Angela Ramirez was coming home for Christmas.  With only one more semester left before she graduated, she suddenly felt as if she had just begun. Everything had changed this year…her father wouldn’t be there at the loft this Christmas.

        That summer before had been so wonderful, so full of hope until Manny had been killed.  The fact that he had never wanted to do the gag and Nick Breen had orchestrated the whole dangerous sequence had been more than she could handle at the time.   She and Rollie had been working more as a team. Manny had allowed her to work side by side with them, not just as a gopher but to contribute her skills in computer graphics, animation and sequence boards, something that Rollie and Manny could never have accomplished.  It had made her feel special and that the direction she had chosen in college had been the right one!  But now, she could care less about anything.  Her world had collapsed.

        Now, over the extreme shock of his death, she had just been surviving with a depressed numbness and a scant willpower to finish what she had started.  She had planned not to go home, that the loft would only remind her of her father, something that she couldn’t bear right now but Rollie had called and insisted that she come home.

        “Please Angie, come home...I miss you, sweetie.  It won’t be the same without you here, really.  I need you here with me during this time...” and when he had said ‘this time’ she had caught her breath and the tears rolled over her cheeks at his words.  He was feeling as badly as she was.  She could hear the crack in his voice and knew his sorrow like no other.

        “Alright, but I’m bringing Steve with me, is that okay?” she asked, knowing that Steve and she had planned to stay in a cabin in the Catskills at Christmas time.  Their on and off again relationship was on again and having Steve around to hold her and comfort her now was what she needed to get her through this holiday.

        “S-sure,” Rollie stammered, “the more, the merrier...”

        “Is there enough room?”

        “Your room is still here, of course.  Uh, I’m in Manny’s room.  Steve won’t mind the couch, it’s plenty big and comfortable.”

        “Rollie, get real!” but Angie stopped there.  Steve had been practically living with her in her own little apartment in Corning.  Rollie knew that, he was being just like Manny about this.

        “Okay, so you’re driving in on Thursday...Christmas Eve day, right?” he asked, ignoring her last remark.

        “Yep, will see you then,” she told him, smiling for she really did miss him and wanted to see him.

        “Till then,” and Rollie had hung up, leaving her wondering what he was up to for this Christmas.  Rollie had never been big on it, had always followed whatever Manny and she had done.  She would try to think of something special to lighten him up.  She hoped he would do the same.  It was depressing enough as is and with Steve there, well- she hoped everyone would just get through this and mellow out.

        Christmas Eve day came sooner than Angie had wanted.  She was ill prepared for the trek home and with Steve along, she felt like he would be under the microscope by Rollie.  It bothered her still how he had taken over her father’s role in screening her boyfriends and getting into her personal life.  He was also the one that had doled out the cash from her father’s trust fund for her until her twenty-first birthday.  At least, she would be twenty-one in March.  She wanted to be independent and accepted as an adult by everyone but especially by Rollie.

        Steve had been great.  She nuzzled up to him in the car on the drive home from Cornell.  He was tall, sandy-haired and handsome.  He had green eyes and a wonderful set of dimples that completed his very prep look.  He came from a very well off family in Corning who at this moment were very upset that he had chosen not to come home for Christmas but instead, spend it with his bohemian girlfriend from New York City.  He had laughed to her about his mother’s comment that she came from a immigrant family of movie artists.  A jab about communists was added as well.  Angie had sighed and rolled her eyes for him but it still hurt.  What he saw in her, she didn’t know.  They had fun, both enjoyed the computer major they were working toward finishing and best of all, he was someone that she could talk to about life, sex and music without getting the first degree.  In essence, he should have been perfect.  He had told her more than once that he was in love with her but she somehow, had never quite be able to tell him that.  She wondered why it was so difficult to say those three words to him.

        Rounding the corner on Brewery Lane, Steve pulled up to where Angie had directed he should park.  They pulled suitcases and other packages from the old reconditioned,  ‘64 1/2 Mustang that Steve treasured down to the new paint job matching that year’s color, a medium blue.

