Chapter 4

After dinner I went home. I couldn't wait till Tuesday, I had to talk to Angel. I called the house and little Sara answered the phone.

"Hello."

"Hi, Sara, how are you honey? This is Uncle Brad."

"Hi, Uncle Brad. We're going out to eat with you Tuesday."

"Yes, we are, Honey. Is mommy home?"

"Yeah, she's talking to Uncle Barry."

I was struck. I couldn't talk. Uncle Barry? God, no, this can't be happening. I knew it was too good to be true. I was getting ready to hang up the phone, when I heard a voice.

"Hello, Brad, are you there? Are you okay?" It was Angel.

"Yes, I'm here. I couldn't wait to talk to you, so I thought I would call." I know my voice probably sounded dejected. "Sara said you had company."

"Barry is hardly company. He's my brother. He and his wife live in the same apartment building as me and Sara."

"Wife? Barry's married?" I asked.

"What's gotten into you, Brad? Are you okay? Yes, my brother Barry has been happily married for, going on ten years. He's one of the doctors at the clinic. Are you sure you're okay?

"I am now. I just wanted to talk to you or see you."

"Brad, I thought we were going to take it slow?"

"We are, but we're allowed to talk to each other, aren't we? If you're not doing anything I'll rent a video and we can watch it and have popcorn or something." I could hear her laughing lightly over the phone.

"Okay, you win again. Pick up something Sara will like and come over about six o'clock."

Now I was smiling. "Okay, six it is. Do you have the popcorn?"

"Yes, dear, we have popcorn." She laughed.

I stopped by the video shop to get the movies. I couldn't decide. I didn't know that much about kid's movies. There was a little girl with her mother looking at the rentals.

"Excuse me, but I need a movie for a little girl. Which ones do you like?"

She, handed me a disk of Narnia, The Little Mermaid, The Lion King, and Finding Nemo. "Is that enough?" the little girl asked. "They're my favorites."

"That's plenty. Thank you so much. You probably made a little girl very happy." I didn't tell her she helped out a middle aged man also. I didn't know which one to take, so I took them all.

I drove over to Angel's apartment. It was a really nice looking place. I had to be buzzed up. I pushed the buzzer and heard Angel say, "Who is it?"

"An old man looking for company and popcorn," I answered.

I went to their door and Sara was standing there waiting for me.

"What movie did you get, Uncle Brad?" she asked.

"I wasn't sure which one to get so I got all of these. There should be something there you like."

She couldn't really read but she recognized the pictures on the cases. She was smiling at all of them. I guess I did good. Angel walked in the room and saw Sara looking at all the movies.

"My God, Brad, it will take all night to watch all of them." She realized what she had said and we both started laughing.

Angel told Sara, "Sara, we are only going to watch two of them tonight. You pick out which two you want to watch."

I put the movie Sara chose into the player and Angel went and made two bags of microwave popcorn. She came in and dimmed the light and sat on the couch next to me. Sara sat on the floor in front of us. Damn, this was nice. So much better than being home alone.

Sara asked for something to drink, and Angel got up to get her some juice. She asked me if I wanted anything and I told her a soda would be fine. She gave Sara hers and set mine on the end table. She sat back down only this time she sat closer to me. I was like a kid on his first date wondering what to do. I reached over and gently took Angel's hand in mine and held it. She didn't pull away; in fact, she squeezed my hand. I brought her hand up to my mouth and kissed it, then I laid our hand on our thighs which were touching.

I looked at her and she was looking back at me. "Angel, I can't tell you the last time I felt like this. If I do something wrong, please tell me. I don't want to lose you."