'Honey Bunny." Angela said softly.
"Honey Bunny? Who is Honey Bunny?!" Tony asked.
Angela whipped her head around. Tony was leaning out the window looking at her in confusion and amusement.
"UH. I didn't say Honey Bunny. I said it's so funny."
"Ah no you didn't! I clearly heard you say Honey Bunny." He looked around. "You don't have some guy out here do you?!" He winked at her.
"What? Of course not! Who would I have? Tony, that's…" Unable to go on she felt herself getting warm and started fiddling with her fingers.
"AY Oh Angela! I was just teasing you. But there is something going on with you. I just know it. So I'm going to go make us some coffee. " He pointed his finger at her. "And don't you go anywhere. Remember I know where you live." He wiggled his eyebrows at her and went back inside.
Angela groaned and sat back down on the milk crate. This was just great! What the hell was she going to do now? She couldn't tell him about the dream she just had. It was too intimate. How would he react? Would he be amused? Uncomfortable? She knew of course because of their talk in Jamaica that he had thought about them getting married but that he also wasn't ready to propose.
But unfortunately he was determined to get to the bottom of it. And when Tony Micelli set his mind on something there was no stopping him.
Tony filled Mrs. Rossin's coffee pot with water and waited for it to heat up. He chuckled when he remembered Angela's expression when he teased her about Honey Bunny. She looked and acted like she had been caught red handed doing something naughty. But really what could that possibly have been? She had been all alone here since he had gone bowling with Dennis, Ginger, and Lynn. He felt a jolt of guilt. He shouldn't have gone with them. Even though he had a lot of fun catching up with them and the other Brooklynites that he saw at the bowling alley he still felt that he should have stayed with Angela. He had met it when he had told her that it would have been a lot more fun if she had come along.
But Angela- the ever so gracious and amazing Angela- had offered to stay until Fiarello had come home. So with a little nudging from Dennis he agreed to go bowling and even though he had a good time he knew his evening would have been better if he had stayed here with Angela.
The red light on the coffee pot went off and he grabbed a few mugs out of the cupboard. He placed them on a tray along with the pot,a couple of spoons, a quart of milk he got of the refrigerator, and a container of peanut butter butterscotch cookies Mrs. Rossini had left for him. He unplugged the coffee pot and picked the tray up and went back out into the living room.
"AY OH Angela! Could you grab some of these items so I don't drop them?"
"What? Oh sure." She grabbed the mugs and the milk.
"Thanks."
He placed the tray on the floor and crawled through the window. He leaned back in and grabbed the tray and set it on one of the milk crates. He poured them both a cup of coffee and handed one to her.
"Thank you."
"You're welcome"
He watched as she added a little milk and stirred it with her spoon. She was avoiding eye contact with him and seemed extremely nervous.
Then it dawned on him.
Honey Bunny.
He was Honey Bunny.
It all made sense now. He knew she had feelings for him. He had feelings for her too but neither one was ready at this time to go any further. Well that wasn't entirely true. He knew that she wanted and was willing to take the next step but he just couldn't. Not until or unless they were married. He had to be very careful in how he handled things now. Yes, he was curious about Honey Bunny but if he said or did one thing wrong it could blow up in his face.
"So, what was this about Honey Bunny?" He asked casually.
She sighed and took a sip of her coffee. She grabbed the container and propped the lid off and took a cookie out. She took a big bite, chewed and swallowed and drank a little more coffee.
"It was you." She mumbled.
"I'm sorry? I didn't catch that."
She turned to face him. 'It was you okay? You're Honey Bunny!"
She blushed and looked away.
"Angela? Please look at me."
She sighed but did what he asked.
"Why am I Honey Bunny? I mean where did it come from?"
She shrugged. "I guess it's from being here. When I was with Ginger and Lynn in the kitchen Ginger told me that Dennis called her Honey Bunny and when you were all out bowling I fell asleep and had a dream."
"You did? What about?"
"Us. All of us."
"Okay, so all of us means the two of us and Mona, Samantha, and Jonathan?"
"And Mrs. Rossini."
"Okay, so what happened in this dream?"
"We were married and living here in this apartment. Samantha and Jonathan were our kids, we had twin babies, and I was pregnant. Mother lived with us, you owned the fish store, and Mrs. Rossini was our landlord."
"And you called me Honey Bunny?"
"No, you called me Honey Bunny. I had fallen asleep on the couch and was going into the kitchen to make breakfast. You ran out from the bedroom and grabbed me from around the waist and asked "how's my little Honey Bunny?"
"That sounds amazing. I mean I bet you looked beautiful pregnant. I take that back. I know you looked beautiful."
She smiled. "You're just saying that."
