He dusted every piece of furniture in the house. He swept every room, mopped the kitchen floor, washed everyone's bedding and cleaned the oven. He was trying to do anything to keep his mind occupied. But it wasn't working. Everywhere he looked he saw her. When he dusted the table behind the couch he saw her talking on the phone. When he swept the rug he saw her on the couch eating and brushing the crumbs off her. When he mopped the kitchen floor he saw her unsuccessful attempts at cooking. He had to face it. He couldn't escape her. Hell, he didn't want to but this situation between them was killing him. He wanted her back. The macho, emotional Brooklyn Italian man side of him wanted to walk up to her and kiss her until she was breathless and told him that she loved him. But the logical, rational side of him knew that "man handling" her would definitely backfire. So he would continue to be patient. But for a mostly impatient man it was killing him.

Walking into the living room he collapsed on the couch and leaned back and closed his eyes. There she was. Her eyes were shining and her hands were covering her mouth as she giggled. That cute little giggle that made his stomach flutter with butterflies. He smiled as he saw himself remove her hands and place his lips where her hands had been. The giggling stopped and all he heard now were her contented sighs. Their kiss deepened as he pulled her close and she ran her fingers through his hair...

The front door opened jolting him out of his fantasy. Turning towards the door he saw her. The object of his affections. The love of his life. His heart. His life. His soul mate. He wanted to go to her and take her in his arms and hold on tight. He wanted to bury his face in her hair and smell the strawberry scent of it. But he didn't. The promise he made to her to let her go while she figured out why she couldn't be with him just yet lingered in his mind.

She walked towards him and sat down beside him. He felt himself get excited. He knew he shouldn't. But, he couldn't help it. Usually she would go right up to her room. But not this time. This time she was sitting beside him. Not closely but close enough. *Could this be it?* he thought excitedly. Could she finally be ready to be with him?

"Tony, I um... I think we need to talk."

She was nervous. He could tell. He wanted to take her hands in his and tell her not to be. That all she had to do was tell him that she loved him and they could forget the past. But, he didn't. Instead he clasped his hand together.

"Okay." he said his voice taking on a slightly expected tone.

Angela sighed deeply and looked down at the floor, then back up at him.

"Tony, I- we can't go on like this. It isn't fair to either of us."

*YES!* he thought excitedly. She was finally ready!

"I agree" he said quietly.

"For the past few weeks you have been very patient with me. And I want you to know how much I appreciate that. I know it probably wasn't easy."

"No it wasn't. But I made a promise to you."

"And now I am relieving you from that promise."

Tony felt a grin beginning to spread across his face. But when he saw her expression the grinning stopped.

"Tony after Jamaica I thought we were building towards something, I knew it wouldn't be right away but I held on to that hope. Then you slept with Kathleen and suddenly everything was different. You wanted to keep on seeing her and I just felt my heart breaking."

"I'm sorry Angela. If I could take it all back..."

"I know you're sorry. I do" she assured him. "But, I..." she trailed off.

"But what?"

"Tony, I want you to know that you are my best friend and you will always be. And I thought we were heading towards something more. But now after everything that has happened I don't know if that's possible anymore."

Tony felt his heart sink and his stomach felt like it had a bowling ball in it.

"Angela? What are you saying?"

She shook her head and didn't even try stopping the tears that fell from her eyes.

"I don't want to lead you on anymore. I don't want you to get your hopes up about us anymore."

"Angela..." he reached out to take her hand. But she pulled away.

"I'm sorry Tony. But, I can't be with you. Not after everything that has happened. "

He was dumbstruck. He felt like he was having an out of body experience. He shook his head. No! No! No! He must have heard her wrong.

"Angela? Baby? Are you saying that there is no hope for us?"

"I'm sorry Tony. I truly am. But..."

"No!" He got off the couch and began pacing. He had to find the right words to convince her that she was wrong. "Angela, we can't just give up like this. We can talk things out. We can work things out. " he pleaded with her. "It can't be over."

"It is Tony." she said softly. "It was over when you slept with Kathleen. We can't go back. No matter how much we want to. When you slept with her and wanted to keep dating her you broke my heart. You broke my trust in you. I still trust you as my best friend and as our children's Father but that's all. I don't trust you with my heart. Not anymore."

He felt the room spinning and collapsed back down on the couch. He couldn't believe this was happening. He wanted to say something. But for one of the rare times in his life he was at a loss for words.

"I'm sorry Tony. I am." she said quietly and got off the couch. She walked towards the stairs and headed upstairs.

"Angela!" he called weakly. He looked around the room.

She was gone.

He was all alone.