Wings of Love (12 page)

“Not really, I just wanted to tell you
myself,” Angie’s chest heaved from crying so hard.  “I
know I deserve better than that.”

“I think you do too,” Amy said
sadly.  “I‘d still like to be friends, if you feel
comfortable with that.”

“I was hoping you would say
that.”  Angie rose up from the chair as tears started to
fall again.  “I sure could use one right now.”

***

Amy had the TV on but she hadn’t watched it
at all.  Her mind was on the conversation she had earlier
with Angie.  Joey was due home tonight from his hockey
game in Toronto and he was going to catch some hell from
her. 

Amy sat there wondering what she would do if
she were in Angie’s shoes.  She would definitely be
heartbroken if Adam had done that to her.  Would she
never want to see his face again? Would she be able to forgive
him?  Most importantly would she ever trust him
again?  Angie had some harsh questions that she was
forced to answer through no fault of her own.

The door knob turned as it swung open
slowly.  Joey walked into the house carrying his hockey
gear.  He stopped dead in his tracks when he saw the look
on Amy’s face.

“Well, well, well,” she taunted
him.  “If it isn’t Mister lover boy himself in the
flesh?  What the hell is wrong with you?”

“Hey, you don’t need to talk to me that way,”
Joey defended himself.  “You’re not my mother.”

“Would you like me to call Mom and get her
opinion on the matter?”  Amy dared him.

“Okay, I screwed up,” Joey
admitted.  “There’s nothing I can do about it now, she
has made that crystal clear.  I tried to apologize and
she won’t accept that.”

“Do you really love her?”  Amy
asked him needing to know herself in Angie’s defense.

“I love her more than any woman I’ve ever
met.”  Joey answered her sincerely.

“Then why did you sleep with someone else, if
you love her so much?”  Amy was trying really hard to
understand his actions.

“Because I’m an arrogant ass,” Joey finally
admitted to himself.  “And I’m also a selfish
son-of-a-bitch.”

“Well that’s the first step,” Amy tried to
calm down.  “To admit you were wrong and why.”

Joey sat down on the couch and placed his
head in his hands.  “I seriously thought about marrying
Angie, that’s how much I love her.  But now I went and
ruined it all.”

“Is that what you do on the ice, walk away
from a fight?”

“I would never walk away from a fight,” Joey
looked up in shock that she would insinuate such a thing.

“Then if you really love her and want her
back,” Amy suggested.  “You better be ready to fight the
fight of your life.”

“She’ll never take me back,” Joey shook his
head.  “And you know what?  I don’t blame
her.”  He ran his hands through his hair messing it
up.  “I guarantee you this, if she would by some miracle
forgive me, I promise I would never do this to her again.

***

Adam pulled his truck in the driveway,
whistling as he walked up the steps. He checked the mail box that
hung by the side of the door.  He reached in and grabbed
the mail and went into the house.  Adam threw his keys on
the hall table, thumbing through the mail.  There was an
electric bill, some letters for Bob and a letter from The New York
College.

Adam tossed the rest on the table and was
going to open it, but decided not to.  He ran into the
kitchen and dialed Amy’s number.

“Hello?”  Amy said.

“Hi, are you busy right now?”  Adam
said anxious to share this news with her.  “I received a
letter from the college today and I couldn’t open it without
you.

“How exciting!” 

“I’ll be right over,” he said as he hung up
the phone, grabbed his keys and ran out the door.

Adam jumped into his truck and headed towards
Amy’s house, with the letter in his pocket, making it there in
record time.  She deserved to hear the news first hand
after all she had done to help him get this far.

When Adam pulled up in front of her house Amy
was sitting on the swing waiting for him.  He raced up
the steps and sat down next to her.  He held the letter
up in the air for her to see.

“Are you ready?”  Adam raised his
eyebrows in question.

“Yes, I am ready to congratulate you.” Amy
was certain that he would have a positive response inside.

He slid his finger under the edge of the
envelope and opened it up then read it aloud.  “Dear Mr.
LaPointe, We are happy to inform you that you have been accepted to
attend The New York College in the fall of 1977.  “Amy
can you believe it?”  He threw his arms around her and
gave her a kiss.