        Taking out her key, Angie walked up to the door, putting the key into the lock.  There was an instant sound of a dog barking and she was put off at first, pushing open the door and looking down at a small, robotic dog barking at her.

        “What the hell?” she asked, as Steve laughed and she scooted by it, dropping her stuff and looking around.  The place looked the same, more congested with Rollie’s work now as she scanned the loft.  She cleared her throat as she almost could imagine her father coming toward her and hugging her, welcoming her home.

        “Bluey, you’re supposed to signal me with intruder alerts when the door opens!” came Rollie’s voice from the back.

        He started toward the front, now seeing that it was Angie with her boyfriend and smiled.  She looked great!

        “Angie!  Welcome home!” he cried, coming up and giving her a massive hug that engulfed her and took her almost off her feet.

        She smiled up at him as he released her.  He smelled the same, a nice smell of Bermuda Bay Rum Spyce and melted solder.  He had been putting something together in the back of the loft at his workbench.

        “Oh, this is Steve, Steve Jamison,” Angie said, as Steve put his arm around Angie’s waist and shook Rollie’s hand.  Rollie looked at Steve and felt his firm handshake.  The guy was nice-looking alright, but exuded Republican old money, Rollie thought with a grin.  He had also immediately noted the hook around Angie.

        “Call me Rollie,”  Rollie told him as Angie had forgotten to formally introduce Steve to him.

        “So, the dog?  When did you make him- what did you call him, Bluey?” Angie asked, suddenly on her knees and staring at the small robot who was wagging his tail at her.

        “After Bluey, of course- my half-dingo dog from Docker Bay,”  Rollie replied, stooping down and picking him up.

        “Wow, that’s amazing,” Steve commented, looking at Bluey with amazement as Rollie beamed.

        “This one won’t die,” Rollie added, under his breath as Angie looked at him in an instant and between them, they shared in a moment of sorrow that went beyond a childhood dog.
 
        “Well, let me show you where to stow your bags and I do have some Christmas Eve dinner started.  I hope you’re hungry!”  Rollie told them as he picked up Angie’s bags easily enough before Steve could pick one up.

        Angie followed Rollie upstairs, Steve following.  As he plopped her bags on her bed, Steve put his case on the floor of her bedroom and looked around.  It was a small room and definitely too close for comfort from the master bedroom next door.  He could see that tonight was going to be a little difficult and he had already told Angie that he would take the couch so there wouldn’t be any disputes.  Besides, he could sneak up later, he had told her as she had smiled nervously.

        “Follow me, mate- I’ve already got the couch all cleaned out and ready.  You can put your stuff in my room until tonight, eh?”  Rollie asked, as Steve simply nodded and followed him.

        Dinner was quite good, Angie thought as she finished off Rollie’s Alfredo.  He had actually done a good job of dinner and he winked at her afterwards, as she was helping him with the dishes, kicking a bag she hadn’t noticed before under the open sink door.  She should have known, Mama Leone’s delivered!

        Steve was busy checking out a program Rollie had set up on his computer in the back of loft.  He had been working on a gag for a current movie he was working on and trying to set up a sequence of events so that production could see the full effect from every camera angle.  Steve had wanted something to do and Rollie had given him the task, wondering if the guy was any good.

        “So, putting Steve through the hoops, huh?”  Angie asked, putting the last dish into his receiving towel as he dried the plate nonchalantly and looked at her puzzled.

        “What?  Angela!  He looked bored, I gave him something to do…”

        “Right…well, I am taking him away from all of that boredom in just a few minutes, Rollie.  You know, Steve and I haven’t exactly had much time together this semester.  This is a holiday for us too, you know.”

        “Of course, just that I haven’t seen you either…” he told her, as he flipped the wet towel against her rump as she jumped.

