"I love you." "Nat spends a little bit too much time worrying about her kids at the expense of herself." "Aw, what does that even mean?" "You can't possibly know what that's like." "You don't have children." "Sarah and I, are looking for new experiences." "Nat, are you okay?" "Forget every word I've ever written because today we start again." " This a psychologist's number?" " It's mine." "How much time do I have?" "It's impossible to say for sure." "A year, maybe a little more." "We have a social worker available here if you want to talk to someone." "No... thank you." "I got my family." "You're ten minutes late!" "Sorry, I... my dentist was running behind, sorry." "Oh Natalie, hi." "Hi Soraya, I..." "I was just down the street..." "I thought I'd see if my brother had a minute?" "Oh, Dr. Lawson left early today." "He did?" "He went to take Abby to your mother's." "It's Nicole's birthday." "Right." "Hey, if it's urgent," " you can reach him on his cell." " No, that's okay." "I'll call him tomorrow." "Thanks." "This is Maggie." "Leave a message... or don't." "You decide." "Maggie, I just saw you an hour ago, please stop screening." "I really need to talk with you." "Oliver, are you home?" "Oliver?" "Is he dead?" "He said 10." "It's Oliver Lawson." " Sorry." "Who?" " Oliver..." "Lawson." "Oliver, how are you?" "I haven't seen you in months." "I was wondering if I could come in today." "With Tom?" "No." "But I need to talk to someone about Tom." " Hi." " Where are you?" "At the gates of hell!" "I woke up at 3 last night and went through Jim's phone." " Daniele..." " He blocked off two hours for the gym... in the middle of the day, so I went to his office and then I followed him." "And now, I'm sitting like an idiot in my car... outside a hotel." "Maybe it's not as bad as you think." "It's gonna be bloody." "What are you doing home?" "I should be asking you the same thing." "I had a stomach ache." "Well, that's funny 'cause the school didn't call me." "I must have forgotten" " to tell them." " Mm-hmm." "I don't think dill pickle is a remedy for sore stomachs." "What's the big deal?" "It was only phys Ed." "I just needed some personal time." "You don't get personal time in 8th grade!" "Tell me how I'm supposed to deal with the pressure," " because I hate it there." " Romy," " this is not the time." " It never is." "Not when it's important to me." "OK, you know what isn't dealing with the pressure?" "Tanking math tests on purpose." "Who told you?" "Your principal." " What's my punishment?" " Nothing." "He wants to find a way to help you." "Last time someone tried to help me," "I ended up where I am now." "Well, whatever it means, we will consider it." "Nobody really wants to help anybody." "People only care about themselves." "That's not true!" "And you need to start thinking about your future, OK?" "Why else do you think we do any of this?" "It's because one day  you're gonna have to look after yourself." "So, you're saying I'm right." "I can't count on anybody but myself." "Oh, I'm so... over the water." "At least, we finished this time." "Face it, we're dead weight." "If you can't take this, you'll never hack combo workouts." "It's an open signup, asshole." "Noobs welcome." "Just saying, you might want to work on your breathing patterns." "Great!" "Yell at him." " You're smart, Emma." " Love makes you stupid." "I am taking the toughest sport on the planet and for what?" "I'm checking out; you should do the same." "We can't quit now." "He'll know he's the reason." "You just told him to eat shit." "You and him?" "Not happening." " So many boxes." " Thank you so much!" "I am making tacos." "You hungry?" " Mind if Ariel stays?" " Of course not." "We're just going through the basement." " Why?" " Our garage sale." "Remember?" "Planned it last week." "Oh, it's tomorrow?" " Yeah." "Still doing it, right?" " Yeah, of course!" "Hey, could you go and grab me some tomatoes... from, you know, the tomato plant?" " Can I help with dinner?" " No thanks, I'm fine." " Those." " Thank you." "Go on." "I'll call you guys when it's done." "This is Maggie." "Leave a message... or