“I am so happy for you Adam,” she had pride
in her eyes.  “I knew you could do it.”

“Wait there is more,” Adam
continued.  “You have also been selected to begin
practice with the New York Men’s Hockey Team.”

“Now that’s my man,” Amy couldn’t possibly be
any happier for Adam.  “Does it say when?”  Amy
looked over his shoulder as they continued to read further.

“Looks like sometime in August,” Adam looked
up at Amy realizing that was only a couple months
away.  He knew by the look on her face she was thinking
the same thing. 

“Well, we should go celebrate.  My
treat!”  Amy said happily as she jumped out of the swing
and grabbed his hand, pulling him up.  “Let’s go get an
ice cream at Dairy Queen.”

“That sounds good to me.”  Adam ran
down the steps with her, walking hand in hand down the sidewalk
towards Main Street, blending in with the scenery of the
neighborhood.

Tall oak trees lined the street which was a
flurry of activity now that the weather was nicer.  Kids
played frozen tag as they walked past.  Amy greeted the
parents who sat on their front porches enjoying the evening,
catching up with neighbors after being cooped up inside for so
long.  She laughed as Adam joined a game of kick the can
by kicking it for the kids.  

Adam set the tray down on the round, red
picnic table outside of the Dairy Queen.  He handed Amy a
spoon and her Peanut Buster Parfait.  He tore the wrapper
off of his spoon and started eating his Banana Split.

“This is so good,” Amy said as she
savored every bite.

“Amy, you know I meant what I said,” Adam
said as he ate a chunk of banana with some strawberry ice
cream.

“About what?”  Amy questioned him
nonchalantly as she relished another spoonful.

“I could go to Ferris State instead,” Adam
answered her.  “You know to be closer.”

“Adam, I think you should go.”  She
spoke from her heart.  “This is what you planned all
along.  I think you’d be making a huge mistake if you
didn’t.  I love you so much Adam I want you to follow
your dreams.  I know you would want the same for me if it
were the other way around.”

“You’re right.”  Adam knew he would
do anything for Amy.  He felt the excitement of the news
rushing back, lifting his spirits.

“Of course I am,” she teased
him.  “Now are we going to my place or
yours?”  She picked up the cherry from his banana split
and feed it to him with a twinkle of mischievousness in her
eyes.

***

Amy looked proudly at Adam as he stood with
his parents in front of their house to take a picture of him in his
cap and gown.  He had successfully passed his GED with a
3500 on his combined score!

“Say cheese.”  Amy snapped a
picture with her new Polaroid camera.

“Let me take one of the two of you
together.”  Mrs. LaPointe reached for the camera.

Amy posed with Adam for a few pictures then
she took some more of his family including some with his
sisters. 

Adam’s father went up to him and shook his
hand.  “I’m proud of you son.”  He slapped him
on the back then cleared his throat.  “I made a promise
to you and I’m a man of my word.”  He handed an envelope
to Adam.  “That should be enough to get you through a
couple years of college. 

Mr. LaPointe continued with his words of
wisdom for his son.  “I love farming and I wouldn’t want
to do anything else.  I respect you, not only as my son,
but as a man, to do what you think is right.  A man has
to stand up for what he believes in or he’s not a man at
all.”
“That means a lot coming from you,” Adam said as his voice quivered
with emotion.  “I love you dad.”

“I love you too, son.”  Mr.
LaPointe nodded then clapped his hands together.  “Now we
better get a move on or you’re going to miss your
commencements.”

Amy walked side by side with Adam to the
truck.  She knew what his father said meant more to him
than that money in the envelope ever would.

All of them sat waiting for the commencement
ceremony to begin.  Amy loved his family dearly and
endeared the fact that they treated her like she was a part of
it.  She could see why Adam was the man he was
today.  He had his mother’s warmth and loving nature as
well as her quick wit.  From his father he had inherited
his sense of loyalty, dependability and protector of the ones he
loved.