        “Hey Rollie, stop that!  I’m not a kid anymore.  Steve might not understand, you know?”

        “What’s to understand? I’m just kidding around…I can’t do that anymore?”

        “Um, it’s how you do it, you know?  Smacking me with that towel against my rear, is well- sorta taboo here and now.  I’m not twelve, you know?”

        “What’s this about your ass?” Steve asked, grinning and wrapped his arms around Angie, leaning in against her, “it’s very nice, VERY nice!”

        Rollie stood back, the look on his face- well, it puzzled Angie.  She couldn’t quite make out the emotion she saw as he looked from Steve to her.

        Steve kissed her neck and she smiled, kissing him back quickly, “hey, how about we go out for a walk, huh?  Get some air?”

        “Great,” Steve replied, “Oh Rollie, take a look at your simulation.  Tell me if you like it now?”

        Rollie was still getting over the familiarity the two of them had with each other.  Of course, he knew they were having sex but that was something he didn’t think about…it was far away, at Cornell and maybe he had just dismissed it.  But to see Angie, in the flesh and that boy pawing her, well, it made his skin crawl.  Why?  He didn’t want to see Angie hurt.

        Rollie nodded in silence as the two left then, Angie taking one look back to see that he had not moved from the kitchen, standing at the sink with the dish towel still in his hand.

        “Boy, he’s like your father, brother and jealous all rolled up in one!” Steve commented outside the loft, walking down the lane with Angie.  He had pulled a cigarette from his pack and was lighting up when Angie looked up, seeing a shooting star and smiled.  She closed her eyes and started to make a wish when she felt Steve’s lips crashing down on hers.  It ruined the entire moment for her.  She had wished to talk with her father one more time….and Steve had butted in and just ruined the whole thought of that.

        He pushed her up against the bricks of the brewery, his kiss deepening as she let him go further, his hips pressing into hers as she came up for air.

        “Steve, hey?  I thought this was a walk?  And as for Rollie, he’s been my friend for a very long time.  Don’t make this into anything it isn’t, okay?”

        Steve looked down at her, out of breath and sighed; “okay, but this Christmas Eve stuff here is boring!”

        “Why don’t we just go back then?”  Angie asked, and started to turn around to go back inside.

        “Hey?  What’s this about?  You’ve been in such a gloomy state ever since we started down here.  Is it this place?  Your father’s place at Christmas?  Come on, Angie.  I know you are thinking about him all the time.  You have to get over this!  It’s been over six months already…”

        Angie looked up at him, frowning.  He would never know the hurt she was going through.  The fact that she had seen her father killed repeated over and over again in her head and she had fought the counseling, the help calls from friends and even Steve on this.

        “What?  You going to get pissed at me on Christmas Eve?  Angie, come on, I was looking forward to tonight.  It’s been a long time, huh?”  Steve said, smiling and once again pinned her to the brick wall outside of the loft.

        “Yes, it has…” Angie said, with a distance to her voice.  It seemed Steve was not a comfort to her right now.  He was only thinking about the physical.  There was so much inside her that he had not even begun to know.

        Rollie waited like an anxious father with his daughter out on her first date.  He was still reeling from Angie’s comment to him about the towel incident.  It had never occurred to him that what he had done could be misconstrued, even by Angie now.  He had been doing that for years, what was so different?  But she was different, he knew it down deep inside.  Seeing her with Steve made him see more than he wanted to see.  He had seen the way Steve had put his hands on Angie.  He had seen the flush in Angie’s face, her throat and cheeks filling with blood.  He had also noticed that her lips commanded his attention, as she spoke…the soft fullness to them…

        Bluey was barking incessantly and Rollie woke up from his thoughts and turned Bluey off as he let Angie back in alone.

        “The dog has some minor adjustments to be done,” Rollie told her, sheepishly as she smiled at his toy and started to walk toward the staircase.

        “Where’s Steve?”

