Coffee shop/diner type restaurant. Sounds of only the restaurant. Bob and Carol sit opposite each other. They are married, have been for over a decade
now. Carol is distant. Doesn’t talk. Bob
tries to make eye contact, but Carol tries to avoid it. She fiddles with her coffee, the sugar,
stirring it. Bob watches her, yearning
to say something, knowing anything he says will be wrong. He looks at his coffee, he feels the cup, but
he does not drink. He leans back in his
chair to think. It looks like
exasperation. Carol looks at him with
disdain. A crash is heard in distant
part of the restaurant. Bob looks in
that direction to see what happened, to avoid her glare. She continues to look at him, her look
turning from disdain to despair. Bob
turns back and their eyes meet for a brief moment. Bob remembers her eyes, her body, her smell
when they first met. (Carol leaves while this is happening) He wonders if he
has thrown all of that away. This moment
is only interrupted when the waitress breaks his spell. “Is she finished with her coffee?” Bob as if awoken from a dream, looks at the
waitress then over at the empty chair where Carol was sitting. Her coffee half-drunk, chair pushed in. Bob ponders this question for longer than
anyone has a right to.
Bedroom, night. Bob
lies upright in bed. Carol sleeps next to
him. He gazes at her. She wakes, looks at him. They embrace. All is forgiven. “I love you. So much”, he says. This admission is so powerful that his eyes
swell with tears. Carol doesn’t let
go. She kisses him on the cheek.
Bedroom. Night. The bedroom is darker. Bob lies in bed, upright. No one else is present. Bob scans the room. He turns out the solitary light on the nightstand.
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