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“A mistake?” Stacey asks, incredulous. “A mistake? Hitting the curb when you drive is a mistake. Dropping a packet of eggs is a mistake. You don’t cheat by accident, Marc!”
“I know that,” Marc says. “But if you hear me out, maybe you’ll understand—”
“Don’t tell me what I will and won’t understand,” Stacey snaps. “We were supposed to be in this together. How many years have we stuck by each other, Marc? And now, this? How dare you! I don’t know who you are anymore. Frankly, I’m starting to think I never knew.”
Marc shakes his head. He’s getting flustered. Stacey can be a hurricane if she wants to, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen her this upset.
“Please, Stace,” Marc tries again.
“No, Marc,” she says in a hard voice. “We’re not doing this. I don’t care how much it cost or what it did to either of our careers. I don’t care about any of it. You’re not the man I thought you were.”
She gets up and grabs her bag, making a beeline for the door.
“I was terrified of losing you,” Marc cries.
Stacey stops in her tracks. “Why would you have lost me?” She looks over her shoulder.
“Because I lost it all,” Marc admits. “All the money. It’s gone. Well, it was.”
“What are you talking about? You never said anything about it to me.”
Marc shakes his head. “No, I didn’t want to put that pressure on you. And I didn’t want to be a disappointment. I couldn’t tell you that the life we planned together couldn’t happen because I invested in the wrong place.”
She turns to face Marc. She’s still close to the door she was about to leave through, but she’s staying for now.
“We’re supposed to be in this together.”
“I didn’t know how to tell you.”
Stacey shakes her head. “When have I ever made you feel like you can’t talk to me?”
Marc rubs the back of his neck. “You’re a Jackson, Stacey. Your parents have so much money they don’t know what to do with it. They’re practically royalty; they’re always in the news for all their charity work and shit like that. And you’re their daughter. How could I admit to fucking up when that’s the life you’re used to? And your parents will never look at me the same.”
Stacey narrows her eyes. “I don’t care about what my parents might think. This is none of their business. I wouldn’t have told them. I didn’t start dating you for your money and I didn’t marry you for it, either.”
“I’m not saying you did. I just—”
“Damn it, Marc!” Stacey cries out. “Fixing games? What if you were caught? Do you have any idea what that means if you get caught?”
Marc nods. “Yeah, I know. I was stupid. It was just the easiest way I could think of to get all my money back.”
Stacey shakes her head. “I can’t do this. I can’t be with someone who thinks that’s okay.”
“But I don’t!” Marc cries out. “I just didn’t know what else to do. I should have talked to you, and I’m sorry I didn’t. But I’m not going to do it anymore, Stacey. I’m calling it off. And Brett and I…we figured it out.”
Stacey looks at Brett, at me, and back at Marc.
“You’re calling it off?”
Marc nods. “And I’m never doing something like that again. I’ve learned my lesson, trust me.”
Stacey takes a step closer to us.
“I’m sorry, babe,” Marc says. “I don’t want to lose you. Nothing is worth it if it means I can’t have you in my life.”
“Don’t you get that I love you?” Stacey asks, and her eyes fill with tears. “I love you so much, and I don’t care if we have to live in a cardboard box. As long as we’re together. God, you’re such an idiot.”
She walks to him and embraces him.
He wraps his arms around her, and Brett and I watch as they fall apart, leaning on each other, sobbing. I take a step toward him and he holds out his hand. When I take it, our fingers interlink, and we watch as everything that fell apart falls together again.
