OLDER WOMAN
Are you all right?
MARGARITE
No. He dumped me at baggage claim. I thought he was the one.
Margarite looks at the other woman.
MARGARITE (CONT’D)
I was going to tell him I’m pregnant.
Victoria stared at her computer screen. “Holy crap. What’s that? You’re not pregnant. No one’s pregnant. No, no, no. I’m very antipregnant. Have you read my screenplay? We’re near the end. You’re going back to your life, sadder but wiser. You’re going to self-actualize and realize you don’t need anyone to love you because you’re a very sexy and beautiful island. Do you know what a pregnancy is going to do to my storyline?”
She got up and waved her hand toward the computer. “Make it go away. This is a hard no. You’re not pregnant. Take it back.”
Someone knocked on her door. She hurried toward it, grateful for the interruption, then was surprised to find Javiar on her doorstep.
“Hi,” he said, smiling at her.
She stared at him blankly, not able to slide back into real life. What was he doing here? Yes, they were having dinner but it was only...
“What time is it?” she asked.
“Six. It’s when you said to stop by.” He seemed to take in her cutoffs and ratty T-shirt. “You’re not ready.”
“I’ve been working, and I lost track of time. Sorry.” She stepped back to let him in. “I’m in crisis with my screenplay. Margarite just said she was pregnant, and that’s totally not allowed. It messes up everything, and I can’t deal.”
He followed her into the living room. “Do you want to reschedule? We can do this another night.”
“What? No. I can get ready.” She looked at her computer, then back at him. “Do you know what it means if she’s pregnant?”
His expression turned confused. “That she’ll have a baby?”
“Yes, of course, but that’s not the significant part of it. Ignoring how this totally fucks up my plotting—which, by the way, I spent months on—now she’s going to be a single mom. She’s going to be alone in the world with a baby because God knows Jake isn’t going to want to be involved. He’s a self-centered, egotistical asshole that I gave my heart to because I was too young and stupid to see him for what he was.”
She waved her arms. “It was all witty banter and long walks on the beach until I didn’t have a choice and fell for him because in high school I’d been too busy being athletic and pissing off my mother to, you know, have a relationship and figure out the stupid parts when they wouldn’t hurt so much.”
“Are we talking about your character or you?”
“We’re talking about her. I’m not a part of this.”
“You keep sayingI.”
Why was he talking crazy? “No, I don’t. You’re wrong.”
“You said that you’d been too busy being an athlete and pissing off your mom to have a relationship.”
“No, I didn’t.”
His expression turned concerned. “You okay?”
“I’m fine. I’m not the one who’s pregnant. Didn’t she use birth control? If you’re going to have sex, you have to take care of that. What a moron. And now there’s a baby and I have to rewrite the whole damn thing.”
“Can’t you just delete the line of dialogue?”
“It doesn’t work like that, and no, I can’t. She’s a living entity. I created her, and then I set her loose into the world. She has free will.” She poked him in the chest. “This is not on me. This is totally on her, and I’m not going to deal with her problem. Forget it. I’m cutting her off.”
