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“Are you sober? Because I’m only going to say this once, and I’d like you to remember it.”
He does not answer her but pulls a bottle of whiskey and a tumbler out from under the bar. He waits.
“After you fell into your coma, I came every day to visit you for six months. And every day, I would look at you, lying in that hospital bed, and wonder if the pain I felt wishing you would wake up wasn’t actually better than the misery of wishing you would love me back, the way that I loved you for...too long. Some days, I hoped that when you woke up, we would somehow, miraculously, work, in the way that we never had before. But most of the time, I knew better. Then, after six long months, I met Robert, and I couldn’t keep putting my life on hold for a series of 'ifs.' I felt happier and safer with him than I had ever felt in a relationship before.”
“So you gave up on me?”
“Yes.”
“And you stopped coming to visit.”
“I brought AJ to see you every Sunday, until she started school. You’re her father.”
“More than 8 times?”
“Yes, Archer, more than 8 times.”
Archer is silent and begins pouring himself a drink. What is he supposed to say to that? So Lana finishes the conversation for him, “I will always love you, Archer. I just need to be happy, too.”
He takes a drink and turns his back. She leaves, unable to tell whether he is crying. By morning, he won’t remember, either.