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Rita and Bobbi Meet for Lunch

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Cut from Chapter-19, this scene had probably the shortest life of any scene in the book. It was written for the 3rd draft, then immediately dropped. It gives us a look at where Bobbi is emotionally as she wrestles with the issues in her marriage and her own fears. It also lets you see that Rita isn't totally irrational, that she has fears of her own. 

 

Friday, December 2

Rita Heatley tapped her foot, her head pivoted between the wall clock and the front door of Antonio’s. Bobbi was never late. Never. Meeting for lunch was her idea. She wouldn’t back out without calling, would she?

“Checking my phone is not the same as checking my watch,” Rita muttered, pulling her phone from her purse again. No messages. No missed calls.

“Hey, sorry I’m late,” Bobbi said, dropping into the chair across from her sister.

Rita snapped her phone closed. “I didn’t see you come in. I was beginning to worry.”

“I know. I’m sorry. I was buying Brad an iPod for Christmas, and the little sales guy… He dragged out every model, every color, had to show me every feature… I think I could build one now.”

“I’m thrilled you feel like shopping.”

“Just for the boys. Chuck and I aren’t … maybe next year.” Bobbi slipped her coat off. She wore a bulky sweater over a wide-collared blouse. It failed to hide her prominent collarbones or her narrow wrists.

“How much weight have you lost?”

“I don’t know… twelve, fifteen pounds maybe.”

More like twenty. “That’s not healthy, Baby. You’re eating, aren’t you?”

“Yes, Mother. At least two meals a day, all week. Chuck even cooked dinner for us Tuesday and Thursday.” The waiter stopped by to take their orders. Bobbi glanced at Rita as she read from the menu, settling on seafood alfredo. “Was that acceptable, Mom? I figured the alfredo sauce was worth extra points.”

“I worry. You can’t fault me for that.” She stirred a packet of sweetener in her tea.

“Kara and John are moving back. Worry about them, and get your mind off me.”

“I have thought about them …” She straightened her silverware.

“Worried, you mean.”

“John has the same kind of … history … Chuck does and …”

“And you think he’s an affair waiting to happen, and Kara is gonna end up bitter, lonely and depressed like me.” The words were angry, sharp, full of rebuke. Rita flinched, and Bobbi hung her head. “I’m sorry. My fuse is like this long.” She held her thumb and forefinger up with a quarter inch gap between them. “I think it’s the medication.”

“I shouldn’t have brought it up.” Encouragement was not her gift.

“I don’t want to be the poster child for adultery victims, that’s all.”

“But if you helped save their marriage fifteen or twenty years from now …”

“I haven’t saved my own marriage yet.”

“But you are.” Rita leaned up to the table. “Big things are happening.”

“Yep, separation, distrust, depression. Big stuff.”

Rita shook her head. “Chuck and I made peace after what … twenty years? I’ve never seen God work in a disaster the way He is in this.”

“Disaster. Well put.”

“I give up,” Rita pushed back from the table, but then she saw the tears in Bobbi’s eyes.

“Please, don’t stop. I need you to challenge me. I got this stupid diagnosis and now everybody treats me like I’m made out of china. I was counting on you.”

“To argue with you?”

“Rita, I need to vent these things. I need somebody I can trust to keep yanking me back to what’s true.”

“I can’t do that. That’s like kicking you when you’re down.”

“I’m not down. I’m better every day. You gotta help me.”

“Ease my mind, then. Tell me how much better you are.”

“I had lunch with Donna Wednesday after seeing Dr. Craig, and she helped me sort some of this out.”

“It’s bigger than Chuck’s … uh … what happened with Chuck?”

“Chuck’s affair. You can say it out loud.” The waiter brought their salads, and promised lunch would be out soon. “Dr. Craig says it’s not the affair. It’s how I responded. Withdrawing, shutting down, not reacting, burying everything because I couldn’t rationalize the ‘correct’ response.”

“Daddy was the same way,” Rita said. “He and Mama never argued, he never lost his temper, but he never seemed comfortable being happy, either.” She poured Italian vinaigrette over her salad and stabbed at the lettuce. “So what’s the correct response? What does he want you to do?”

“Deal with it.” Subtle dread showed in her eyes. “All of it.”