        “Um, taking a walk, a nice brisk walk!”  Angie said, not looking back and climbing the stairs rapidly.

“Okay…so far- this Christmas Eve stuff is really not catching on,”  Rollie said, tapping the end of the railing, looking up at her disappearing form, “ I wish Manny was here to help me through this…” he then added under his breath.  He was surprised to see Angie flying back down the stairs, her cry of despair so heart-wrenching to him that he opened his arms to her and she eagerly went into his embrace.

        “Oh Rollie!”

        “Sweetie, I know…I miss him so much!” Rollie mumbled into her hair, as she buried her face in his chest.

        “Why did this happen to us?” she asked, her fists clenched tightly as she unwittingly, pressed them tightly against him.  Rollie took one fist in his hand, raising it to his lips and kissed the whitened knuckles as it surprised her.  She relaxed it and pulled away from him, embarrassed.

        “I’m sorry, Rol.  I just got so tense and…angry.”

        “It’s okay, really.  I have trashed this place several times, you know.  I bet Manny was having a good old laugh there in heaven watching me too!” he added, suddenly chuckling as she looked at him, the corners of her mouth finally turning upward a bit.

        “There it is,” he said, smiling, “that wonderful smile!  I love that smile!”

        She hugged him again and in doing so, he reached down and kissed the tip of her nose.  Steve chose this time to make his entrance into the loft and in doing so, came upon the two of them and watched, his mouth opening slightly as he cleared his throat.

        “Hey,”  Angie said, her eyes sparkling as Rollie released her and she walked toward him.

        “Yeah, so I guess I can see why you wanted to come back here by yourself,” Steve said, frowning, his face getting red and his eyes growing darker as his pupils enlarged.

        Angie frowned in confusion.  Rollie got his message loud and clear.

        “Steve, not to worry, mate. Angie and I were talking about Manny.  We were just consoling each other…you have the wrong idea there!”

        “I do?”

        Angie then realized what Rollie was trying to say to Steve and smiled; “Steve, come on!  Hey, Rollie is like my big brother.  He’s my friend, okay?  You’re my boyfriend, right?”

        “Aha, just as long as Rollie understands that too…”  Steve warned.

        “Perfectly,” Rollie replied, and then turned around, going back to his loft with the decommissioned Bluey to work on his sensor detector.  He was really beginning to detest Steve and his suspicious, ugly little mind. Besides, the guy couldn’t do half the things that Angie could on the computer.  Big jerk, Rollie thought, with a half grin on his face, opening up Bluey’s back door and checking his circuit board.

        That night, Steve drank beer into the early Christmas morning.  Rollie had put away a few himself as he stayed in the background.  This was not the Christmas he had in mind.  The boyfriend had proven to be a real braggart as well as a smug preppie.  Rollie’s Christmas for Angie was being ruined.

        Angie, for her part, had taken to the photo albums, as she drank endless glasses of eggnog that Rollie had made.  It had been doctored well and she was starting to feel no pain.  Pictures flashed through her mind and before her hands as she flipped from book to book and shook her head.  She had lost count of the number of glasses she had drank. She was beginning to hate everything about this night, especially herself.  Why had she come home?  Manny would never be here again.

        Looking over, she finally made out that Steve had passed out on the couch.  She smiled and whispered “good” as she tried to get up from her chair.  She made it on the second attempt and walked over to the Christmas tree, looking at the familiar decorations on the tree.  Everything reminded her of him, as the colored lights and shiny decorations all reeled around her and her head began to spin.

        “Rollie!”

        “Whoa!  Angie, bloody hell!  How much Nog did you have?” he asked as he caught her, reeling around and grabbing for something stable.

        “Don’t know, tried to keep up with Steve!” she answered as she began to giggle.

        “Oh sweetie, you’re stone cold snockered, aren’t you?” he said, as she smiled at him and started to buckle at the knees.