don't." "You decide." "Maggie, this is my third message, which you can add on to the four texts." "I would be worried except I know you." "I hope you're having fun." "Oh, jeez!" "You gotta be kidding me!" "Ugh!" " Hey." " Have a seat." " Drink?" " Yeah." "You're not gonna cook with that toilet-water rice, are you?" " Maybe I should try it now." " Don't put it on yet." " It will die." " Yeah, I don't think it's gonna work." "She's not coming." "I already asked, like, five times." "What?" "A girl can't eat four tacos?" "It's just funny." "I burn calories, I eat." "I don't see the humour there." "He just meant you're normally so picky." "I can follow the plot, Ariel," " I don't need a narrator." " Hey." "Don't snap at her." "I have to get up at 6 in the morning to run a 5K;" "do I need your permission for that too?" "Someone's training for the bitch Olympics." "Alright, enough." "What?" "I was just kidding." "Right." "OK, I'm gonna head back to work." "Now?" "Yeah, just for an hour or two." "Oh, Natalie, we've got this." "Thank you." "Hey, would you check in on Romy?" "Yeah." "Your mother is such a bad liar." "What?" "!" "Why?" "Well, she barely ate, her head's somewhere else." "She bought some fancy bras." "I saw them in a bag in the hall." "Caleb, she's seeing somebody." "... fucking crazy!" "There's something wrong right now!" "What's this?" "What do you wanna hear?" "I don't understand what..." "I wanna know how long you've been fucking around on me!" "How long?" "How long have we been here?" "Yeah, Sarah's a management consultant." "Different cities, different companies." " Corporate strategy." " Do you normally allow your boyfriend to sleep around when you travel for work?" "No... actually." "What kind of law do you practice, Maggie?" "Simon mentioned that you worked in a firm." "Yeah, but you never said what area you were in." "I guess we never got that far into our courtship, did we?" "I'm an administrative assistant." "Do you think I have any interest in what either of you do for a living?" "Right." "Because this is just sex." "Not yet, it isn't." "I can't believe you're not answering." "My cell phone drowned." "I'm at the office waiting for you to call." "Were you waiting to talk to me?" " No." " No." "But I know I owe you a pitch." "Today wasn't entirely... efficient." "Hmm..." "Did you really mean all that?" "I did." "And I really meant it when I said I'd give up refined sugar." "Hmm." "Nice place!" "It's tasteful," " normal." " You were expecting" " a sex dungeon?" " I didn't know what to expect." "I know almost nothing about you." "Except what your boyfriend told you about me, which is that I won't want anything from you, because I am not into commitments." " When you say that..." " I mean it." "But why?" "Did something happen?" "Were you, like, traumatized by some bad breakup" " or something?" " Says the girl in some stranger's apartment looking for a unicorn." "I could ask you the same thing." "Well, after, uh... catching me with you and having a long conversation about, you know, where we are as a couple..." "Simon and I decided to fight routine by being honest with each other about what we both want." "Which in this case would be me." "So, you'll just do anyone?" "No." "Actually, I'm pretty picky." "Even you are still auditioning, believe it or not." "Oh?" "And while we're being honest here, um... this will be a first for me as well." "What now?" "I read somewhere that we should set down some ground rules first." "I think we should have another drink before we start drawing up the paperwork." "There you go!" "Really?" "OK." "And to think I was depressed about turning 40." "Yeah, is that overkill?" "'Cause you don't like it," " you don't have to wear it." " No!" "Are you kidding?" "No." "You will have to pry it from my cold, dead hand." "OK." " Could be a patient." " No, I'm off-call." "Oh, it's your little confidante." "Go ahead." "I'll top us up." "You didn't have to call." "Ah, seemed like you needed to talk." "What I need is an exit strategy." "Why the sudden panic?" "Your Mom said you really wanted this." "Signing up was, well, kind of impulsive, and