Savor the Rewrite: Chapter 4 Selling Sam Short
Once Angela got home from the pharmacist, she crawled into bed. Tony brought her up dinner in bed so she could take her medications. Despite their colds, they still managed to come together as a couple, something that was becoming a sort of nightly, and morning, ritual. Over the next week, Angela managed to get over her cold and get back to work and wedding planning.
The next morning, they had an open and honest conversation about what they did and did not want for the wedding. They compromised and agreed to limit the guest list to fifty people and have the ceremony down by the beach. The club offered them an option to have the ceremony inside if it rained. They were able to put together the remaining details and had the invitations hand delivered to their guests.
They both agreed that they wanted Jonathan to be Tony's best man and Samantha to be Angela's maid of honor. They decided that to save time, all five of them would shop in one day for the tuxedos and dresses. They headed to a local bridal store to pick out what they wanted. They decided to start with the tuxedos so Jonathan and Tony could leave before Angela tried on dresses.
"Hello! We are here for our appointments. The name is Bower/Micelli" said Angela.
"Welcome! I see you are booked in for tuxedos and dresses- bridal, maid of honor and mother of the bride. Where would you like to start?" asked the bridal consultant.
"The tuxedos please- we need one for my fiancé and my son, who is the best man" said Angela.
"Alright we have many different styles and selections to choose from- classic black, navy, and grey for example. Any ideas what you want?" she asked.
"Classic black works us!" said Tony. They were taken back to be measured and fitted for the tuxedos and all the accessories.
"Okay we're done! Gonna be two handsome guys up at the altar!" said Tony as he walked over to Angela and took her in his arms.
"I can't wait to see my guys up there together! You both are going to look so handsome!" said Angela as she leaned in for a kiss.
"Alright you two! Save it for the honeymoon! We need to get started with the dresses so take a hike fellas!" said Mona.
"Mother's unfortunately right. We need to all find dresses which means you need to leave" said Angela.
"Why is it bad luck to see the bride's dress before the wedding?" asked Jonathan.
"To avoid scaring the groom!" laughed Mona as both Angela and Tony gave her a look.
"Alright sweetheart! Good luck! Love you!" said Tony as he and Jonathan left the shop.
"How about we divide and conquer? Remember, it has to be something that can be ready in time for the wedding. Anything you want Samantha as long as it's in cranberry. I promise I won't interfere this time! And Mother… something appropriate please… and I get the final say!" said Angela as she gave Mona yet another look.
"You're no fun Angela…" said Mona as she went to look for her dress. Angela headed to the wedding dress section while Samantha headed to look at her dresses. Samantha was surprised Angela was giving her free reign over her dress choice but she assumed Angela had been in her fair share of ugly bridesmaids dresses that she didn't want Sam have to go through that experience.
"Can I help you miss?" asked another bridal consultant.
"Yes! I need a maid of honor dress in cranberry that can be ready for a wedding in a month! Hopefully you have something!" said Samantha.
"Oh my that is a short time frame! Actually we just got in a beautiful dress in cranberry that I think would look beautiful on you! Let me see if I can grab it!" she said as she headed into the back. Samantha was able to pick out two more dresses to try on when the woman came back. Samantha immediately loved the dress the woman brought out- it was a simple, straight cut, floor length, sleeveless dress.
"I love it! I need to find my soon to be mom to show her but I'd love to try it on, as well as these two other dresses" said Samantha.
"Not a problem! I will reserve a dressing room for you all" she said. She found Mona who had found a few dresses to choose from, only one of which Samantha thought Angela wouldn't veto. Both Samantha and Mona went to try on the dresses as Angela kept looking for gowns.
"Oh Samantha! That is absolutely beautiful!" gushed Angela as tears started to form in her eyes. Samantha came into full view in the gown the woman had found for her, twirling around to give Angela the full view.
"I really love this one and it just came in!" said Samantha. Just then Mona came out in the dress Samantha thought Angela would approve.
"That's beautiful Mother! I love it!" she said as Mona came out in a gorgeous navy blue dress that showed off her figure but in a classy manner.
"I love it too Mona! And Mona… don't bother trying on the others- Angela will hate the rest!" she laughed.
"Why do you think I picked them? And Samantha- put the others back too… that is your dress…" said Mona as they walked back in to change.
It was Angela's turn to try on dresses while Samantha and Mona sat by to watch. The first few dresses were very beautiful but just not what Angela had wanted. Finally, Angela tried on a gorgeous dress. It was an off the shoulder floor length dress with intricate lace and beading work on the bodice. The bottom was a silky satin material that hugged her hips perfectly as it slightly flared out at the bottom.
"Oh Angela! That's the one! It's absolutely beautiful on you!" shouted Samantha.
"Even I can't say a bad word about it and that's saying something!" laughed Mona.
