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CHAPTER 26 |
NEVER AGAIN
chapter 26:
[Tea returns to Carlotta's home. She's surprised to find Carlotta awake, as the older woman greets her as she enters the kitchen.]
Tea: Why are you up this early?
Carlotta: I was worried about you. I see I had reason to be.
Tea: I'm fine. I just needed to go for a drive.
Carlotta: To see Todd Manning?
[Tea plops herself down in a chair across the table from Carlotta.]
Tea: Contrary to popular opinion, my life does not revolve around that man.
Carlotta: I assume from the way your blouse is buttoned that you must have dressed in a hurry.
[Tea quickly works to refasten her buttons correctly.]
Tea: It's not what you think. Nothing happened.
Carlotta: In my experience, a woman returning home in the middle of the night with her shirt buttoned incorrectly is always an indication that something has happened.
Tea: You've never experienced Todd Manning.
Carlotta: I'm grateful for that.
Tea: What is wrong with me?
Carlotta: Besides the obvious fact that you're in love with that man?
Tea: I can't seem to stop myself from risking everything for him, no matter how many times it turns out disastrously. Why can't I stop myself?
Carlotta: Perhaps because you don't want to.
Tea: If you're questioning my sanity, you're not the only one. There has to be a logical reason for why I put myself through this time after time. It can't be love.
Carlotta: Love is never logical.
Tea: I'm logical. I'm analytical. I always have been. With Todd...
Carlotta: You go insane?
Tea: Something like that.
Carlotta: That's love.
Tea: Is it really? When I see people in love, they don't seem as out of control as I feel when I'm with Todd.
Carlotta: Love isn't logical. It isn't rational. It isn't controlled.
Tea: I hate losing control. So does Todd. Maybe that's why we can never get it right. We're two control freaks trying to be in love.
Carlotta: Is he in love with you?
Tea: I don't know. I have a headache, like I always do when I spend too much time trying to comprehend my ex-husband. I'm going upstairs and lie down. I hope you didn't worry too much about me.
Carlotta: I worry about you. I worry about my sons. You have all chosen romantic partners that keep me up at night worrying about each of you.
Tea: Antonio and Cristian are quite capable of taking care of themselves. You shouldn't worry so much about them.
Carlotta: A mother never stops worrying about her children.
Tea: Do you think that was true of my mother, even after she left?
Carlotta: I'm certain her concern for you continued until the moment she died.
Tea: Todd's tried to convince me not to pursue questioning Mitch Laurence about my mother. He seems to be certain that she only left to protect me.
Carlotta: I hate to agree with Todd Manning about anything, but he may be correct, this one time.
Tea: How did she even meet someone like Mitch Laurence? How could she have become so involved with him that my safety would have been threatened?
Carlotta: She was lonely. Sometimes lonely women become involved with the wrong men.
Tea: If you're trying to draw a parallel between my mother's relationship with Mitch Laurence, and mine with Todd, I can assure you there is no comparison.
Carlotta: Both are dangerous men.
Tea: Todd would never pose a threat to my child, if I had one.
Carlotta: He kidnapped the child of his other ex-wife and told her he was dead.
Tea: That's a completely different circumstance.
Carlotta: That was a horrible thing to do, even to someone like Blair Manning.
Tea: She's not a Manning anymore.
Carlotta: I just hope you never become one again.
Tea: I have no intention of marrying Todd ever again.
Carlotta: You do still defend his actions.
Tea: I've done no such thing. I may be aware of additional information about Todd's situation, but I certainly don't condone what he did.
Carlotta: You still want to be with him, despite the pain he's caused you in the past.
Tea: I've caused him pain, too. Neither of us has a clue how to allow love into our lives. We probably never will. I really need to go up to bed now. I need some sleep before I begin one of the most challenging days of my life.
Carlotta: You're still determined to meet Mitch Laurence later today?
Tea: Even more challenging, I'm determined that I'll convince Todd to go with me to that meeting.
Carlotta: Sometimes I think you and my sons purposely make these mistakes just to frustrate me.
Tea: Despite what you believe, and what Todd himself believes, loving him has never been a mistake. Meeting Mitch Laurence... I guess I'll know later today if I made the right decision or not. Try not to worry so much.
[Tea rises and kisses Carlotta on the cheek. As she leaves the kitchen, Carlotta pours herself more coffee, knowing she has much more worrying to do before it will be time for her to open her diner.]
to be continued...
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