        “Could be, could be…” she said, her arms flailing around his neck as he suddenly picked her up in his arms and started to carry her toward the stairs.

        “Oh….Rhett!  You really do give a damn, huh?” she said, her words slurring as she chuckled and Rollie rolled his eyes.

        Once upstairs, Rollie half flung her on her bed, removing her shoes.  She was still laughing and half sitting up as he was pulling the bedspread down.

        “Oh, here you go, gotta take this off,” she said, pulling her sweater half over her head and got caught, her face buried inside.

        Rollie pulled the sweater off the rest of the way as Angie began to unbutton her shirt.  She was started to complain about how hot it was and at the same time, her teeth were chattering.

        “Angie, come on, now- don’t worry about the clothes, just get in this bed,” Rollie told her, gently trying to coerce her forward and under the covers.

        She slapped his hand away and had finished unbuttoning her shirt, flinging it off with a triumphant “whoosh” as she started to unbutton her jeans.  Rollie stood back and turned around, not accustomed to seeing so much flesh as she got her pants off and was sitting on the edge of the bed.

        “Oh Rollie!  Hey!  Come on, I’m not going to bite you, really!” she said, and stood up, her arms wrapping around his waist from behind.

        “Okay, here we go, let’s get you in the bed, Angela,” he said, and turned, trying to pry her loose from him, stepping forward toward the bed with her backing up.  She lost her footing, her knees buckling again and she grabbed on to him as she fell, pulling him down, as he came crashing down on top of her.

        “Whoops!  Hey, this is nice,” she said, his chest against hers and as he began to pull himself off of her. She wrapped her legs around his waist, giggling.

        Rollie diplomatically tried to pry her legs from around his waist, his hands sliding up her smooth thighs, feeling her well-muscled control and he sighed.

        “Angie, let go of me, come on- you need to sleep!”

        “Mmm, yeah- we need to go to sleep.  I want to sleep, no….I want to…” and she looked up into his eyes which had been trying not to look into hers.  She stopped suddenly, a tear sliding down her cheek and then another.  Her legs dropped from around him.

        “I want my dad.  I want my dad…” she said, and Rollie closed his eyes, relaxing against her, holding her as he kissed her cheek and her forehead as she cried in his arms, so small and vulnerable beneath him.

        “Everything’s going to be okay, sweetie.  I’m here, I’ll take care of you…” he was telling her but there was something else, she thought in her confused, alcoholic haze as she felt his kisses on her cheeks, felt his hand stroking her face and hair.

        As he bent for another kiss to her forehead, she leaned her head back, Rollie’s kiss landing on her nose as he laughed at the misguided hit.  But his laughter was stilled, as her lips brushed his softly. Her kiss was ever so more giving then as he momentarily forgot himself.  The softness, the warmth and feel of her beneath him was intoxicating and he found himself kissing her back, his lips parting hers, tasting her as she moaned slightly and moved against him.  That movement of her hips into his brought him back to a reality that was giving him an uncomfortable sensation that he couldn’t deal with yet, the desire was most certainly there.

        Rollie opened his eyes, and realized that she had stopped moving.  She had passed out, her chest rising and falling with deep respirations.  He got off of her, uncomfortable as it was and was extremely thankful that she had not been a viable witness to this.  He then, very gently, moved her up and under the covers.

        “Goodnight, Angie.  Your father is looking over you and me,” he said softly,  his guilt and the realization that his feelings for her were burning through him with a raging force that was so powerful.  He was embarrassed and hoped that she would remember nothing about this.

        She murmured something softly and he turned off her light.  He walked out of her room and went back downstairs to turn off the lights in the living area.  Steve was snoring loudly on the couch as Rollie picked up the scattered bottles on the floor beside him and where Angie had been sitting.  Picking up, he then, turned off the kitchen light and stood at the bottom of the stairs, looking at the Ramirez tree decorations and remembering the Christmas’ past.  The little girl running down the stairs, ready to open packages was gone.  Her father was not going to be there waiting for her at the bottom, ready to make her day for her ever again.