"Alright! This is it! This is the one! Okay let's see about getting the dresses altered and paid for" she said as she headed back into the dressing room to change. They took all the dresses and scheduled a time for next week to begin alterations. They headed out of the store and got into Samantha's car, Angela getting in the front seat and Mona in the back.
"Alright! We got the dresses and tuxedos! We still have to head to the florist and the shoe store as well as the bakery. Maybe we can go by the garage and pick my car up" said Angela as she looked at the to do list she pulled out of her purse. Samantha started her car. As soon as she started to pull out of the spot, they heard the unmistakable sounds of cars backing into one another.
"And drop yours off…" said Mona.
"Oh no…" said Samantha as they all got out of her car. A good looking tall man in a business suit got out of his expensive looking red sports car to look at the damage.
"Are you okay?" asked Samantha.
"Yeah think so…" he said.
"Good, good… what kinda jerk are you? Look at what you did? Are you trying to get somebody killed?" shouted Samantha.
"Samantha let me handle this…" said Angela.
"Do you have some sorta sick James Dean death wish? My record was perfect until you plowed into me" she shouted again.
The two continued to argue back and forth until they exchanged licenses and insurance information.
"Call me crazy Angela but I see sparks there! Mr. Porsche has the hots for our girl…" said Mona.
"What? They are yelling back and forth at each other!" said Angela, unsure if she should get involved or just let the scene play out.
"I'm not paying for that!" he yelled.
"Well you better do something about it!" she yelled.
"Oh I'm going to do something about it alright!" he yelled back.
"Oh yeah what?" she asked.
"I'm going to take you out to dinner!" he shouted.
"Oh yeah? When?" she asked, anger still present in her voice.
"Friday! 8:00pm!" he said.
"Fine! Don't be late!" she said as he turned around and got back into his car. She stormed back to her car, Angela and Mona following behind, Mona giving Angela a 'I told you so' look.
"You know Sam… he would make a great date to the wedding!" said Mona.
"We'll see how the date on Friday goes first… wait… I just made a date with a guy I got into an accident with? What am I thinking?" she said.
"My guess is what a good buff and polish from Mr. Porsche would be like!" laughed Mona.
"Mother! Gross!" yelled Angela as Samantha turned the same shade of red as the Porsche. They decided just to head home and worry about the rest of the errands tomorrow.
Friday came around quickly. Neither Samantha or Angela mentioned to Tony the run in with Pierce so when he showed up to pick up Samantha and running over Tony's basketball, it was a major shock for Tony. Angela was happy she came into the house when she did and was avoiding that awkward conversation.
"Hmm that baked ziti smells delicious! I'm starving!" said Angela as she picked up a fork and started eating.
"Watch it Angela… too much of that ziti and you won't fit into your dress…" quipped Mona as she grabbed a fork and started in on the ziti too.
"Mother! The dress will fit!" shouted Angela as she took another fork full of food.
After Mona brought Pierce into the living room, trying to deflect from Tony's third degree, Tony, Samantha and Angela were left in the kitchen. Samantha was trying to get Tony to realize just how judgmental he was when it came to her boyfriends. Angela's heart went out to Samantha because she knew exactly how overprotective Tony could be. It surprised Angela after their conversation when Tony agreed to be open minded when it came to Pierce.
Samantha was cautiously optimistic when Tony started to show some interest in Pierce and his career. She thought that maybe he was going to start to trust her judgment in guys. She had to stifle a laugh when Pierce started talking about his business skills, bull spreads and other terms she knew went over Tony's head. She was happy when Angela jumped in with her knowledge to help move the conversation along. Her optimism faded after Tony's remarks about trust.
"Now I know what a bull spread is…" said Samantha very sarcastically.
"No I mean it Sam… no in fact I happen to have a little mad money stashed away and I was thinking maybe Pierce here would handle it for me. Maybe if he does a good job, we can upgrade our plans for our honeymoon Angela!" said Tony as Angela gave him a questioning look.
"Are you serious?" asked Samantha.
"Yes I'm serious! I mean it's not in the half a million dollar league… its not even in the ballpark but it just about pays for parking but you know…" said Tony.
"No that's okay! I do handle smaller accounts…" said Pierce.
"Ah Tony you don't need to do this… the baked ziti maybe enough…" said Angela.
"I want to do it… I want to do it! I trust Pierce with my money. Hey I trust him with my Sam! I'm a very trusting guy! Now all of you close your eyes… nobody sees where I hide my money…" he said as he went into the kitchen.
Later that night while they were getting ready for bed, Tony was concentrating on the honeymoon planning. Angela crawled into bed with him, trying to see what he was doing but more importantly trying to distract him to get him to do what she wanted to do.
"Tony… why don't you put down whatever it is your doing and come to bed…" she said with a seductive voice.