now I feel like I've made a mistake." " I got it." "What's his name?" " Nice try." "But he is a year older and obviously hates me, and I'm not even sure I like him anymore." "Then now, you want me to tell you it's OK to quit." "It's Mom's fault." "She bought me all this expensive gear." "Oh, how dare she encourage your interests?" "Should I call Child Services or... ?" "So, is that a "no" to the note then?" "Give it a month, maybe it'll improve, but no doctor's note." "A month?" "Hopefully, it'll kill me before then." "Yeah." "See you on the weekend." "Right now, I'm having birthday dinner with your aunt." "We forgot." "Yeah, you may want to remind your family, OK?" "Here she is." " Hi, Emma." " Happy birthday, Auntie N." "Your card's in the mail, I promise." "Don't worry." "I'll see you on the weekend, OK?" "Bye." "These kids have no idea" " how much you do for them." " They don't have a father." "Hmm." "It's not your fault." "It's not their fault either." "Jeez!" "Were you expecting a fourth?" "Maggie, open the door!" "I know you're in there!" "OK." "Now is not a good time." "It's been, like, 10 phone calls!" "What calls?" "!" "You are self-absorbed and narcissistic and... !" "No, no, don't go in there!" "And clearly not alone." "Oh, God!" "Obviously." "What was I thinking?" "I-I am... terribly sorry to be interrupting... whatever this is." "Seeing as I'm otherwise engaged..." "But I really need to speak with my sister." "Right now." "OK." "Family crisis." "Sorry, guys." " Talk tomorrow." " Bye." "What the hell!" "Do not even think of casting judgement on me right now." "This better be good." "Maggie, I'm dying." "What?" "The tumours are back, and they're everywhere." "No." "Yeah." "And this time, it's gonna kill me." " What did Matthew say?" " Hmm..." "I couldn't call him." "It's Nicole's birthday, which we forgot again by the way." "He's a doctor; you need to make use of him." "Oh..." "I'm too fried to tell him right now." "It's at the office." " What is?" " My cell." "That's why, that's why I didn't get any of your messages." "Ah, it doesn't matter." "And I don't want to talk to anybody else right now." "You haven't told the kids?" "Not 'til after the biopsy." "I don't want to put them through all that again." "I'll wait until I get all the facts." "Biopsy, so there's hope?" "According to the scan, it's metastasized to the bone." "If that biopsy confirms this  Basra says I'm lucky if I have a year." "You can't tell anyone." " I won't." " Once this gets out, there is no escaping it." "I won't." "I promise." "I promise." "Oh, shit!" "Andrew." "Who?" "The girls' principal." "We had a date." "Hoho!" "I completely forgot, and then I killed" " my phone." " What?" "Don't even worry about it, OK?" "I will get you a new phone, and I will handle it." "Hmm..." "Ugh." "Hey..." "The kids, you know that..." "I'm always there for them." "You'll have to cut out the weird sex stuff then." "Ha!" "Alright." "Hey, Jim." "Another business trip?" "Ah..." "You're back on yard duty, Caleb." "I'll mail you a cheque, end of the month?" "Uh..." "OK, thanks." "Business trip for a month?" "You think it's something else?" "You mean, he's moving out?" "It seems that way to me." "What's the point in trying?" "Nobody stays together." "My parents did." "Your parents hate each other." "They fight constantly." "The only reason they stay together is 'cause it's all they know." "Yeah, you're right." "What's the point?" "Ariel?" "Ariel, wait!" "Forget it." "Take me home." "Here we go." " Bella and Edward at it again." " And there she is, swooning over him like he's some kind of god or she's all moody and pissy." "Well, that's love, right?" "Those sunglasses are way too big for your face." "They're Dad's." "I usually keep them on Ellie the elephant." "Oh, come on, it's not like he's coming back." "You should sell them at the yard sale tomorrow." "What's going on with you and Mom?" "Oh... well, the sky is falling, because I flunked our last math test." "You failed that test?" "Even I got a C." "I didn't study." "You need to start working harder, Romy, or at least try." "If I get C's, Mom