Tony arrived home feeling like a weight had been lifted. He never realized how difficult it was pretending to be interested in another person when you were in love with another. It was exhausting and he was greatly relieved that the charade was finally over. But his problems weren't He still had to talk to Angela. To tell her that he loved her and beg her forgiveness. He knew it wasn't going to be easy. But he was going to do it. He needed to. For himself as well as for her. He didn't want to spend another second pretending that he didn't love her. He had spent way to much time hiding and pretending. But, not anymore. Now was the time. Time to tell the woman he loves that he loved her. He took a deep breath and pushed open the kitchen door.

"Hello Tony."

"Hey Mone. " he greeted her. "Have you seen Angela?"

"She's upstairs."

"Thanks, I need to talk to her." he said heading for the stairs.

"Wait, I need to talk to you first."

"But, I really need to speak to Angela." he protested.

"I know. That's why I need to talk to you first. Sit down."

Even though he was dying to talk to Angela he could tell from Mona's expression that what she had to say was important. It was very rare that Mona was serious about anything.

"So, what's up?" he asked sitting down on the couch.

"Sam, told me that you went to see Kathleen. I know what you plan to do."

"Mona, I..."

"Please let me finish."

At his nod she continued. "I know that you can't help who you want to be with or who you fall in love with."

"No, you can't." he said softly.

"And I know that you have to talk to Angela.

"Yeah. I do."

"And it won't be easy."

"No, it won't." he sighed heavily.

"Tony, all I ask is that you let her down easy. Please don't hurt her more than she already is."

"I never meant to hurt her Mona. I swear."

"I know Tony." she assured him. "But, the fact of the matter is you did."

Tony looked at the floor. He had no words to say. She was right.

Mona's heart broke for him. It broke for Angela. She wish there was something she could say or do to help them.

She took his hand in hers in silent comfort.

"Hey."

He heard her voice and looked up. His heart broke when he saw her. It was obvious that she had been crying. All he wanted to do was go to her and hold her and kiss her tears away. How could he have been so stupid? How could he have hurt this amazing woman?

"Well, I'll let you two talk." Mona said. She squeezed his hand and went over to Angela and softly brushed her hair back. She gazed at the two of them and exited out the back door.

"Ummm Angela. I uh I need to talk to you." he said nervously.

"Okay." she said softly and sat down on the couch pulling her legs up to her chest.

"This isn't easy for me to say because I know that I've hurt you." Clearing his throat he continued. "And I'm sorry about that. You have no idea how much. I wish there was something I could say or do to make it up to you. I wish.." He took a deep breath. "I wish it had never come to this. I wish that we no that I could go back. If I could I never would have done what I did. We wouldn't be in this mess. We wouldn't be in this situation. " He paused once again trying desperately to find the right words.

"Angela, I'm not moving in with Kathleen. I'm not going to see her anymore. I shouldn't have started seeing her in the first place. I know that now. I wish that I would have known then. I was scared. I was scared of our friendship changing, I was scared that I would mess things up if we took our relationship any farther. So, I took the cowards way out. I thought, I foolishly thought that if I got involved with another woman I could forget my feelings for you. But, I couldn't. I can't. I don't want to.
Not anymore." He took another deep breath. *This is it Micelli. The moment of truth.* he said silently to himself.

"Angela, I love you. I love you more than I ever thought possible. If you give me another chance I'll do whatever I can to make it up to you."

He waited with baited breath for her response. She had kept her head down throughout his confession and hadn't spoken a single word. Taking a chance he reached for her hand and was crestfallen when she pulled it away.

He watched in despair as she got off the couch. She didn't say anything. She didn't even look at him. He watched as she walked towards the stairs. For a second he was afraid that she was going to leave. He held his breath as he watched her and let it out slowly when she turned away from the stairs and walked over to the desk. She grasped the chair in her hands. He waited for her to say something . Nothing, nothing was more important than this moment. He saw her take a deep breath and wipe her hand across her eyes. Finally after what seemed like an eternity she spoke.

"Tony?"

"Yeah?"

"How could you not know?"