"Hey Tony where are you going?"
Tony jumped and put his hand over his chest. He turned around.
"GEEZ Mona! Are you trying to give me a heart attack?!"
She shrugged. "Maybe. So did you and Angela make up? Is everything okay in boring-ville?"
Tony rolled his eyes. "Yes, things are fine."
"So I'll ask again. Where are you going?"
"I'm golfing with Ray at the club."
"Okay. How about Angela?"
"She's going shopping. He looked at his watch. "I have to get going. See ya later!" He climbed in his jeep, started it up, waved to Mona, and pulled out of the driveway.
Mona waved back. It wasn't lost on her that he hadn't bothered to shower or change his clothes.
"HMMM I wonder if things really are okay?"
She went back into the house and poured herself a fresh cup of coffee. She then went into the living room and plopped down on the couch. She looked towards the stairs and took a sip of her coffee.
"I guess I'll wait and see what my darling daughter has to say."
As he drove towards the club Tony couldn't help but feel a twinge of guilt for lying to Mona. In all the years they had known each other they had always been straight forward with one another. So then why hadn't he just told her the truth? He didn't want to be like some good old faithful puppy dog following around behind Angela holding her purse and packages. He had his pride after all. Yes, the same pride that was causing the trouble between them.
He clenched the steering wheel. What was happening to him? Why was he letting his friends get to him like this? He had always been so self assured. But were they right? Was he being henpecked? He was so conflicted. Maybe the best thing to do was turn the jeep around and go home. But then what? Did he really want to spend the whole day following Angela around bored out of his mind when he could be playing golf instead? No, he didn't. He had planned to play golf today and if Angela didn't like then that was too bad. She would just have to deal with it.
.
'Angela was so excited to spend the day with Tony. There had been so much tension between them the last few weeks it was eating away at her. She wished she could pinpoint the moment things had started to go wrong but she couldn't. All she knew was that the Tony who used to love spending time with her was doing everything in his power not to. It was like he was a completely different person. In a way she understood how he felt. When they had first started dating he had been overly obsessed with showing her how much he loved her. He had written lots and lots of love letters, sent her dozens of pink roses, and made her so many rich and delicious meals that it caused one of her pants to rip. It had been so much that she twisted her ankle just to get away from him. She had felt smothered.
Was that how she was making him feel now? Had they somehow switched places? She sat down on her bed. "Oh my gosh! That must be it. He did say he didn't want a lot of limits put on his freedom. Well actually Mother did but he agreed with her." She got up. "Okay, today we are really going to talk about everything. " She left her room and headed downstairs.
"Hello dear."
"Hi Mother." She grabbed her coat and purse off the coat rack.
"So what are your plans for today?"
"Tony and I are going shopping."
"Oh really? That's funny."
"Why is that funny?"
"Because Tony left about ten minutes ago to go golfing."
Angela narrowed her eyes. "No, he didn't. "
"Yes, he did."
Angela started laughing. "Okay I get it. The two of you are playing a stupid joke on me." She shook her head and started walking towards the kitchen.
"Okay Tony! Jokes over!" She pushed the swinging door open and looked in.
He wasn't there.
"Oh, I know. He's in my office!" She went down the hall to her office and opened the door and switched the lights on.
He wasn't there.
"Okay, he must be in his room. Or maybe he's in the living room and Mother and him are having a good laugh about this."
She went back into the living room.
"So I guess he's upstairs in his room."
"Angela."
Angela waved her off and climbed the stairs. She went to his room and pushed the door open.
"HA HA TONY!"
He wasn't there.
"Okay, this is getting ridiculous."
She went back downstairs.
"Okay. The joke is over. Where is he?"
"I told you. He went golfing."
"But he…He said that he would go shopping with me."
"Well go and check outside for his jeep."
Angela strode through the living room again and went into the kitchen. She looked out the window and noticed with a sinking heart that his jeep was gone.
