Max it doesn’t matter how much you’re doing, what matters is you shouldn’t / be—
MAX: JUST BECAUSE I DON’T WANT YOU TO BLOW ME AT YOUR FUCKING GREAT-GRANDPA’S HOUSE DOESN’T MEAN YOU—
(Max catches himself. Eddie looks away, sitting back down at the table.)
Sorry. Fuck. (Pause) Look, I—. I won’t do it here anymore, okay? And Isabelle and I won’t—. We’ll just forget about this.
EDDIE (Still not looking at him): Okay.
(Pause.)
MAX: Sorry, okay? I’ll—I’ll see you tomorrow.
(Max exits. Eddie sits alone.)
Scene Six
Afternoon, between lunch and dinner.
Tammy stands near one of the empty tables. The other table is covered in dirty dishes. Troy stands, keeping his distance. Country music plays lightly in the background.
A tense silence.
TROY: We shouldn’t be doing this here.
TAMMY: So tell me what hotel you’re staying at. (No response) We can talk in the parking lot if / you’d rather—
TROY: Tammy, I’m working, so I / can’t—
TAMMY: Is Becky okay?
(Pause.)
TROY: She’s fine.
TAMMY: Did you get a decent—? You aren’t at the motor lodge, are you?
TROY: We’re fine.
(Pause.)
TAMMY (Simple, exasperated): Come back home, Troy.
(Pause.)
TROY: I told you that if you started drinking / again—
TAMMY: And you only said that so you could—win or whatever, be on higher moral ground—
TROY: Tammy I’m in the middle of my shift right now, I’ll give you a call later maybe / we can—
TAMMY: No, I can’t do this anymore, I can’t— . . .
(Tammy stops herself, looking at the floor.)
TROY: What?
TAMMY: I can’t do this anymore.
TROY: You can’t do / what?
TAMMY: This. This thing, this same argument, you threatening to run off with Becky, this whole—. How many times have we been here? If we go through this again, I don’t know what I’m going to do, I feel like I— . . .
(Eddie enters, unseen by Troy and Tammy.)
We can’t do this anymore, we—
(Tammy notices Eddie. Troy turns to him. An uncomfortable silence. Eddie exits.)
TROY: Okay, let’s—. Let’s please not do this here. And let’s both just take this down a notch. Couples go through this kind of / stuff all the—
TAMMY: No, they don’t, this isn’t— . . . (Short pause, losing herself a little) I see myself, I think about who I’ve turned into, and it’s like—I don’t even know who I am anymore, I’ve turned into this strange person, this person I don’t even like, and I—
TROY: Tammy, have you had anything to drink today?
TAMMY: No, Troy, have you?! This has nothing to do with me drinking. I realize it would be easier for you if it was about me drinking, that would be a lot simpler, but it’s not about that, it’s—.
(Pause.)
I keep telling myself that eventually I’m going to feel normal, but I never feel normal, because none of this is normal, our jobs, this town, this isn’t—
(Becky enters, they both stop talking suddenly. Becky looks at them for a second, then heads to the table covered in dishes. She starts clearing them off.)
Hi, honey.
BECKY: Hi.
(Pause.)
TAMMY: You doing / okay?
BECKY: You know if you guys are going to fight maybe you could do it in the parking lot or something.
TROY: We’re not fighting.
BECKY: You guys don’t even know how to not fight anymore.
(Becky exits, leaving some of the dishes still on the table. Pause. Tammy stares off into the distance, not looking at Troy.)
TROY: Look, we’re—. We’re at the Holiday Inn. (Pause) Let’s please not blow this out of proportion, okay? We’ve been here before. Just—. Just stay and have some food, I’ll see if I can get off early and we’ll go talk, and work things out. We always work things out.
(Isabelle enters.)
ISABELLE: Oh, hey. Troy—I thought you had table nine?
TROY: Yeah, I do. Sorry.
(Troy gets up.)
ISABELLE (To Tammy): Would you like anything, or are you just here to talk to Troy?
(Brief pause.)
TAMMY: Yeah, uh. I’ll have the soup salad breadsticks thingy. Extra breadsticks.
ISABELLE: You want the Zuppa Siciliana or the Zuppa Toscana?
TAMMY: What?
TROY: Veggies or meatballs.
TAMMY: Meatballs.
ISABELLE: Not a problem.
(Isabelle exits. Pause.)
TROY: Look, I’m sorry, okay?
(Pause. Max enters.)
MAX (To Troy): Buddy they’re really looking for you at table nine.
TROY: Okay.
(Troy exits with Max.
Becky enters to get the remaining dishes from the other table. She doesn’t look at Tammy.)
BECKY: You guys divorced yet?
TAMMY (Impulsively):