"No, I'm not. I have seen pictures from when you were pregnant with Jonathan. And you were beautiful. And if you were pregnant with my child you would be a 100 times more beautiful."
He realized what he said and gulped some coffee. "Uh, well hypothetically of course!"
This time he turned away from her.
She smiled but didn't say anything.
After a few moments he picked the conversation back up.
"So were we happy?"
"Yes, we were. We were like Dennis and Ginger. We loved each other but we were also sassy."
"Sassy?"
"Yeah, you know. I mean you- well the dream you- was so attentive, romantic, and loving. You really made me feel -well the dream me- like she was the most important person in your life.
"Well that's how a husband should make his wife feel." He gazed at her intensely. She blushed and looked away.
He grabbed a cookie and took a bite.
"So did anything else happen?"
She sighed. "Yeah, something did."
"Oh oh. This doesn't sound good."
"Well I kept coming up with these slogans. Samantha and Jonathan thought they were great but you were annoyed. All you wanted was your breakfast. But then I told you that we needed to talk and so we came out here. This was our usual spot to talk-talk."
"Talk-talk?"
"Yeah, so anyway I told you that I wanted to go to night school and maybe get a job in advertising. But, you were against it."
"I was?"
"Yes, you were. You made it sound like I was going to abandon you and our family. Then you made a crack about you taking care of the kids and cleaning the house. You said: imagine that! me a housekeeper?!'
"Wow! I was a real jerk wasn't I?"
"No, you weren't."
"Yes, I was. I mean you have to know that I love the fact that you are so successful. "
'Yes, I do. But come on if we lived here you know you would feel differently."
She had a point. In this neighborhood the husband provided for his family while the wife took care of the house and kids. It was just the way things were done.
"Okay. You do have a point. But I also like to think I have grown up a little while living in Connecticut."
"You have."
"Was that why you were asking me all those questions earlier? That is how a marriage should be like? That the husband goes off to work while the wife stays home with the children?"
"Yeah, I guess I was trying to feel you out. And I know we already talked about this when we were in Jamaica. I guess the dream just shook me up a little."
"Yeah, I can see that. But just so we're clear, if we ever did get married I would never ask you to give up your career or your business. "
"I know you wouldn't."
"So Honey Bunny huh?" He grinned at her.
She smiled and blushed.
'Honey Bunny.' He added that to the never ending list of things he loved about her.
########################################################
Tony sat on the couch with a cup of tea in front of him. He had told Angela he felt fine but she insisted that he rest while she called Isabelle.
"Yes, he was out for a couple of minutes."
She listened for a few minutes.
"Tony, do you feel nauseous or have a headache?"
"No, I keep telling you I feel fine."
"He says he feels fine. Okay thanks Isabelle." She hung the phone up and went around and sat beside him.
"She said that since you're not nauseous and don't have a headache you're probably fine."
"I told you!"
"But, she also said you should take it easy."
"Okay. If it will make you feel better I will."
"Thank you!" Her voice and eyes were teary.
"AY OH! Sweetheart, what's the matter?"
"Tony, when I saw you lying there I was so scared. I didn't know if you had a stroke, a heart attack, or if you had slipped and hit your head?! I had this flash of what my life would be like without you and it was the worst feeling I had ever had."
He chuckled. "It's kind of funny you should say that."
"It is? What do you mean?"
"Hang on a second." He got up and went to the hall closet and pulled a blanket out. He came back over, sat down and placed the blanket over them
"Okay that's better."
"Tony, what did you mean?" She picked their conversation back up.
"Well when I was unconscious I had this really weird dream."
"What about?"
"Well you remember Mike and I talking about our coach?"
"Yes."
"So, in the dream I was a very successful baseball player. I lived in a beautiful Manhattan penthouse. Coach told me that he was sent here to show me what my life would have been like if I had never gotten injured. He said it was the one that could have been."
"I see. It does sound great."
"Yeah, and it was at first. I mean I had all these trophies and awards. I was on top of the world. But then things changed."
"How so?"
"Well Sam hated me. "
"She did? I can't imagine that!"
"Oh believe me she did. She wrote a book called MOST VALUABLE PLAYER. LEAST VALUABLE FATHER."
"Oh that sounds awful."
"It was. I couldn't believe how much she resented and hated me. Although I did think it was neat she was on Phil Donahue."
"Phil Donahue was in the dream?"
"Yeah, but that's beside the point."
"Okay. So Sam hated you."
"Yeah, and so did you."
"I did? Why?"
"Because you thought I was the most egotistical, self-centered man you ever had the misfortune to work with."
"Ah so you were my client?"
"No, not exactly."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean you didn't own your own agency. You were an employee with some other ad agency."
