A/N: I really try to do my research about Arizona and the 1980s before writing anything, but there is an anachronism in this chapter. The Arizona Diamondbacks are an MLB expansion team established in 1998, when Chase Field, with its retractable roof, opened. It's really much too hot to hold major sporting events without that feature now, but the climate was slightly more forgiving forty years ago. Let's imagine the team used a traditional ballpark and did not play day games over the summer.

Chapter Forty-Two: Cracker Jack

Ricky McEvoy walked off the plane at SkyHarbor on a mission to spot his petite girlfriend's chin-length grey bob. There were businessmen criss-crossing the terminal and blocking his view from the jetway. He gripped the handle of his suitcase in both hands and stood on his toes, as if the extra inch or two of height would make a difference. When he stepped past the airline counter, he saw her in a lavender V-neck t-shirt and short denim skirt. It was an outfit his granddaughter would wear, he thought.

"Hi there, stranger," she said, giving him a squeeze on the arm. He wasn't opposed to public displays of affection, but after two months apart, he wanted to be behind closed doors when they finally embraced.

"Hi sugar," he said, giving her a kiss on the temple. "Thank you for picking me up, but I could have rented a car." They strolled away from the gate

"Nonsense! We're going to be together all the time, aren't we?" she asked, turning down the corridor.

"That's the plan," he agreed.

"Let's go back to my place and catch up," Mona replied, leading the way to the exit. An hour later, the two were back in Mesa enjoying a wonderful reacquaintance.

"I've really missed you, Cassie," Ricky said, cuddling her when round one was finished. "I wish you'd come visit me up north."

"It's impossible for me to get away with the kids out of school," Mona explained.

"Jess works nearby. Don't you think Jen is old enough to watch Chris during the day?"

"Oh, Bobby and Jess aren't really comfortable leaving the kids to their own devices. Maybe next summer they would consider it. But I forgot to tell you that Jess might be changing jobs again. She applied for a position in Phoenix with the Department of Education."

"Well, if she's half the charmer you are, I'm sure she'll get it."

"She's not. But she's very professional, and this job is right up her alley. I think she has a good shot."

"How does Bobby feel about her earning more money than him?"

"He doesn't mind too much. The guy is head over heels for her, and he knows she's got brains to spare."

"It's nice to know they got past all that business with her old boss. Fifteen years is a lot to throw away." Ricky sighed heavily.

"That's how long you were married, isn't it?" Mona asked. "What happened there?"

"Same old story. I worked too much. Anita was basically a single parent and I took her for granted. It wasn't until we got divorced that I started spending time with my kids."

"When was the last time you saw her?"

"Oh, it's been a while. Kevin hosted Thanksgiving last year, and Anita had just lost Cal over the summer. He was a great stepdad. A great guy in general. They were together twenty-seven years, so it wasn't easy for her to face the holidays alone. We had a good chat while everyone else was watching football."

"It's nice to know that you're still on good terms."

"In small doses," he laughed. "You know, I got up at three in the morning to see you. A nap would really hit the spot right now."

Mona took an eye mask out of her nightstand and handed it to Ricky. "Go for it. I'll make lunch," she said, leaving him to rest. She was just in time to catch the phone ringing in the kitchen.

"Moretti residence," she said into the receiver. "Jessica is at work, but I'd be happy to take a message." She reached for the pad of paper they kept nearby and took down the info. "I'll have her give you a call back as soon as possible."

Mona dialed her daughter's office.

"Business Services, this is Jess," Angela answered.

"Jess, it's Mom. Can you speak freely?" Mona asked.

"Hold on." Angela closed the door to her office. "What's up?"

"Stephanie from the DOE called to request an interview. They want you in at three on Tuesday, if possible."

"Oh, that's when I have jury duty. Do you think I'll be out by then?"

"I was only there for a couple of hours. There's no way they're going to need you longer than that."

"OK, I'll call her back and confirm. Thanks, Mom." Angela typed Stephanie's number into a blank Lotus 1-2-3 cell. "Do me a favor and hold onto that number," she advised.

Two minutes later, Jessica Moretti had confirmed a panel interview for the Director of Communications job and deleted the evidence. Angela had already formally applied to make her role as Acting Executive Director of Business Services permanent. The interim post had been awarded on the basis of Nate's recommendation and her recent Associate Director of Fiscal Services interview. She was on a roll.

At three, Mona and Ricky pulled up to the curb outside the elementary school. "Hey there, Chris!" Ricky called out. Jonathan greeted them as he sat in the back seat. He handed his grandmother an envelope, which she opened immediately. Inside was a note from Chris' teacher recommending a session with a child psychologist.

"Hold on. I need to run inside," Mona said, finding a parking space. She left the car running so her boyfriend and grandson didn't perish in the heat.

