweat pants. Smiling at the thought of Tony she let hair down which was in a put-up hairdo. She thought about him. He did it again. He distracted her from the difficulties she was in and she was going to milk every situation that would be offered to her tonight on the couch. After entering the living room she found Tony already sitting there. A plate with pieces of cake awaited her. All the lights were dimmed and burning candles were arranged all over the room. Angela was pleasantly enamored by Tony's efforts to give her a nice TV night.

"Sit down, Angela," he waved her over to the couch, "I already put the tape in."

Angela sat down close to him. If he was surprised his face gave nothing away. But why should he be surprised? After that fiery kiss last evening there would be no reason for her to be distant.

Tony started the movie. At first it was harmless. They both ate the chocolate cake but when the movie progressed to the rude shock moments Angela snuggled as close as possible to him. He put his arm around her shoulders and pressed her face to his chest whenever she screamed loudly, frozen in shock.

"C'mon, Ang, don't be silly, it's a movie! Just imagine it's Jim Peterson in that house."

"Not even Peterson deserves something like this," Angela whispered in his neck where she hid her face," Tooonyyy, oh my god."

By the time the blood started running down the stairs in buckets, she couldn't stand it any longer.

"Don't look at it, look at me," Tony distracted her and she did.

By looking in his dark eyes all the yelling and painful screams from the screen were fading into the background. The only thing that counted was his face right in front of hers. This time it was she who kissed him. The atmosphere was already heated from the spooky movie and it took only a moment to bring that heat into their kiss, too. It was hot and passionate, filled with desire and they couldn't stop even if their lives depended on it. And in a way, they did. They were so deeply submerged in each other that they didn't hear anything.

Suddenly the door opened with Mona, Samantha and Jonathan entering the living room. Baffled by the loud screams on the screen they looked at Tony and Angela.

"Grandma, what are they doing?" Jonathan asked Mona.

"They're making out, dummy," Sam chuckled ,"French kissing."

"Yuck, that's pukey, "Jonathan shook himself, "what are they doing with their tongues?"

"I'll explain it to you, when you're older, kiddo," Mona whispered in his ear," for now let's creep up on them and… "

Mona was already on the way to the couch.

"Boo!" she screamed near to Angela's ear, "Gotcha."

Tony and Angela immediately pulled apart, both horrified that Mona caught them. Tony wiped his lips and glanced at Angela, but she signaled him with helpless shoulder shrugs.

"Have fun tonight, guys?" Mona teased, inwardly happy with what she saw, "why are you both downstairs?"

"Mona, this is not what it looks like, it's … I mean… Angela was scared about the movie and I only wanted to calm her down."

"Tony, you are bad at lying, but no matter, go on with whatever you want to go on. I'll take the children with me. I promised them a night in my fantastic new king sized bed. So if you want to try the mattresses…."

"Mother, stop it, get a grip, "Angela squeezed through her teeth, "we are not alone."

"But you two are, because we are leaving," Mona giggled," come on kids, let's leave our loving couple alone."

"Good night, mom and dad," Sam and Jonathan said unison and giggled.

They left the room. Angela looked at Tony. He seemed to be embarrassed.

"Tony, I'm sorry I kissed you,…I…" Angela avoided his glance, "I shouldn't have done that."

"Hey-oh, oh-hey, I'm not sorry to be kissed, but we have to be careful. Mona is always watching us."

"She has for years. She always tried to push me in your arms." Angela replied dryly.

"You never told me that," Tony smiled, "but at least, she is successful?"

"Maybe a little?" She said shyly. Tony squeezed her hands and noticed that the movie was

over.

Can we talk about tomorrow?" he asked her, "we have something to do. I have something to do. I'm going to have a date."

"Tony, I've reconsidered. You don't have to do this for me. I don't want to use you for anything like this and if you don't want to meet Amber again you won't have to."

"Angela, I promised you I would help you and I'm not going to break that promise. I'll call her tomorrow and ask her out."

"I'm sure she'll go out with you again. How could she resist your charm?"

"Jealous, hm?"

"Not a bit," Angela indignantly denied, "you need to bring her over here. We have to give her the possibility to have a look at the campaign."

"I'll ask her to pick me up here. What we also need is Mona's talent to take great pictures."

"What if she already has a date for tomorrow? Then our plan won't work."

"Maybe I should call her now?" Tony deliberated.

"Am I supposed to hear how you are going to flirt with her?" Angela replied.

"Angela, you are jealous!"

"I'm not."

"You are…," Tony said smugly, "but I like it, I like it very much."

He stood up and walked over to the phone searching for the paper on which Mona had written down the number of Amber Sutton. He found it under the unopened mail and dialed. After the third ring the call was answered. Tony looked over to Angela and gave her a thumb up. She observed him strictly.

Tony started talking to Amber and played out all his seductive charm. Obviously, she was a willing victim.

"You'll pick me up at seven?" OK, that would be nice, see you tomorrow." Tony was delighted and rubbed his hands together with glee. That worked better than he expected.

"Ok, it's done. Angela, here is a mail from your bank. Do you want to open it?" Tony handed her the envelope.

Angela ripped it. Her face got pale. The letter turned to the floor.

"What's the matter, Angela?" Tony was frightened by her reaction.

"I have until Tuesday to pay my loan back." What am I going to do?"

With three steps he was at her side and pulled her in his arms where she started to cry.

"We'll get through it, I promise."