"Do you know which one?"
"No, it was never said."
"I just hope it wasn't Wallace and McQuade." She rolled her eyes.
He chuckled. "Me too. I then asked you if you were married and you told me that you had a boyfriend named Gary but you had just broken up."
"Oh, so that's who Gary is!"
"YEAH!" He growled.
She stroked his arm.
"And what about Jo Jo?!"
He shrugged. "She was just a woman I had a one night stand with."
"Tony!"
"What? Hey if it makes you feel any better I thought she was you!"
"How could you think that?"
"Because my eyes were closed. And I heard this voice saying: Tony! To-To-Toonny!"
"And you thought it was me?"
"Well yeah but then I opened my eyes and saw that it wasn't you."
"So anyway I hated you?"
"Yep, you despised me. You screamed at me and stalked out. You couldn't get away fast enough."
"Ouch."
"Uh yeah speaking of ouch you gave me a hell of a slap!"
"I slapped you?"
"Yeah, when you first came I gave you a hug and you called me a creep and slapped me right across the face. I was confused because I thought you would like it. But then it became clear that you didn't and that you couldn't stand me. It really shook me up."
"Oh Tony. I'm so sorry."
He shook his head. "No, don't be. Anyway I started going after you but then Sam came in."
"Did the two of you patch things up?"
"Well we talked and I convinced her to go with me to Marty's and have a chocolate egg cream with two straws."
"Her favorite."
"Yeah, so we went and had an awkward conversation and then we went our separate ways and I went back to my penthouse and called the florist and had them deliver 11 pink roses to you."
"Only 11?" She asked in confusion.
"Yes, because the coach and I came here so I could give you the final rose."
"That was nice of you." She smiled.
"Yeah, you then apologized for slapping me."
"Okay. So did anything else happen?"
"Yeah, well when I first got there Jonathan was so excited to see me. He asked me if I would autograph his mitt. I said that I would and he was going to pay for it! Apparently I charged $25 dollars for my autograph!"
"Well some celebrities do."
"I know. It's just when Jonathan asked it threw me. I knew there was no way I was going to charge him."
"See you are a great guy." She smiled and kissed him on the cheek.
He smiled back and put his arm around her.
"But, I take it there is a lot more?"
He sighed. 'Yes, there is. I convinced you to let me make you all dinner. "
'What did you make?"
"Linguine Alla Vongole."
"My favorite."
"Yeah."
"Wait a minute Tony. You sent me pink roses and you knew that Linguine Alla Vongole was my favorite meal. How did you…..?"
"It's simple. I loved you. "
"But, I didn't love you?"
"No, I thought maybe you did or at the very least we could maybe start something. But we got into another fight where I told you that you had to stop running away from your fears."
"And let me guess. You knew those too."
"Yes, I did and when I listed them you freaked out and stormed out."
"I certainly did a lot of storming out didn't I?"
"Yeah, you did. I went after you and I told you that I was only saying what was in my heart and I apologized for hurting you. I was about ready to leave but you stopped me."
"I did?"
"Yeah, you told me that I wasn't off base about some of the things I said. You said that I wasn't the first person to suggest that you bury yourself in your work because of your reluctance to.."
"To what?" Her eyes were glued to his.
'To let go. To Take Chances. To go with your heart."
"Was that when I told you that I loved you or that I wanted to start something with you?"
"I wish." He said sadly.
"Then what happened?"
"Well you thanked me and gave me a hug but then you excused yourself to go call Gary."
"Gary?"
""Yeah, I couldn't believe it! I asked what about us and you said that you didn't think so that maybe in another place and time but you and Gary had a history and that he had always been there for you and when you were ready to make a commitment to give him a call and that thanks to me you were ready."
"And then I walked away to call Gary?" She asked softly.
He nodded. "You did and my heart broke right then and there. I couldn't believe it. I felt like I had lost everything. That was when the coach told me not to take it so hard because you did need me just not the way I thought. "
"Oh Tony. I'm so sorry."
He smiled and stroked her cheek. "That was when I told him to take me out of the game."
"Out of the game? Tony you wanted out of the game? But I thought baseball players never asked to be taken out of the game?"
"That's true unless there is a very good reason. And not having you in my life-not being able to love you-to have another man have that privilege well I couldn't let that happen. I knew that being successful in baseball or whatever doesn't mean anything if you're not with me. "
"Oh Tony." Tears fell from her eyes and he wiped them away.
"I'll always choose you Angela. Even if I get a great teaching job somewhere you will always come first."
"I will?"
He kissed her on the forehead. "Of course you will. You are my Ingrid after all."
She smiled and laid her head on his shoulder.
"And my Honey Bunny."