Julie: (blurting) We need a marriage counsellor!

Wayne: What?

Julie: Marriage counselling. We’re the reason it exists. We need it.

Wayne: Why? We’re fine.

Julie: My god, Wayne, we’re not fine! We survived the kids for what, to kill each other? I want to live again. I want to go out more than once a month; I want to do all the travelling we planned on; I want to buy things without an argument; I want to quit my job—I am so sick of my job. I might want to retire early, Wayne, like any second now.

Wayne: If you retire, we are seriously screwed.

Julie: You see? You’d be happy with the way things are for the rest of your life and I can’t stand the way things are for one more second and I don’t think we can even talk about it without a professional.

Wayne: We don’t need a professional. We can do this—we are capable of compromise.

Julie: I am compromising, Wayne. I wanted so much more out of this marriage than this, my list was very very long. This kitchen is my compromise. That’s what I’m settling for. You promised me a kitchen; this is my release valve to let the pressure off. Give me my kitchen or I am going to blow. I can feel it and it won’t be pretty.

Wayne: Okay, calm now—

Julie: Not calming, not calming at all. I can’t stand what we’ve become. Is this all you expected to be, Wayne? Is this really us?

Wayne: No, it is not.

Julie: We’re good people, we worked hard our whole lives. Is this what we deserved?

Wayne: No.

Julie: This isn’t good enough, but our lives are not over. We still have good years together. Right?

Wayne: Do we?

Julie: What?

Wayne: What if? Just think about it. What if?

Julie: What is this? Just say it.

Wayne: If we went broke. Would we still be together if we didn’t have any money?

Julie: Wayne— Sweetheart . . . Is that what you’re worried about?

Wayne: Only at night. And then in the day.

Julie: Sweetheart, we’ll be okay.

Wayne: I just don’t know anymore. What is there we can really count on?

Julie: On us, sweetheart. We can count on us. We’ve made it thirty years and, after everything, we’re still together. And we have savings, we have investments, we have my job, and even if disaster ever struck, we could sell the house and be fine, right?

Wayne: Right . . .

Julie: So can we please take this one little risk?

Beat.

Wayne: Can you do this kitchen without going crazy?

Julie: I can do the most reasonable and thrifty kitchen humanly possible. Can you hold back from adding the cost of every screw on a calculator?

Wayne: I believe I can do that.

Julie: Okay.

Wayne: Okay.