Addendum 2.1 – Angela's Ex pt. 2
February 1985 – Fairfield, CT
"Daddy?"
Michael turned his head from where he was pulling up Jonathan's covers and looked at him. "Hmm?"
"Can you- can you stay here with me tonight?"
Michael tilted his head at Jonathan and finished tucking the blankets around his shoulders. "Aw, come on, Jonathan. You're a big boy now. You don't need me to stay in here with you."
"Well…then can I come sleep with you and Mom?"
"No," Michael answered distinctly.
"But Daddy, those spiders in the book - that orb spider? They live here! And the wolf spider? And the fishing spider? Daddy, they're scary!"
"I thought you loved reading about that stuff."
Jonathan shook his head quickly, "I'm on the reptiles' team. They kill spiders."
Michael acknowledged Jonathan with his eyebrows, "I suppose." Then he did a double take at his son, "Team?"
Jonathan nodded, "Tony says that's when you want one side to win; you're on their team."
"Hmm," Michael allowed, then stood up to leave.
"Daddy, please? The legs were really long and pointy, and they were humongous!"
Michael looked down in irritation, "Jonathan, you're fine. Don't you feed Wilbur spiders?"
"Not those kinds!"
Michael swiped his hand down his face and looked to the ceiling. Taking a breath, he bent down and put a hand on Jonathan's shoulder. "Jonathan, spiders are important. They make sure there aren't too many insects taking over the place. And like you said, the reptiles make sure there aren't too many spiders. And most spiders aren't a problem, even if they did bite you. Really. You're okay. I've been in jungles with far worse creatures than that, and I'm fine."
"But, Daddy-"
"Jonathan, enough!" Michael stood up sharply. "You're fine." He turned around and made sure the nightlight was on before flicking off the overhead light. His voice softened as he pulled the door shut most of the way, "Now, get a good sleep, okay, son?"
Michael did a stuttered sit-up in bed and slapped off his alarm clock. Taking a deep breath, he squinted to rub his eyes one at a time.
Angela moved toward him in her sleep, and he smiled down at her.
Twisting his torso, he lied slowly back down onto his elbow and brushed a few wisps of hair from her forehead. He took his time watching her sleep, staring softly at her eyelashes, her lips, her nose…
Finally, he leaned down and placed a gentle kiss on her temple. "Baby, I'm going to take my run early today," he whispered.
"Mmmkay," Angela muffled without opening her eyes. Taking in a leisurely breath, she flopped her arm toward him and found his hand. Bringing it up to her face, she snuggled her cheek against his open palm.
Michael watched her for a few more seconds, and then chuckled. "Angela," he smiled pointedly. "I'm gonna need that."
Angela still didn't open her eyes but shook her head into her pillow.
Shaking his own head, he leaned in to kiss her mouth. Her delighted eyebrows went up, but her eyes stayed closed as she turned her face to meet his.
Michael slipped his hand out and finished off the kiss. "Thank you!" he smiled victoriously.
Angela groaned as she pushed herself to sit up. Her eyes blinked open begrudgingly. "Michael, it's Saturday," she whined.
He leaned back in toward her pouty mouth and pecked her lips. "No rest for the wicked," he smiled. Scooting out of bed, he made his way to the bathroom.
Angela scowled at him as her exhale blubbered through her lips. Stupid healthy habits…
Michael trotted into the upstairs hallway from their room. Just as he was about to turn toward the stairs, he looked up at Jonathan's fully open door.
Squinting, he slowed his steps and walked toward Jonathan's room.
It was empty.
Twisting his head sharply, Michael paused, then powered toward the stairs. When he passed Tony's door, he noticed it was open.
Sure enough, looking in, he saw Jonathan, sleeping right next to a zonked-out Tony.
Michael stood in the doorway and glared at the scene, but his deepening breaths were interrupted by Tony's alarm. When Tony's hand blindly flew up to silence it, Michael backed up and started his powerful run in the hallway.
"Tony?" Angela's kind voice came in from the hall.
Tony called back from the middle of his room, "I'm in here, Angela."
Smiling shyly, she let her head make an awkward sideways lean as she came through the door. "Hey."
He smiled back, "Hey."