She clenched the counter with her hands .She couldn't believe that he had lied to her and ran out on her again. She took a few deep breaths but it didn't help. The more she thought about it the more angry she became. If he were here right now she would strangle him with her bare hands. She turned away from the window and went back into the living room.
"I can't believe him! He really is gone!"
"I tried to tell you!"
Angela paced around. "UGH! I could just strangle him! He told me that he wanted to do whatever I wanted to do today. He lied to me again, Mother! And ran out on me! Well that does it. If he doesn't want to spend the day with me then that's his tough luck. I'm going shopping with or without him!"
"Have fun dear. Oh, is there anything you want me to tell him when he comes home?"
"Yeah, tell him... You know what, don't tell him anything. I'm too much of a lady to tell him what I really think of him right now!"
She slammed the door behind her.
"That's my girl!" Mona chuckled.
A FEW HOURS LATER
Tony arrived back home with a bouquet of pink roses. He knew he was in the doghouse and had a lot of groveling to do. He had felt so guilty for running out on Angela yet again he had played one of his worst rounds of golf ever. He hadn't been able to concentrate because all he could see was her smiling face when he told her he would spend the day with her. Then that face would change into a sad and angry expression when she would realize he had left her again.
"Okay you were an ass today. No, you were an ass the last few weeks. It's time to make things right.'
He went upstairs and showered and changed his clothes. He was going to make her favorite meal in the hopes that would help make up for how he had been acting. He knew it wouldn't make everything okay but at least it was a start. He went back into the kitchen and gathered up the ingredients he would need. As he prepared the dinner his thoughts kept racing. He couldn't believe that he had run out on her again. What had he been thinking? He knew it had been the wrong thing to do but he had gone ahead and done it anyway.
BOOM! BOOM!
He looked out the window,
"WHOA! It certainly got gray pretty fast!"
He watched as a few raindrops fell from the sky and then rolled down the window.
"Well this weather certainly matches my mood." He sighed and continued fixing dinner.
So how were they going to get past this? Back when they had been just friends they had never had this much tension between them. Yes, they had problems but they had always been able to talk things through. Why couldn't they do that now? Was it because of their upcoming wedding? He knew they both had doubts but that was normal. This just felt like they were on opposing sides . They really needed to talk things over and even though they had that morning he really felt that it wasn't enough.
"When she comes home we are going to sit down and really talk. We can't go on like this."
He knew it would be painful but they had no choice. They couldn't go on like this or else one or both of them would end up in a world of pain.
A FEW MORE HOURS LATER
Angela was driving back home, her thoughts and nerves all in a jumble. She usually loved going shopping. It always made her feel good. But today was different. She had been so angry with Tony she hadn't been able to enjoy herself. Every time she thought of him lying and running out on her she just got angrier and angrier.
'UGH! I still can't believe he would do that! What in the hell was he thinking?! Why is he so determined not to spend any time with me?" She wiped a few tears that had fallen down her cheeks. Is he trying to tell me something? Has he…oh God! Is he seeing another woman? Is that it? He's cheating on me?!' She took a few shuddering breaths. 'No, wait a minute . If he were, Mother would know. She had told me that she had seen the anguish and guilt on his face after he spent the night with Kathleen. So it can't be that.'
So what was it then? Why couldn't they get past this? This morning she felt like they had. But when she found out that he had run out on her again she realized she had been mistaken.
"Okay, when I get home we are going to get everything out in the open. "
She knew it wasn't going to be easy. But they had no other choice. If they didn't settle this one way or the other things between them would only get worse.
BOOM! BOOM!
"Oh great. This is just perfect!" She groaned. She usually loved thunderstorms but right now it was the last thing she needed. Within minutes the rain came pouring down. She turned her windshield wipers on. The rain was coming down so hard and fast she could barely see out.
"Okay, don't panic. Everything will be fine." She continued driving for a few minutes when her tires hit a wet spot, skidded off to the side, and before she could blink the jag crashed through a guardrail and plummeted over the cliff.