Nights in Rodanthe Page #4

-On the mound for Atlanta-

-World Series.

Smoking John Smoltz.

-The crowd is on their feet. Wait.

-Get out of the way!

He wins! They win! The crowd goes wild.

Yes, yes.

-Oh, yeah.

-Quite an arm you got there, tiger.

When I was a kid, Barbie's head

was the ball and her body was the bat.

ADRIENNE:
Yeah!

PAUL:
Yes! Another! Yes! Three.

PAUL:
Okay. Okay, who's next?

ADRIENNE:
Whoo!

[ADRIENNE AND PAUL LAUGHING]

You okay?

I have to go to bed. I have to go to bed.

-I have to go.

-Okay.

Good night.

PAUL:

Easy with the door, tiger.

ADRIENNE:

Oh, thank you.

-How you feeling?

-Ha.

Well, after five out-of-date aspirin,

I'm a little better.

You?

Yeah, ran it off. Sort of.

I put Jean's cans back.

-Even the succotash?

-Ha-ha-ha.

Listen, it's official, the Coast Guard

has issued a hurricane warning.

If you're going back to the mainland,

you should probably get started.

Well, I couldn't get an earlier flight anyway,

so, just...

What about you? You going back?

I can't. I told Jean

I'd look after the place.

[VEHICLE APPRO ACHING]

Dr. Flanner. I'm Robert Torrelson.

Believe you met my son, Charlie.

Get down off your high horse

and say hello to these people.

You have a minute to talk, doctor?

PAUL:
Sure.

-Won't you come inside, Mr. Torrelson?

I'm all right here.

I'm sorry for your loss.

I wanna know what went wrong.

Your wife, Mr. Torrelson,

what happened to her...

...it happens in one out of 50,000 cases.

They react to the anesthesia.

One out of 50,000?

Yeah.

Yeah, I've spent I can't tell you how

many hours breaking down the surgery.

There's no one to blame.

You'll never convince a jury otherwise.

That what your lawyers told you to say?

Actually, my lawyers

told me not to come.

You come anyway.

I guess that makes you

some kind of great man.

Can I ask you something, doctor?

Do you know what color

my wife's eyes were?

My wife is dead.

My wife is dead.

We were married...

...for 43 years.

What?

[THUNDER RUMBLING]

What?

It's all right, I'll do it. I got this.

You got something to say, say it.

The man is in mourning. He lost his wife.

-I know a little about mourning. Okay?

-Okay.

Do you have any idea how much courage

it took that man to come here to see you?

I'm the one

who drove 200 miles to see him.

And then what?

Not for one minute did you show him

that you knew he'd lost anything precious.

You defended yourself.

Of course I defended myself!

The guy's got a lawsuit against me.

Is that how you plan on handling things

when you go visit your son?

What's my son got to do with this?

You know, protect yourself,

defend yourself.

-Never mind, you don't get it.

-No, you don't get it.

You don't get it

and Torrelson does not get it.

I kept going over and over this operation.

Over it, a thousand times I went over this,

thinking that maybe I'd made a mistake...

...that I wasn't as good as I need to be.

Because I made a decision

a long time ago...

...to be the best doctor that I could be.

Not the best...

...husband, maybe, the best father,

the best doctor.

The only thing that really matters is

I did everything I could to save that woman.

That's what I came here

to explain to him.

He didn't want an explanation, Paul!

What did he want from me?

Realize that you are part

of the worst thing...

...that will ever happen to him.

He's still in that hospital room...

...waiting for you to come out

and just look him in the eye.

What are you so afraid of?

What are you so afraid of?

-How long you been married?

-What does that have to do with anything?

Can you even remember

who you really are anymore?

It's all about choices, Adrienne.

You make choices.

You chose that life. You chose that man.

Now you're going back to him,

aren't you?

Just stop it. Just stop it!

[LOUD RUMBLING]

PAUL:

Adrienne!

[ADRIENNE GRUNTS]

[ADRIENNE YELLS]

Adrienne?

Adrienne?

Hey.

You all right?

Yeah.

Did you hear the phone ring

early this morning?

No.

Danny had an asthma attack,

and Jack took him to the hospital.

-Is he all right?

-Yeah.

This is the first time

anything like this has happened...

...and I wasn't there.

My son was Iying in a hospital bed.

And where was I?

The lines were down.

-You shouldn't blame yourself.

-Shouldn't blame myself. God.

Well, I do blame myself.

There was one thing

that I thought I got right...

...it's being a good mother.

I can't just do whatever I want to,

whenever I want to, you know?

Maybe that works for you,

but it doesn't work for me.

I'm sorry, I just- I can't.

I know you're hurting...

...because you weren't there

with your son last night.

But I want you to know...

...that I envy what you have.

Your kids are very fortunate they have

someone who loves them as much you do.

Someone who tries so hard.

And any man is a fool who doesn't...

...know how incredibly lucky he is...

...to have you.

ADRIENNE:

Paul. Wait.

Her eyes were dark brown and soft...

...like she'd never hurt a soul.

And she wouldn't, neither.

I knew Jill since we was in school.

That thing on her face, she always had it.

I didn't care about it. I never even saw it.

[CLEARS THRO AT]

But she wanted it off.

I'd find her in the bathroom...

...crying, looking at it.

She'd be saying,

"I wanna be pretty for you. "

It broke my heart when she'd say that.

Because she was pretty. She was so...

But...

...that's what she wanted,

she wanted the operation.

And in our whole life,

I don't remember her asking for anything.

So I said yes.

That was how we come to you.

I wanna thank you

for showing this to me.

You were the last person...

...she saw or spoke to on this Earth.

She had all the love and kindness

in the world right inside her.

You didn't know who you were seeing.

And now you do.

Mr. Torrelson...

...I'm sorry.

I am so very sorry.

I'm glad I was there.

Me too.

[PAUL SIGHS]

Maybe today's the day

you're gonna see those ponies.

-The bankers?

-Hmm.

Okay, honestly, they don't come

this far down the island, ever.

-But thank you.

-You'll see. One day they will.

-Really?

-Yeah.

[ADRIENNE LAUGHS]

ADRIENNE:

Thank you.

WOMAN [ON RADIO]:

Another big one came and went...

... and just like Rodanthe Pier, we took

a few knocks, but we're still standing.

So come on down for a Rodanthe-style

crab-crack celebration tonight.

Wow.

[PEOPLE CHEERING AND CHATTERING]

MAN:

Jimmy crab's pretty, isn't he?

PAUL:
Can I just get these?

Did you make these?

MAN:

Is this one fried enough for you?

ADRIENNE:
It jumped in the boat.

PAUL:
That's good.

ADRIENNE:
Cheers.

PAUL:
Thank you.

We should've brought something.

MAN:

You want some more of that?

[SINGING "COME ON O VER

TO MY HOUSE"]

Hey, Dot! I'm glad to see you.

This is Paul Flanner.

Hi, Paul!

ADRIENNE:
You got a table for us?

DOT:
I got you my own table.

[ADRIENNE LAUGHING]

DOT:

Uh-oh. Here comes trouble.

PAUL:
Have fun.

ADRIENNE:
Oh, thank you.

[LAUGHING]

She is great. I'm telling you.

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