Stephen Metcalfe

Selected Scene from LOVES & HOURS

                                              DAN

Is it me or do we all get to a point in our lives where we are just not certain about love anymore?  We question love.  We’re afraid of love.  We don’t trust love.  We remember all the times love has disappointed us and embarrassed us.  We know how easy it is for love to turn into other things.  I mean, there are roads, aren’t there.  A lot of them.  And in the middle of the night, when you’re alone – or not, which can be even worse –  the ones you don’t take – those are the ones you think about.  You are so afraid of making a mistake.  

THE SOUND OF A HOSPITAL PAGING SYSTEM.  

DAN

And so, with that in mind, the next day I drove to Los Angeles to save my little girl from a fate worse than death – a man old enough to be her father.

LIGHTCHANGE.  THE SOUND OF A HOSPITAL PAGING SYSTEM.  REBECCA, IN A DOCTOR’S LAB COAT, ENTERS.  SHE IS READING A PATIENT REPORT.  

DAN

And then it hit me.  My little girl wasn’t a little girl anymore.

SHE LOOKS UP AND SEES HIM. 

REBECCA

What are you doing here?  

DAN

I just felt like driving up.  I wanted to talk to you.

REBECCA

I’m awfully busy.

DAN

It won’t take long.   How about a cup of coffee? 

REBECCA

Daddy… what is it?

DAN

Rebecca, you came to me for advice a couple of weeks ago and I didn’t give you any.

REBECCA

Your reaction spoke volumes.

DAN

You situation struck a little close to home, Beck.

REBECCA

Obviously.  So what did you come to tell me?  Do what I say and not what I do?

DAN

Rebecca, you judge people.  You’ve done it your whole life and if you’re not careful you’re going to wind up alone.

ANGRY TEARS SPRING TO REBECCA’S EYES. 

REBECCA

At least I let you know how I feel about things.  I don’t know what you feel or think about anything anymore.  

DAN

I think – feel – that the world is filled with decent people – people trying to do the best they can.  Sometimes they make mistakes.  In fact, when it comes to loving each other, they make a lot of mistakes.  But that doesn’t make them bad people, Beck.  And that includes your mother who has been hurt and punished by the way you’ve treated her long enough.

REBECCA

How do you forgive her, Daddy, how can you just forgive her when your entire marriage was such a sham?

DAN

It hasn’t been easy.  But it wasn’t a sham.  There was nothing your mom wanted more than us, Beck –  you, me, and Dan.  She wanted it so much she spent half her life trying to be something she wasn’t.  She couldn’t anymore.  Does that mean she didn’t love me?  No. Does that mean I didn’t love her.  I did.  I still do.  Enough that I want her to be happy.  That’s one of the things it’s about, Beck – caring about someone enough you want them to be happy, even if you’re not.  

REBECCA IS SILENT.  

DAN

This man who wants you to marry him.   You told me how old he is.  You know what you didn’t tell me?  How you feel about him.

REBECCA

What do you mean?

DAN

Come on, honey.  Can you talk to one another?  Do you like the same movies, the same books?  Is the sex any good?

REBECCA

Daddy.

DAN

Do you laugh at the same jokes, do you want the same things?  If he wasn’t in your life, would it hurt?  Would you miss him, would you be able to replace him?  Because how old or young or fat or thin or straight or gay you are, has nothing to do with that.  It’s all about loving someone, sweetheart.  It’s about the love.  That’s what I think.

REBECCA

I think, Daddy… that, yes… I am in love with this man too.

DAN

Than you have your answer.