        He sighed and walked back upstairs.  He went inside his room, shutting the door and crawled into bed.  He tried to get the memories of Angie’s lips against his out of his mind, out of his heart.  He reserved them for a very deep place…hoping they would stay there forever.

        Rollie woke.  He smelled bacon and sausage and wonderful things waffling through the vents in his room. It was Christmas Day and he got up, stirring around and grabbed a quick shower.  He noticed that the shower had already been used and knew that Angie must have come in and taken one earlier.

        As he walked out of his room, he peered inside, finding her bed made, her room straight.  With a pair of jeans on and a dark blue turtleneck, he came downstairs.  In the kitchen, Angie was cooking.  Steve was reading a magazine at the table and all seemed right with the world.

        “Morning,” he said and Angie smiled, stirring the eggs around in the pan as Steve waved slightly.

        “What a hangover,” Steve said, as Rollie joined him at the table.

        “Umm, yeah, but Angie, she’s got the resiliency of steel.  Look at her!” Rollie said, grinning.

        “Really?  She’s usually such a lightweight.  She doesn’t hardly drink at all, I’m surprised to hear she drank so much last night!” Steve said, watching her move around the kitchen.

        “Sorry, Rollie…I realized this morning that I polished off every bit of your egg nog.  Then, I saw the rum bottle in the trash and realized you had used the entire bottle in the nog,”  she commented, her face reddening as she bit her lip.

        “Well, not the whole bottle, something like half of it and the rest, well- there’s a rum pudding that I know you won’t be having any of today…” Rollie replied, winking.

        Angie smiled slightly, remoistened her lips and had another glass of water.  She was so thirsty.  She finished the cooking and together, the three of them, had breakfast.

        “Was I bad last night?” she asked, touching Rollie’s arm slightly as he jumped slightly and Steve looked at him, strangely.

        “Ah, no!  You were pretty out of it, but you managed to get yourself upstairs and into bed,” Rollie replied, looking down at his plate.

        “I don’t remember anything, except…” Angie began and Rollie cursed himself, hoping against hope that she wouldn’t say anything out loud.

        “Jeez Rollie, when did you go to bed?” she asked, then, her mind trying to remember something, hazy and a blur of his face close to hers came up suddenly.

        “Not long after you crawled up and fell out in your room,” he replied, quickly and stood up, still not looking directly at her as Steve watched the two of them and blinked.

        “What say we open these presents, eh?”  Rollie changed the subject and rubbed his hands together as Angie forgot her strange image that had floated around her heavy head.  She was ready for this!

        Steve got up and walked over to her smiling.  He pulled her to him and kissed her and whispered something in her ear as Rollie, seeing them so close, walked on over to the tree by himself.

        Rollie waited to open his present from Angie as she dived into hers from Steve. Steve must have brought at least a dozen presents in sometime early that morning from the trunk of his car.  Each was more expensive than the last as Angie’s mouth opened in awe.  He had run the gamut from lacey underwear to jewelry and perfume as she kissed him in thankful enthusiasm.

        For his part, Steve took her present; a sweater that she had ordered from Vermont and pulled it over him, smiling.  It was all she could afford and he did not seem to be displeased in the least.

        Finally, Angie picked up Rollie’s gift.  It was a small box, wrapped very nicely and she knew he had not done the job himself.  She opened it slowly, seeing the box and opened it. She though at first, it was a book but she then realized that it was a leather folder.  Opening it slowly, she recognized the handwriting; her father’s.  It was the deed to the loft and the books for the business, Ramirez F/X.  Her eyes went to Rollie’s downcast one’s and she took his hand, puzzled.

        “What’s this?”

        “The keys to the castle, Angie.  Your father wanted you to have these always…and I figured, well…I would give them to you a little early.  I know how shocked you were when they made me trustee of the estate.”

