With Everything I Have
A beautiful young woman is on a front porch, pacing back and forth. She finally decides to knock, but there is no answer. She knocks again.
Kristen: Nick! I know you're in there. I can see your car in the driveway. Please, open the door. I need to talk to you.
Silence
Kristen: Nick! Answer the door!
After another brief delay, a young, attractive man opens up the door a crack but doesn't speak.
Kristen: [suddenly unsure of herself] Hey, um, how's it going?
Nick moves to shut the door in her face.
Kristen: Wait, Nick, don't! Please, I need you. I need you with everything I have.
Nick stops in his tracks, frozen by the familiar line.
Kristen: Please, please, come talk to me.
Reluctantly, Nick comes outside and shuts the door quickly. He stands with his hands in his pockets, determined to remain stonily silent.
Kristen: You look well.
Nick: Kristen, what are you doing here?
Kristen: I, well, I...uh...Marty...
Nick: I should have known.
Kristen: It's not like that, I swear!
Nick: Marty dumped you, didn't he? Yeah, he did. And now you're here because you're lonely and pathetic and you expect me to take you back. I told you he didn't love you. I told you he would never love you, no one would ever love you, not like I did. But you didn't listen. You never listened. You were always right, nothing I ever said mattered to you. I hate you. You are without a doubt the most selfish person I have ever met. How dare you show your face here again. When you left this town you severed your only connection to any home you will ever know. Everyone here hates you, Kristen. Everyone. No one will ever forgive you for leaving us. You left everything that mattered. For some loser with a Harley. Was our life that boring to you? Don't answer that. I'm through asking what if. I'm through wondering why. I'm through with you, and this town is through with you. Go back to where you came from. Stay away from me. I'm through with you. Forever.
Nick turned around and walked back inside, slamming the door in her face. Kristen stands there awhile, then, snapping herself out of it, pulls a letter out of her pocket and leaves it on the front steps.
End scene.
Kristen is at a playground pushing a young girl on the swing.
Lou: Higher mommy, higher!
Kristen: Okay sweetheart, but not too high...
Nick enters from stage left, the letter in his hand, a shocked look on his face. Kristen stops pushing Lou and turns to face him.
Kristen: Lou, this man and I need to talk for a little while, I'll be just over there.
Lou: Okay mommy. Love you!
Kristen walks with Nick over to the benches.
Nick: That girl, on the swing, she's--
Kristen: Your daughter.
Nick: And you're certain of this?
Kristen: The paternity test was conclusive. Besides, I was two months pregnant when I met
Marty anyway.
Nick: And you knew? How could you leave me? How could you take my daughter away from me?
Kristen: Nick, we were nineteen. You hated kids. You told me that you didn't want any, and every time we sat near them at a restaurant you had the waiter move us to another table! We couldn't even go see a movie before ten in case there was a kid in the theater. I couldn't--[she breaks off, crying. Nick puts his arm around her] I couldn't tell you, because I knew you'd leave. I could take you leaving me, but I couldn't take you leaving her. She's my baby, Nick. I couldn't ever let anyone hurt her.
Nick: She's our baby, Kristen. She's our baby.
Kristen: Really?
Nick: No matter what happens between us, I'll always be there for her. She's my daughter, and I'll always be her daddy.
Kristen: Oh, Nick--
Nick: But how could you do it? How could you leave me for Marty? Did you think he'd be a better father than me?
Kristen: Oh Nick, he was older, and so mature. He had a job and he loved kids, he said he'd take care of me, marry me and raise my daughter as his own. I loved him for that. I really did. But I wasn't in love with him, and he knew it. Our relationship was falling apart, because I was still in love with you, and he knew that too. Before I left him, he told me that it was my responsibility to tell you the truth. He said that I never gave you a choice. He was right, I didn't. But I thought that you would leave us. And I couldn't take it. But he was right. It is your choice, and I'm so sorry that I didn't let you make it. I'm letting you make it now.
Nick: Kristen, I want us to be a family. I love you. I've always loved you. And I will love our daughter, heck, I already love our daughter. More than anything. We both deserve a second chance. And we're going to be a family.
Kristen: Do you really mean it?
Nick: With everything I have.
The end
