NANCY
And living apart? For three years?
(MAN and WOMAN nod)
NANCY (Continued)
But it sounds like you’ve had …
(waves toward the bathroom)
… like you’ve collected a few complaints somehow…
WOMAN
We’re divorcés. We’ve both been married before.
MAN
Our problem wasn’t with marriage per se. The problem was our spouses.
NANCY
Oh my! Three years living apart?
(Points to the bed)
I think it’s okay.
(NANCY sits on bed, MAN
and WOMAN follow.)
WOMAN
I know. It sounds…well, unusual?
MAN
Unromantic?
WOMAN
But we stayed at each other’s place. We’ve…you know – been together. We just haven’t lived together.
NANCY
Of course.
MAN
It was supposed to last just a few weeks. Our living apart, I mean.
WOMAN
Weeks turned into months.
MAN
Months into years.
NANCY
Three! But I see how that can happen. You accumulate stuff. Your own stuff. Moving in together – well, the logistics can be a nightmare!
MAN
And then there’s the actual nightmare of our previous marriages!
WOMAN
Dear, please!
MAN
Sorry, hon, but it’s true! Once bitten, twice shy! Fearful comes to mind.
WOMAN
Careful comes to my mind.
(Pause)
NANCY
Well … what’s past is passed. Regardless…you’ve decided to live together. After three years.
WOMAN
Finally to be seen as a couple. A real couple. A traditional couple.
MAN
We prided ourselves on being free thinkers. You know, we don’t have to follow the crowd to feel comfortable about ourselves.
WOMAN
But after a while, you begin wonder – is it us? I mean, is something a little off?
(Laughs self-consciously)
MAN
When clearly that’s not the case!
WOMAN
It may sound funny, but when my friends send greeting cards – you know, the old-fashioned hardcopy kind that come in the mail – I’d like both our names on them. To Mr. and Mrs… Delivered to the same address. (Beat) Yeah, I’d like that. (Beat) I missed that.
MAN
That’s a new one!
WOMAN
For you maybe.
MAN
I mean, I didn’t know –
WOMAN
(Softly)
Okay, well…now you do.
(MAN holds WOMAN’s hand)
NANCY
Something tells me you two’ll be just fine. You three! In this house. In whatever house. (Beat.) Out with the old and in with the new!
MAN
Hear, hear!
WOMAN
(To MAN)
‘Though I liked your place. What you tried to do with it.
MAN
(To NANCY)
Keyword: tried.
WOMAN
No, really. Those paintings you hung.
MAN
(To NANCY)
I’m still hearing an echo of… Tried.
WOMAN
Well, you did. Try, I mean. And I love that you did. But it was still your space, of course. As for me, I need books. Lots and lots of books!
(MAN gets up from the bed and walks around the stage)
MAN
This room’ll be filled with books! Shelves and shelves of ‘em!
WOMAN
(Standing, acting out
the following action)
I need to be able to take a book off the shelf, a book I recognize – I mean, just grab it.
(To MAN)
I couldn’t do that at your place.
MAN
I know, I know.
(To NANCY)
My baseball memorabilia ain’t quite the same. But she did promise me my man cave.
WOMAN
In the basement!
MAN
(To NANCY)
That’s why we’re searching for our place. A place we can both –
NANCY
Own!
WOMAN
Enjoy!
NANCY
Uh, that’s what I meant. Own… meaning enjoy.
(MAN and WOMAN walk upstage and look out the bay window.)
MAN
Dawn through this window. Can you imagine it?
(MAN and WOMAN hold hands. THEY whisper to each other)
(NANCY, observing MAN and
WOMAN, rises from the bed and
puts on an act of reading her cell phone)
NANCY
Oh my. Texts from the office. I should reply. Do you mind? Give you two a moment to talk. Privately. I’ll just close this door.
(NANCY leaves stage right)
WOMAN
(Glancing where NANCY left)
So…will it fit?
(MAN nods.)
MAN
You think a tryout’s in order?
WOMAN
Why not?
(WOMAN sits on the bed and
removes her shoes/socks)
MAN
Wait!
(MAN turns off the lights, the STAGE DARKENS)
WOMAN
In the dark? Really?
MAN
Why not?
WOMAN
Okay. You’ll find me.
(Stage-whispered slowly, lovingly)
Take off your shoes. Come closer.
(Pause)
MAN
Space has been unkind to us.
WOMAN
Distance, a disease.
MAN
Time apart a torture.
WOMAN
Time together, unforgettable.
MAN
The memory of your touch.
WOMAN
Feeling nothing else.
MAN
Nothing but you.
