When The Lights Go Down

Starting Over Again

"I'll have your orders soon, can I get you anything else in the meantime?" The waiter offers as he fills their glasses.

"No, I think we're alright. Thank you." FP replies.

"So let's not beat around the bush any longer," Gladys begins. "We need to talk about the other night."

"Yeah, we do." FP agrees but before he can elaborate Gladys speaks again.

"I think we should give this another try. A real, honest try." She firmly decides. "I don't think we should tell June right away though, especially since you're still on tour, it might get too confusing for her. But I was thinking maybe we could go over the tour dates, plan out some specific times for us to come visit? And-"

"Wait, Gladys, no." FP scrambles to say, the words cutting her off guard. "I don't... I don't think this is such a good idea."

"What do you mean it's not a good idea?" Her expression is clearly peeved and he instantly feels his stomach tie up in knots. "Don't you want to give us another try? I thought that was what we both wanted?"

"I wish I could say yes, I wish we could start all over and give it another try, I wish we could forget all that's gone on but I can't Gladys." His voice shakes as he says it. "You broke my heart, you broke our family, I'll never be able to get over that."

"We could try-"

"No, you don't understand, every time I look at you I see you in our bed with someone else. The other night, every time I touched you all I could think about was how someone else had done this to you and that you left me for him." He explains, the words sounding harsher than he intended. "It's not fair to me, it's not fair to you, and it's certainly not fair to June. She deserves two happy parents, and we won't be if we're together."

"So what was the other night then? Was I just an easy lay for you? Someone to release pent up sexual energy?"

"No! God no, Gladys. When you kissed me everything we had came rushing back, for a moment it felt like we were us again. But then after... I felt terrible-"

"Gee, that's a real confidence booster." She scoffs.

"I don't mean it like that, you were great, we've never had a problem in that regard. But I realized after that there wasn't anything left between us, I'll always love you, that's something that will never change but I can't do this again. I can't put my heart on the line again, Gladys. I can't risk being hurt again, it was too much, I almost... I almost slipped back into old ways and I can't risk that." She's silent, unmoving as she mulls over his words. "G, say something." He pleads.

"You couldn't have said this the other night? Before I humiliated myself by coming onto you?" She laughs a little and he smiles.

"You did not humiliate yourself," FP tells her. "Don't worry about that. I enjoyed the hell out of myself." He chuckles.

"Well we've still got that going for us at least." She sighs. "I guess you're right, maybe it is for the best if we call it quits." She decides, though there's a hint of bitterness in her tone at the sentence, and he can tell it's not entirely what she wants.

"So we're okay?" He questions, covering her hand with his own.

"Yeah. We're okay." she agrees. "I'll always love you too by the way."

"I know."

"And I'm sorry... for everything. For hurting you, for hurting us, breaking up our family."

"It's in the past, I just want to move on." He assures her.

She swallows thickly. "I have the papers." She admits. "I brought them in case things didn't work out, I just hoped I wouldn't have to bring them out."