Amy watched Adam as he made the procession
across the stage when they announced his name.  This was
a new chapter in his life.  She felt the tears as they
rolled silently down her cheeks.  Amy wasn’t certain if
they were tears of joy for Adam or tears of sadness for
her.  Maybe they were a mixture of both.

Chapter 11

Amy kicked off her shoes as she came in the
door after an exhausting day at work.  Sandy had called
in sick so they were short one register which meant longer lines
and no breaks today.  She plopped on the couch and put
her aching feet up on the coffee table.

Joey came downstairs, unshaven and looking
like he hadn’t slept much lately.  He turned on the TV
and sat down on the couch next to Amy.  She had never
seen him look so miserable as these last couple of weeks. 

“Are you okay?”  Amy finally
decided she couldn’t ignore the fact that he had not been himself
lately. 

“No I am not okay.”  Joey had been
suffering terribly since his break-up.  “I’m can’t eat, I
can’t sleep and the saddest part is I don’t care.  That’s
what I get for cheating on Angie.”

Amy never saw Joey react to a break up like
this.  In fact, he had never taken a relationship
seriously before.  He usually loved them and left
them.  The girls chased him; he let them catch him and
then broke their hearts by moving on to the next
one.  Never had a woman put him in his place before or
broke his heart, let alone deflate his ego so much.

“Amy, I don’t know what I’m going to
do.  She hangs up whenever I call.  She won’t
answer the door when I go to her house.  I must have left
a whole florist shop on her doorstep.”  Joey continued
blurting out what he had been keeping to himself.  “I’m
so desperate I even thought of going up to the hospital to see
her.”

“I wouldn’t do that if I was you,” Amy said.
“It certainly would not help your situation.”

“I know,” Joey shrugged his shoulders as he
got up to change the channel on the TV.  “I guess I
should have realized how much I needed and loved her before I
screwed it all up.”

Amy stared at her brother while he was
watching the baseball game on TV with no enthusiasm
whatsoever.  She had tried her best to remain neutral and
mind her own business, but it was hard when two people she loved
were both hurting so much.  She could see that they both
loved each other even if they didn’t.  Amy didn’t say a
word to Joey as she headed upstairs to her bedroom.  She
closed the door, grabbed her phone and sat on the bed to call
Angie.

“Angie, how are you doing?”

“Still not back to my old self,” Angie said
truthfully.  “I guess I’ll eventually get over it.”

“Would it make you feel any better if you
knew Joey has been nothing but miserable since you left
him?”  Amy tested the waters to see if Angie was even
open to talking about it.

“Really?”  Angie seemed
surprised.  “Yes, it does make me feel
better.  I thought he would have moved on by
now.  Thanks for letting me know.”

“Hey, what are friends for?”  Amy
was glad to hear some relief in Angie’s voice.  “I heard
he’s been sending you flowers.”

“I’ve never seen so many roses in my life,”
said Angie.  “I have to admit it, but I have enjoyed
seeing him grapple with his conscience.”

Amy pondered if she had already said too much
but she decided to go with her heart. 

“Do you really love my brother?”

Amy heard Angie as she exhaled deeply then
the phone was silent for a few minutes.  “Yes, as much as
I hate to admit it, I still do love Joey.”

“You have to promise me not to ever tell him
we had this conversation.  The only reason I am going to
tell you this is because anyone who would still love my
knuckleheaded brother after what he’s done deserves to know the
truth.”

“Yes, I promise.  But what are you
talking about?”

“Joey does love you Angie.  He told
me so himself.  I have never seen him act like this or
feel so sorry before in my life.”  Amy laid it all out on
the table for Angie now it was up to her to decide what she wanted
to do.

“I don’t know what to say,” her voice
quivered.

“It doesn’t excuse his actions,” Amy clearly
said.  “But he told me if you ever forgave him he would
never do this again.  And I do believe him when he said
that.”

“This is a lot to think about,” Angie said as
she tried to take it all in.  “I appreciate the fact that
you cared enough about me to let me know.  I really don’t
know what I am going to do.  It will take more than
flowers to mend my broken heart.”

“I understand Angie.  If you ever
need a shoulder to lean on you know I am here for you,” Amy
reassured her.

“Thanks Amy,” Angie ended the
conversation.