leaves me alone." "Probably not, because she knows you should be getting A's." "You're way smarter than me." "When you do your triathlon, even if you finish last, I'll be cheering for you." "Last time you and Tom were here," " things were looking up." " They were, yeah." "Tom's staying with his son;" "we made real progress there." "I remember we focused on your issues with control." "Yeah." "Tom was meeting me halfway on that." "He's trying to." "Look, I realize that you treat couples, but... lately I-I-I haven't been able to... talk to anyone." "Turns out that most of our friends are  more Tom's friends." "So, uh, I guess I'm..." " I'm kind of lost." " Oliver, you haven't told me how things ended." "Did you want to answer that?" "It's my younger sister, and she normally doesn't call." "Earlier today, my older sister called too, so I..." "Go for it." " Hey." " What are you doing?" "Surfing." "Yeah." "I can hear the waves." "What's wrong?" "Is it Mom?" "No." " It's not Mom." " Oh, God." "Natalie?" "I'll, um... call to reschedule." "I've been calling you." "I know what that feels like." "Jim left me." "He says he's in love, and he's moving in with that slut." "I'm sorry, but I can't do this." "Not now." "What do you mean, you can't?" "What am I supposed to do?" "D, it's back... my cancer... and it's way worse." "Oh no." "They don't know." "Oh!" "Hi, kids." " Um..." " What's wrong?" "Oh..." "Jim left me!" "And... and life sucks!" "It just... it really, really sucks." "I was just walking Ariel home." "Take your time." "Hmmm..." "Hmm..." "What?" "!" "Ah, man, the news is just... killing the mood all over town tonight, huh?" "What news?" "What are you..." "what are you doing here?" "You have to promise not to say anything, OK?" "Happy birthday by the way." "Hey, hey, hey, oh." "Come in." "Hey, let's finish pricing." "I hate that we're getting rid of all this great, old stuff." "You're such a packrat." " Let's put it by the tree." " OK." " Hey, guys." " Hey." "Hey, one shot non-fat, no-foam latte." "Aah!" "Though I might as well start drinking full cream triples." "New phone, same number." "I texted Mr. Principal apologizing for botching dinner." "Oh, how did he take it?" ""Another time"?" "Maggie, I thought we were breaking up with him." "Oh, we can't break up with someone we've never actually gone out with." "But, "Another time"?" "I can't do that." "Not now." "It's a process, OK?" "The next time he asks, you don't respond, he'll get the message." "Oh, that's cruel." "Oh, well, life is cruel." "I can't do this without losing it." "And if I lose it, they'll know." "OK, listen." "Why don't you go inside, lie down." " I've got this, OK?" " OK." "Ah!" "You didn't." " Hello." "Ha!" " I swear to God," "I absolutely did not." "Hey." " Hi!" " Valiant efforts from my pottery classes." "I figure whatever we get from these," " the kids can keep." " They're lovely." "You look good." "Thanks!" " What are you doing here?" " Just wanted to see her, to do something." " You promised!" " Well, so did you, right?" " Hey, how's business?" " Steady." "At zero." "We haven't sold a single thing." " Didn't we, like, buy you all of these?" " Maybe going forward," " gift cards make more sense." " Haha!" "Hello!" "Abby's at a birthday party, thought we'd help out." "Aw, that's very sweet of you!" "Nothing's more important than helping my sister." "Well, you know, we are selling random puzzle pieces." " I think we can hack it, Matthew." " Here." " Anyway." "Haha!" " If you want to... really want to pitch in, why don't you help Caleb" " carry out my old treadmill?" " Yeah, you got it." " Thanks." " Yeah." "Anything you need, right?" " Thanks, brother." " No problem." "Right." "We tackle the treadmill." "OK?" "You and me, two men." " OK, two guys and put some..." " Be careful." " You told." " Who?" "Him!" " What?" "!" " Maggie!" "I didn't think he was gonna show up today." "You know, I can't keep things bottled up." " If Mom knows..." " She doesn't, I swear." "You swore to God you didn't tell Matthew." "But God doesn't have any currency with me, you know that." "Thin ice, Margaret." "Thin