Angela arrived home alone after a long, tiring day; glad to once again be in this sanctuary from the harried world of work. She followed the delightful aroma of marinara sauce into the kitchen to see Tony at the stove, humming. Her heart skipped a beat or two as she reveled in the quiet joy of home.
"I love you," the words slipped out of her mouth before she could even think to censor them.
They were both silent; Angela surprised, but not sorry, that she had actually spoken the truth. Tony, shocked and a little unsure of how to respond. Just exactly how did she mean the word, 'love'? There were so many possibilities, and he dared not hope that she could possibly mean it in its most vulnerable sense. Still, he had to respond to her somehow, they couldn't stand there pretending she hadn't said anything. He turned down the flame under the sauce and faced her, her eyes didn't betray that she had just said anything out of the ordinary for them, nor did he see any regret in them. This was encouraging; but he decided that safety was his best option. He shrugged and smiled, "I love you too, you know that," then turning back to the security of the stove, he grabbed a spoon and offered, "you want to taste the sauce?"
Disappointed, Angela now had a choice to make; should she pursue this declaration or should she follow Tony's lead and back away? She didn't know if he was just trying to spare her feelings; or if he really didn't see the truth of what she had just said. Her heart begged her to go over to him, take his hand and kiss him on the cheek. That would be enough of a push in the direction toward a relationship, wouldn't it? Sighing, she decided to take what she could get and walked over to taste the sauce. Tony heard her sigh and wondered if he'd just missed a very significant moment in their relationship. He regretted turning away from her; but his uncertainty about where he stood in her life overwhelmed any thought that she might actually be trying to change their relationship.
He held the spoon up to her mouth, her eyes seemed calm and composed, forcing Tony to conclude that he had made the correct decision in backing off; she'd obviously meant the "I love you" in a friendly way only. Angela tasted the sauce and smiled, a real smile no less, "it's delicious as always, Tony." They looked at each other, searching for the slightest encouragement in each other's eyes that would push them into each other's arms, but even though the topic had been broached, deep down they were both still too scared to reach out to the other. Angela broke the eye contact and licked her lips, an action she immediately regretted. The last thing either of them needed right now was anything that could be interpreted as a flirtatious action. She babbled something about needing to organize paperwork and headed to the safety of her den.
A dejected Angela pushed through the kitchen door. Her thoughts turned to her mother, "you were wrong, Mother. The words, 'I love you' weren't clear enough." Now Angela was at a loss, even though she hadn't planned to tell him she loved him tonight, she wasn't unhappy that the feeling had been expressed, just that the gauntlet had been thrown down and ignored. At least he hadn't laughed at her. She had no idea what to try next, if that hadn't worked; she didn't know what would.
Tony stood by the stove for a long time after Angela left the kitchen. He wondered if it was time for them to have another talk about where their relationship was going. Their relationship had been an abstract concept for so long now, he wasn't sure how to proceed. Could they create an actual romantic relationship? There were times when all he wanted to do was pull her close and kiss her breathless, most recently when she had licked that sauce off her lips. That was an image that put a whole new meaning to marinara. Tony was fortunately spared detailed thoughts on that action by Jonathan opening the kitchen door upon his arrival home.
Dinner was a quiet event that evening; Mona had stayed in town for a date, Tony and Angela were both lost in their own thoughts and poor Jonathan felt like an interloper in his own home. He could see that something had happened between Tony and his mom, but he had no idea what. They weren't starry eyed, so obviously nothing good had happened; but they were both very distracted and this was an unusual state of being for both of them. He decided this would be a topic in the next meeting of the "Enough Is Enough Club." He only hoped his grandmother would have some insight to this newest twist in their so-called relationship. He excused himself from dinner as quickly as possible, citing homework, but inwardly he had never been so relieved for dinner to be over.