"Mrs. Templeton!" Mona called, seeing the woman lock her classroom. She jogged over. "Could we talk for a minute?"

"Mrs. Walsh. Yes, let's go back inside," Mrs. Templeton suggested. "I'm worried about Chris because he's submitted a few writing assignments and art projects that center an idealized father character. That's pretty normal for kids from broken homes and those with absent or disengaged fathers, but Chris describes his dad as a very active parent. That's how Mr. Moretti strikes me, too. Have there been any changes recently?"

"Bobby started working more regular hours. That's why he hasn't been coming around the school, but he's home every evening and all day Sundays."

"That's good. I was just concerned."

"Thank you. I'll pass your thoughts on to his parents," Mona promised the teacher.

"Am I in trouble, Grandma?" Jonathan asked when Mona got back in the car.

"Not at all, Chris. Let's go get your sister."

The junior high pickup went more quickly. Sam was in a great mood with one day left in school and report cards already out. Both kids had gotten mostly As and a couple of Bs, which Angela and Tony let slide. They were doing well academically and socially, especially considering all of the upheaval in their lives.

"Hi Ricky. Can we make cookies, Grandma?" Sam asked.

"Absolutely. I've already got the butter out to soften," Mona replied.

"Yay!" Jonathan cheered. The two high-fived in the back seat.

"Ricky is making shepherd's pie for dinner," Mona bragged.

"Sounds good!" chirped Sam.

x

Late Saturday night, Tony and Angela put their kids to bed and debriefed. They had spent Thursday and Friday evenings getting to know Ricky better. Mona's boyfriend surprised them with field-level tickets to a Diamondbacks game. "Sorry they're not playing Cleveland," he had said about the visiting Mets.

The kids celebrated being out of school with hot dogs, soda, Cracker Jack, and ice cream sandwiches. Both of them succumbed to the long, hot game, passing out in the jump seat of the Volvo. It was just as well. Jonathan probably would have thrown up or needed to sit between Ricky and Mona if he had managed to stay awake for more than three minutes. He had barely made it on the way there, before all the junk food. There had been an agreement among the adults not to send him to a child psychologist. Mona was going to try to get to the bottom of his issues herself. She was the master of analyzing her own family members, after all.

"Tony, I really like Ricky," Angela said, taking off her polo dress while her shirtless husband brushed his teeth. "He's sweet and humble and generous, and unquestionably in love with Mom. I just worry about what's going to happen to them." She grabbed her toothbrush and applied toothpaste.

Tony spit in the sink. "You're thinking about jury duty already, aren't you?" Angela nodded while brushing. "Well, we don't know what's going to happen until then, if anything, so let's try not to dwell on it for the next four days." He splashed water over his face and picked up a towel to dry off while she spit. She took the towel away and dried her own hands on it. "Like what you see?" he asked, threading his fingers together behind his head and flexing his biceps to distract her.

"You're a hunk," she admitted, stepping closer and grazing her fingers over his muscles, "but you stink."

He hugged her around the waist. "Take a shower with me."

Angela shook her head. "It's late and we're changing the sheets tomorrow anyway. Just come to bed."

Tony unhooked her bra. "Take a shower with me," he insisted, rubbing wide circles over her back. She melted into him, trapping the garment between them, and he realized she was in the mood to be comforted, not excited. "OK, we'll go to bed," he conceded.

They got under the covers in just their underwear, and he invited her to lay her head on his chest. "It's not fair, is it?" she asked rhetorically. "We get to be ourselves with each other and she has to lie."

"It's not fair. None of this is fair." He raked through her hair and wondered if she had noticed the grays starting to appear, now that she had completed a gradual migration to her natural color. Time kept moving along, no matter what they did. "One thing your mother is good at is enjoying life as it is, without wasting energy struggling against the situation she's in. I think she'll be glad she gave Ricky a chance to love her."

"I'm glad you gave me a chance to love you," Angela said, looking up at him. She set a hand against his cheek. "I'm glad you allowed me to stay in your life when things were so uncertain, and I'm glad you were able to forgive the mistakes that I made."

Tony twisted to kiss her lips. "We both made mistakes, remember? The important thing is that we learn from them and move forward."

"There's something I need from you."

"It's all yours, baby," he told her lightheartedly.

"Not that. I need you to talk to me about school. What's going on, how you feel about it, everything. And I think I need to talk to you more about work, whichever job I end up taking."

"Alright, we'll do that. I think we're capable, don't you? Look how well we've done managing our finances together."

"You were always my biggest cheerleader before. I need to be able to count on you for that."

"I've got you, honey. No need to worry." He wrapped her up in his arms.

"Do you really think you're still going to be attracted to me if I get pregnant? I gained sixty pounds the first time."

"I'll be attracted to you no matter what you look like," he told her. "You're beautiful inside and out."