ice." " What are you looking at?" " Chill." "I can make this easier for you." "Lift your elbow more on the reach, keep your hand down the centre-line on the pull." "Sure, that makes total sense." "Thanks." "You're gonna try it?" "Sure." "When you stop looking at me." "Natalie!" " Hi!" " Hey, how are you?" " I'm good!" " D'you realise we're practically neighbours;" "I live about three blocks over." "Ah!" "Hey, I am sorry again" " for messing up our dinner plans." " It's not a problem." " So, you're really busy." " Yeah." "Wanna buy a DVD?" "My principal hunted me down." "So, you've got Full Metal Jacket?" "That's your principal?" "He's here for Mom, isn't he?" "I am not a vault today." "What do you mean, "here for Mom"?" "Gross." "Don't ride her about it, OK?" "And don't tell Grandma." "I didn't." "I didn't." "I didn't." "I didn't." "I didn't." "I didn't." "I didn't!" "OK, fine, but you have to handle it." "Have to handle her." " OK, OK." " Hi!" "Brought you some sandwiches." "You just put them in the fridge, one less thing for you to do." "Hey, thanks, Mom." "I'm gonna do that right now." "OK." "Have you seen Nicole's pottery hobby?" "She thinks she's gonna try to spin it" " into a career or something." " There's nothing wrong with doing what you love for a living, honey." "Especially when your doctor husband is your own personal patron." " Your sister looked pale." " What?" "!" " Your sister looked pale." " No!" "She looks great!" "So much for honesty, Sarah." "My daughter loves to draw." "How much for these?" " 10." " 10?" "!" "It's a yard sale; gotta give me a deal." "OK, I tell you what, you throw in these and" " I'll give you 5." "How about that?" " 15." "Those are classics." "Actually, never mind." "Those... those aren't for sale." "I'll give you the pencils" " for 5 though." " OK." "You drive a hard bargain." "Thanks." "Danielle, what are you doing?" "Doesn't it feel good to get rid of our old men's things?" "Life is short." "So much of it wasted." " Forgot something?" " What is going on with you?" "Early morning." "Big day." "You're my child, and I know when you're hiding something." "This isn't the time." "I'll call you tomorrow." "Just tell me everything's OK." "Mom, don't do this." "I see you, Natalie." "I can't talk about this now." "Don't get out of that car." "The children don't know." "If you come over here, I swear," "I will start crying, and I won't be able to stop." "Then, what should I do?" "If you love me... you will drive straight to choir practice, and you won't say a word to Dad." "I'll see you tomorrow and I will tell you everything." "Mom, please." "OK, honey, OK." "Bye." "Some angry ex I am." " You just need an accelerant." " Haha!" "Yeah, then accelerate me through this horrible mess, so I can feel like myself again." "I should get back." "Let me walk you inside?" "You're a good kid." "You don't deserve any of this." "And neither do I." "I could say that I saw something was wrong with your sister and I wanted to make sure everything's OK, but the truth is, I wanna see you again." "Only you... without Sarah." "What?" "I'm just happy to see you." "So  Mom knows." "Yeah." "Yeah, she always seems to know" " when something is wrong." " Hmm, yeah." "However annoying..." " and yet remarkable, that is." " Mm-hmm." "Uh-oh!" "Look who's in town!" "She's arrived." "How am I gonna leave them alone?" "Ready?" "Ready for this?" "Hey..." "You're not yet." "Those kids, they have us." "Those are the most loved kids in the entire world." "Hey." " Thank you." " And now these things." "Keep it going, OK?" " Hey, stop!" " OK." "Alright." "Don't know about their dancing, but..." " Yep!" " Aaah..." " Oh, wow!" " The garage sale is officially over." "Hmm..." " Uh, incoming." " Oh, stay here." "Yeah, I'm gonna go get that thing inside." "Sure." " Great, thanks!" " Hello." " You're back!" " I wasn't lying" " when I said I lived nearby." " OK then." "But I have one little thing to confess to you." " Mm-hmm." " I kind of, sort of made a reservation for tonight, too." "I don't want to put any pressure on you, but I have to ask." "Do you wanna try again?" "Hmm!" "_"