Out in the desert, Matthew Scott lies unconscious in the sand. Inside his mind,
the priest speaks as they sit side by side in the pew at the church.
PRIEST: Do you love her?
SCOTT: She's not gonna have it.
PRIEST: You're certain?
SCOTT: She's sixteen. We barely even know each other.
PRIEST: What are you going to do?
(Matt shakes his head.)
SCOTT: I don't know ... about anything. I thought He was my calling, but now
...
(He shakes his head again, fighting back the tears.)
PRIEST: I am sorry.
SCOTT: Why? *I'm* the one who's weak. It's my fault.
PRIEST: No, it isn't.
SCOTT: It's not *yours*.
------------------------------
ANNIE: I don't know how good of a friend you are or what he might have told you
about us ...
SCOTT: Uh, he said there was a pregnancy but that you were gonna ...
ANNIE: I couldn't. I couldn't go through with it.
SCOTT (angrily): Why didn't you tell him?
ANNIE (defensively): I didn't wanna burden him. He was dealing with a lot of
stuff at the time.
(She reaches down and picks up a bottle of wine, unscrews the top and pours
herself a large glass.)
--------------------------
SCOTT: That way, you can ... you can quit your job, you can go back to school,
you know, and follow through with your dreams of being ...
(Annie's smile has faded and now she leans forward.)
ANNIE: Wait a minute. If Matt wants to help us out, that's great.
(She stands up.)
ANNIE: But, uh, I'm OK with my job.
SCOTT (also standing): Whoa, wait, what about college?
ANNIE: Me, a lawyer? Yeah, like *that* was ever gonna happen.
SCOTT: Did you even try?
ANNIE: Tell Matt thanks, but I've got things under control here. He doesn't
have to worry about us.
------------------------
SCOTT: Matthew. (He smiles at her.) I've got an eight year old kid named after
me. How weird is that?!
(Chloe puts her hand on his knee supportively.)
ARMSTRONG: Are you OK?
SCOTT: Yeah. It's a lot to deal with. I'm a little angry that she didn't tell
me, that I couldn't be there for him.
ARMSTRONG: Look, one more year and then you can take him to soccer games and
Little League.
(He smiles briefly.)
ARMSTRONG: What's the mother like?
SCOTT: She's got her issues.
ARMSTRONG: You two were close?
SCOTT: Not really. Well, um, yeah, you know, for a short time, but things
happened, we lost touch.