"Not yet Angela! I'm just looking at our itinerary for our honeymoon. If Pierce can make me more money, we could easily add another country or two onto our European vacation! Right now we have France and England on the list but we could extend it a few days and go to Italy! What do you think?" asked Tony.
"I think that sounds wonderful but I don't want you to get your hopes up if the money doesn't come pouring in. It takes a certain personality to handle the ups and downs of the market. I'm not sure it's for you…" said Angela.
"Maybe you're right Angela… oh look! Check out these tours! And this hotel looks amazing! All these amenities! We can even look to upgrade our flights to first class!" he said as he continued to get more and more excited. Finally having enough, Angela took the papers from Tony and put them on his nightstand. Just as he was about to protest, she leaned over and kissed him like she had earlier in the day to distract him from basketball. It worked again as all thoughts of honeymoon planning faded fast as the two soon became one.
The next day after Tony had his bonding session with Pierce after his stock tip paid off, Angela and Sam stayed back in the kitchen.
"I think I liked it better when Dad hated all my boyfriends!" said Sam.
"Don't worry about it honey. I think this is just a temporary thing" said Angela.
"It better be Angela! I just started dating him and I really like him! I'm even thinking of asking him to the wedding but if Dad keeps acting like this, it's just not going to work! He might end up marrying him over you!" said Samantha.
"Look… if it gets any worse, I'll see what I can do alright?" said Angela.
"Thank you Angela! I love you!" she said as she hugged her and headed out to meet Pierce.
The night after Pierce and Samantha broke up after their fight about him, Tony couldn't sleep. He tossed and turned for hours before deciding to head to the kitchen to make some tea. Angela woke up soon after and headed downstairs to see where Tony went.
"Tony it's late. What are you doing up?" asked Angela as she tried to rub the sleep from her eyes.
"I know Angela but I can't stop thinking about them breaking up! And over me! And… and how this means our honeymoon won't be what I wanted it to be. I think that has me the most upset. I wanted this extra money for us…" said Tony.
"I know you're upset Tony. Hopefully things will cool over between them and they will work it out. As for our honeymoon, what we initially planned will be wonderful Tony! All that means is we need to figure out another time to plan a vacation! I love the idea of going back to Italy again. It was so romantic the last time we went, but not getting to spend it with you as a couple was so horrible. Maybe we can figure out a time in the spring before or right after your graduation to go!" she said as she reached over and grabbed his hand.
"You're right Angela… as usual. Our original plan will be perfect and I'll try my best to stay out of their relationship" he said as he took a sip of his tea. He poured her a cup of tea and handed it to her.
"Thanks Tony. Hoping this tea settles my stomach. I don't think the leftover baked ziti is sitting too well right now" she said as she place a hand over her stomach.
"Why don't we take the tea back upstairs and we can cuddle in bed. Hopefully you will feel better in the morning" he said as they both headed back up to bed.
The next day, after Pierce showed up and Tony confused Samantha's flowers for his own, Tony tried in vain to stay to try and help them work it out. He couldn't believe Angela would pull him away at a time like that, but soon he realized she was right… and they had a perfect view to eavesdrop.
"Pretty flowers… very nice of you" said Samantha.
"I felt bad. There were things that were said that shouldn't have been…" said Pierce.
"That's true. You did say some pretty harsh things" she said.
"Harsh? No, no… you just misunderstood…" he said as they started to argue again.
"Oh I misunderstood? So this whole thing was my fault?" shouted Samantha.
"Well there you go misunderstanding again…" said Pierce.
"Then why don't you just leave again!" she shouted.
"Nothing would make me happier!" he shouted back.
"So then what's keeping you?" she asked.
"This!" he said as he leaned over and began passionately kissing Samantha.
Samantha was so shocked at how the course of the last few moments changed so dramatically she didn't have time to register much more than the feeling of Pierce's lips on her own. Embarrassment soon took over as Angela had to wipe her mouth from that passionate kiss coupled with the look her father was giving her. She couldn't believe that her father actually said business and family shouldn't mix.
"Your happiness is much more important than any amount of money" said Tony. She knew she and Pierce needed to leave then before her dad changed his mind so they got into his car.
"That was really cool of your dad to fire me! I never thought I'd be happy to be fired!" he laughed.
"Yes it was! I guess I owe him one! Speaking of owing you one… any chance you'd want to be my date to their wedding next month? I'm Angela's maid of honor" she said.
"You don't have to wear one of those hideous dresses do you?" he asked.
"No! Angela is really cool and allowed me to pick out the dress myself. I actually really love it… I think you'd love it too…" she said.
"Well then I have to go don't I…" he said with a smirk.
"Well then… it's a date!" she said with a smirk.
"It's a date…" he said as he leaned over to continue their kiss.