        “Oh no!  Rollie, I never was upset about that!”

        “Still, I know how much you resented me handing out the money and all, me living here.  It’s yours now, sweetie.  I’ve taken an apartment not far from here and hopefully, you’ll let me use the workroom here every once and a while…”

        Angie got up from kneeling and walked away, leaving the leather folder on the floor by the tree.  There was something else she had found in the folder, something that only Rollie would have remembered.

        Steve watched the exchange between them and realized that there would never be any chance for him, even it they themselves, never realized it.  He walked silently into the kitchen and poured himself another cup of coffee.

        Angie’s hands were trembling as she repeatedly tried to hook the back of the necklace.  It was a small pendant, a gold chain with a small, irregular orb hanging from it.

        Rollie’s hands brushed her neck as his fingers took over her task, fastening the clasp securely.

        “There,” he said, “thought I would forget, didn’t you?”

        Angie didn’t look up, she was flashing the orb in the light as it shown from the skylight above them.  The amber was clear and rich except for the seed that had been encased inside for millions of years- a mustard seed.

        “How’d you find it?” she asked, then looked up at his soft, brown eyes as they smiled down on her from above.

        “Oh, I had faith…I guess the faith of a mustard seed that I would find it here someday.”

        Angie immediately burst into tears, happy ones at that.  The pendant had been a gift from her father on her sixteenth birthday.  Manny had told her that the faith of a mustard seed was all that she needed to get by in life…and to remember that it didn’t take much to move mountains, just a small bit of faith in herself and God.

        “You remember the day I lost it?  Oh my God, I was a wreck…” she replied, as his hand rested on her shoulder.

        “Yes, I remember it well,” he replied, softly.

        “I guess I was pretty mean that day…telling you that I hated you for making me drop everything and help you with carrying that big prop of a dragon’s head from here to the trailer.

        “Aha…and then, your father yelled at you for being so nasty and you went into a fit and said that he loved me better than you…”  Rollie reminded her.

        “Oh yes, don’t remind me.”

        “Well, of course, it got worse when you realized that somewhere along the way, during our duel with the dragon’s head, your necklace had broken off and fallen somewhere.”

        “I looked for days…weeks!”  Angie recalled and then looked up at him again; “but you said, ‘I will find it, Angie.  Don’t worry, if it takes until the end of time, I will find it for you’.”

        Rollie smiled and then came around and sat on the couch beside her; “Manny told me I was crazy- that he had spent like, what?  Ten dollars or something on it?  That I was feeding your fantasy about always keeping my promises…”

        Angie’s lashes were wet with tears as she wiped her eyes with the back of her hand and sniffled, smiling as Rollie handed her his handkerchief.

        “So, the end of time didn’t come but you found it…where? “

        “Let’s just say, I was moving stuff around in here after your father died, a bit angrily, I might add…”

        “Um, in a rage, like me…”

        “Yeah, like that and I hit the old buffet that your father had in that corner over there, remember it?”

        “Yes, hey!  It’s gone!”

        “I’m afraid I busted it wide open, sweetie.  Used it for kindling in the fireplace though…” Rollie told her, sheepishly as he rubbed his pant legs with his palms, “I noticed when I gathered up the last bit of wood, something sorta translucent and glowing on the floor.  I realized what it was then, it must have rolled under the buffet and got lodged under there.  I know we swept everything underneath but there it was…”

        “Hmmm, right there, always here.”

        “I know it’s not much…”

        “Rollie, it’s the greatest, really!” she said, smiling, holding it inside her hand.  She stood up and then kissed him quickly on the cheek as he sat there.  She raced over to the tree and picked up her gift for him.

        “You didn’t open your present from me…it’s your only one,”  Angie said, looking sad, “and I’m afraid it isn’t great.”

        “No, you’re wrong, Ange.  I know it will be great!”

        “I wouldn’t take bets on that…” she told him and handed it to him.