His rambunctious, post-hiring vibe from earlier that afternoon had mellowed, and he stood in the near-empty room fiddling with his Mets-signed baseball.
She smiled at it nervously, "I see you've got your dad's ball."
He stared at it, "Yup." His pressed his lips tightly together, and then looked up at her. "Thanks to you," he said softly.
Her warm smile eased her own nerves. She was not looking forward to this. "I'm glad you have it."
He nodded down at the ball. Spinning it around slowly, he grazed the once-red stitching with his fingers. "Me, too." Then, he looked up at her more clearly. "Oh, I'm sorry. What were you wanting?"
Angela laughed uncomfortably. I'd conveniently forgotten. She shook her head, smiling, "I just wanted to give you your severance check." She handed it to him.
Tony smiled, "Oh, hey, thanks, there, Angela." He took it and looked down at it.
Angela had spent the last week trying to figure out how much she was going to give him. His "three week" joke wouldn't nearly cover what he'd given to her over the past few months, but she supposed that wasn't even possible. Still, she wanted to pad it comfortably and let him know they could both go above and beyond.
He looked up at her confused, "Angela…you gotta get a rein on that 'disregarding zeros' thing."
She didn't smile as she shook her head, still perfectly at ease with her decision to tell Tony about her blunder. "I didn't disregard it," she said quietly. "I can't pay you for being my friend… but if I could, this wouldn't be anywhere near enough. Thank you for your work here, Tony. You are truly an excellent housekeeper."
Tony smiled shyly and shifted his weight for a few seconds. Looking at her, he gave the ball a little toss and smiled widely. "You know, my father loved baseball, and I can still see his face light up - thinkin' about him telling me about going to the Polo Grounds and seeing 'Marvelous Marv' breaking his scoring drought against the Cubs." He shook his head and eased his smile. "I loved to watch him talk about baseball."
Tony took a breath, "He didn't have a lot of happy things going on in his life…" After a second, he laughed and looked up at her, "I guess the Mets didn't really fix that, either."
Angela smiled, and he dropped his face again. Speaking quieter, he said, "But he loved 'em. And I loved watching him love them."
Angela's face softened. He really loved his dad. …Tony just loves well.
Tony's body stayed stiff as he raised his face to look at her. "But it isn't just my father I think about when I look at this ball anymore. You've been a real friend, Angela." He lifted the ball a little. "With this, and, uh, when I needed you to forgive me for paintin' your car-"
Angela's lids dropped halfway down, and she shook her head.
"It looks better!" he piped up.
She crossed her arms dryly, "Maybe I should adjust those zeroes…"
Tony smirked playfully, "Hey! No givesies backsies!"
Her smiled turned amused, "Givesies backsies?"
Tony rolled his eyes and put out his hands, "Fine, Miss Highfalutin. How about… 'There is no greater fraud than a promise not kept.' Is a Gaelic proverb fancy enough for you?"
Angela's eyes widened. "What?" she let out an unbelieving exhale.
"Ya heard me." He stuck his nose in the air. "…I read Bazooka wrappers."
Angela laughed, "I'm really going to miss you, Tony." But by the end, she wasn't laughing.
His expression sobered with hers. "Well, mostly, I, uh… I wanted to say thank you for giving me this chance. Getting me out of Brooklyn. Giving me… hope," he shrugged.
His face dropped to the ground for a few moments before looking back at her. "Sam's got a future I'm proud to work for up here. Now she knows things can be different."
Angela nodded quickly and seriously, but her voice still broke, "They will be."
Tony looked like all his effort went into making his smile flat. He nodded back.
As unfortunate as this was, the air in the room still felt to Angela like she was leaning back into a pillow. She always felt that way with Tony. She was at ease with him. She was content and happy. And as he stared at her with those big puppy eyes, both of them weighing the significance of their short history together, she started to want a tight hug - like he'd given her before. One that felt like he was giving the hug, not taking it - and yet still felt like he needed it as badly as she did.
Thankfully and regrettably, situational awareness flared, and Angela got a better grip on where she was and with whom she wasn't.
Sticking her hand out solidly, she forced a smile, "Goodbye, Tony."
Tony's face fell for just an instant before he plastered on a smile of his own. He took her hand and shook it firmly, "Goodbye, Angela."