"I was just as attracted to you when you started getting a gut," she said, palming his midsection. "I understand that you didn't feel healthy, so I'm glad you made time to start taking better care of yourself, but you still looked great to me."

"When Marie was pregnant, her cheeks puffed up and her ankles swelled like crazy. I know she was insecure about it, but to me, she was as gorgeous as ever."

"You miss her."

"I'll always miss her. She should have been alive fifty years from now."

"I'm happy you were able to keep the button."

"There's something else I didn't tell you. It wasn't just the button. There was a nickel that Sam used to play with when she was in the van with us. It was her imaginary friend when she was three. I gave it to her two weeks ago, after the dance."

Angela sat up in shock. "You gave a three-year-old a nickel? That's a choking hazard!"

"Get back here," Tony said, pulling her against him once again. "I know that now."

"It's good for her to have something like that, too. I wish Jonathan had some connection to Michael."

"I understand why he's missing his real dad. But I can't help but think they weren't going to see much of each other no matter where we lived."

"You're probably right. He was so inconsistent as a father, even when we were married. We were really fortunate that you came along to be a dependable parent. Or housekeeper." Angela laughed. "You were my housekeeper. That doesn't seem possible anymore. I mean, it really sounds crazy. Being married feels so much more plausible."

"I was so nervous about being able to convince strangers that we were a couple. Has anybody ever questioned it?" Tony chuckled.

"I don't think so. Either we're really good actors, or we were meant to be together."

"I'm a terrible liar. We were definitely meant to be together."

"Why is it so hard for me to keep my hands off you?" she asked, flicking his nipple playfully.

"I was actually going to let you go to sleep and not put the moves on you for once," he told her, pulling her on top of him. He planted a kiss between her breasts and squeezed her butt through her cotton panties. "You don't smell so fresh either," he teased, nuzzling her armpit, "but I love it."

x

Tony, Angela, and the kids went to church on Sunday, telling Mona that they wouldn't be home before one-thirty. She had covered for them often enough that she deserved to have privacy from younger ears. The thought crossed Tony's mind that Mona and Ricky could be getting busy elsewhere in the house, but he didn't mention it.

After an exploratory glance through the door, Tony led his family into the house. Mona's suite was quiet, and he guessed Ricky was taking another nap. The poor guy was being put through his paces. Angela distributed special chore lists. "This is what we're expecting you to accomplish during the week, now that you're not going to school," Tony explained.

"I have a job, Dad," Sam complained.

"Ten hours a week, Jen. When you're grown up, you'll have to work ten hours in a day sometimes."

"Mom?" the girl whined.

"We're a united front, honey. I have a demanding job and my own duties at home. And Dad is going to be managing a full-time job, summer courses, and still contributing at home. Even Grandma will be caregiving during the day and working nights."

"I don't mind extra chores," Jonathan sang.

"Chris, you're a suck-up."

"Whatever you do today, Mom and I will be able to help with. If you wait to start tomorrow, you're on your own."

Working as a team of four, the family managed to complete most of the items on the weekly list. Mona and Ricky snuck out to have a fancy dinner together. Tony prepared a nice meal, veal parmigiana, for everyone else. The kids were both in their rooms, ready for bed by nine.

"Nervous?" Angela asked Tony as he laid his head in her lap on the couch. She rubbed her hands over his short hair without thinking.

"About tomorrow? No, not really. How hard could it be? I'm going to have class with seventeen-year-olds."

"Maybe younger. A lot of high school students pick up credits during the summers."

"Hopefully I'll finish my degree by the time our daughter starts college."

"I'm really proud of you. You know, I always thought you were destined to do big, important things."

"You did? Is that why you're with me? Because I haven't done anything yet."

"The things you do every day are important, sweetheart."

Tony grabbed Angela's hand and settled it against his heart. "I love you so much. I really hope I can fulfill your expectations."

"You've already exceeded them," she told him. He kissed her palm and put her hand back on his chest, covering it with his own.

"So, are you wearing your Brooks Brothers suit on Tuesday?"

"Yes. Do you think that's alright?"

"You look like a million bucks in that outfit, babe."

"Sheila has her second interview tomorrow. She's worried sick about it."

"She told you that? It sounded like she was a shoo-in after the first round."

"No, she actually got sick when we were talking about it in the ladies' room."

"You don't think she has a virus, do you?"

"I don't know. She did seem pale. I hope we didn't catch anything. There's so much going on in our family right now."

"Give her a call tomorrow after work to see how it went. Then you can find out if she's coming down with something."

"Alright. We need to go to bed. I'm zonked after all that cleaning, and you have a big day tomorrow. Math Mondays, right."

Tony sat up. "Yeah, and I need to pick up my textbooks before class. They were still out of stock yesterday, but the kid on the phone promised me they'd be ready by tomorrow."

"Let's go," Angela said, extending a hand to pull her partner off the couch.