        It was small, wrapped in a delicate, green foil paper with a small bow.  Rollie grinned from ear to ear.  Just the sight of a present was enough for him.  He hadn’t had much for Christmas ever…it just never occurred to Dingo while he was growing up, to celebrate it.

        He opened the small box and was shocked.  Inside, resting against the lined velvet casing was a silver harmonica and not just any harmonica but his harmonica…the one that Dingo had given him when he was around six years old.  It was what he had remembered most about his father during those early years.  It was old, probably around a hundred years at least…passed on from one generation in the Tyler family to the next.  He remembered the day that he took it to the pawn shop not far from the loft. He had not wanted to part with it but the money he got would pay for a gift for Manny when he had first started working for him.  He had bought Manny a Christmas present with the money, his way of thanking him for taking him on and working with him- trusting him and in the end, loving him like a father.

        “How?  When?” he asked, mystified and felt very strange, his hair on the back of his neck on end at the moment.

        “I went to the pawn shop after the funeral last summer.  I was going to give it to you then but, it wasn’t right.  We were both so upset and miserable.  I kept it, almost forgot about it and then, well- I was thinking that this Christmas, we both would want things to remind us of our fathers…I was so surprised to find it was still there, you know.  The guy at the pawn shop thought I was nuts when I screamed, seeing it in the glass case.  I remember it well, Rollie.  I knew how much you loved that harmonica.  You gave it up for my father…I will always remember that.”

        “Stop Angie!” Rollie told her, coughing slightly and walked away from her.  She was confused for a moment but knew then, that he was crying and she had not seen him do that often- at the funeral and now?

        She found him, having gone outside through the secret exit in the telephone booth.  He was sitting on a crate outside of the brewery, looking up at the snowflakes falling down from the overcast sky.  He was catching flakes with his tongue and she smiled.  She walked over, shivering and put her hand on his head, stroking the wavy curls back as she saw his reddened, wet face.

        “Hey there, come on back inside.  It’s cold out here…” she said, stooping in front of him.

        He looked at her crystal blue eyes, framed by her dark, long lashes and saw the snow hit her lips, as she put her tongue out and grabbed a falling flake, closing her mouth and grinning;

        “Mmmm, tastes like heaven…”

        At that moment, he couldn’t tell the difference between heaven and earth as he looked at the most wonderful Angel sent to earth, right in front of his eyes.

        “Thanks Manny for bringing Angie into this world…” he said, softly as her eyes widened, her lips parting slightly.

        “Thanks Daddy, for bringing Rollie into my world…” she echoed, looking up at the sky and realized suddenly, that her father was all around them.  She shut her eyes and felt Rollie pull her to him, hugging her as he laughed robustly.

        “Now, don’t take this wrong, Rollie but…I would prefer if you held on to the deed and the trust for a while.  I still have some growing up to do, I think,”  Angie said, as she pulled away from him, smiling and pulled him back toward the secret door to the loft interior.

        “You sure?” he asked, following her, but was pleased that she could see the burden ahead and wanted to slowly move into that venture.

        “Aha, and I think I want to move more slowly around some other things as well,” she added, thinking about Steve.  She realized now, that more than ever, she loved Rollie Tyler- not like a little girl with a crush…but like a woman.  She knew he didn’t know that she had remembered last night in her room and although it was hazy in her mind, there was no mistaking the feel of his lips, the feel of his body next to hers.

        “I have to say, this has been a really nice Christmas, Angie!” Rollie told her, as they found themselves inside the phone booth, warming up again.

        “It’s one that I think I’ll remember forever…” she said, softly as she blushed slightly and walked out the door, ahead of him.  Rollie, for his part, shook his head and thanked God that Angie hadn’t remembered the night before.

       “Thanks Manny!” he said, in a whisper but almost bit his tongue when he tripped over the
edge of the old prop dragon head that had fallen right in front of him from the shelf near the phone booth.

        “What the…?”