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Gavin and Phil Wait for Chuck at the Golf Course

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This scene gives some background and insight into what's going through Gavin's mind. I love Gavin, but I cut nearly every scene that didn't have Bobbi or Chuck in it.

 

Gavin Heatley arrived at Billings Links first, so he took the only shady seat on the bench outside the clubhouse. The heat and humidity made him question why he insisted on having a beard and mustache. His glasses slid down his nose, but he suspected his golf game might improve if he couldn’t see.

He set his glasses on the bench beside him and wiped his eyes. Someone was coming across the parking lot. He snatched his glasses up, but it was Phil, not Chuck. “What’s with that ugly, orange hat?” Gavin called out.

Phil straightened his Tennessee Volunteers hat. “Hey, my son gave me this hat last time we were in Memphis! It makes me homesick, in fact.”

Gavin stood and greeted Phil with a handshake. “How is Michael?”

“He’s good. Christopher’s eating fruits and vegetables now, and Stacy found some work she can do from home while the baby naps.”

“And Donna got her grandbaby fix?”

“Hardly. I expect we’ll run over to David’s in the next week or two so she can see Grant and Maddie.” Gavin shook his head and smiled. “You’ll find out one of these days about grandbabies,” Phil said. He took his ball cap off and wiped his forehead and neck with a small towel he pulled from his golf bag.

“The heat’s going to make this a long afternoon for you.”

“My own fault. I suggested an afternoon game. Any sign of Chuck yet?”

“He’ll be here. He just doesn’t want to get here first.”

“What do you make of him?”

“I knew it, Phil. I had the sickest feeling when Rita got off the phone with Bobbi. Before she ever said it, I knew what had happened. I let Bobbi down… He turned down a chance to see the All-Star game… I should’ve challenged him then…”

“How long do you think he’s been involved with this woman?”

“Not very long. Bobbi’s too sharp. You know, Rita told me to let him have it.” Gavin nodded toward Chuck’s car as it turned into the parking lot. “So what do you want me to say?”

“Whatever the Spirit gives you. I trust you.”

“You think he’ll listen?”

“If he doesn’t listen to you, I’m not sure I can get through to him.”

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After Phil Met Chuck

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This scene was cut from Chapter 2. It gives Phil's take after talking to Chuck. Since it not Phil's book, it didn't survive.

 

Arriving back home just after midnight, Phil found Donna waiting up for him on the living room sofa. “It’s way past your bedtime, young lady.” He kissed her cheek. “You must have done some heavy praying,” he said as he sat down beside her.

“Why? What happened?”

“I didn’t have to do anything. Chuck never pointed a finger at anybody else, never offered an excuse. I’ve known Chuck almost twenty years, and ‘humility’ is not a word that immediately springs to mind in describing him.” Donna smiled. “But,” Phil continued, “this has shaken him. He’s sorry, and I don’t think he’s too far from genuine repentance.”

“You think there’s a chance he and Bobbi can work this out?”

“It depends on what he decides in the next few days. He’s got an idea what he needs to do. We’ll see if he does it.”

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Introducing Phil

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This scene was cut for several reasons- it slowed things down, it was mainly exposition, and although it might be interesting to know more about Phil and Donna, it didn't move the Bobbi and Chuck storyline forward. Looking back, it is swimming in passive verbs and 'was'-es. We still love Phil, but he had to give up his ink. He probably would have wanted it that way.
 
Pastor Philip Boyd Shannon had just settled into his recliner with a Cold War spy novel. Committed to his ministry, and with so much work to be done, it took a conscious effort for him to carve out leisure time. He had promised his wife he would make it a point to read, at least one evening each week, purely for enjoyment. With less than a hundred pages to go, he hoped to finish this book tonight, and read parts two and three before mid-August.
His fifty-six years showed on his face, and he could hardly remember when his hair hadn’t been gray. At least he still had most of it. He wasn’t fit necessarily, but his elevated blood pressure dictated a close watch on his diet, so his weight stayed down. Never a kidder, he was nonetheless good-natured and kind-hearted, which suited him perfectly for the pastorate. In his twenty years at Preston Road Community Church, he had seen it steadily grow to a membership of around four hundred. On any given Sunday, half of them were in attendance.
Donna was upstairs getting ready for bed, probably even asleep already. She was the opposite of Phil in almost every way- although she preferred to say she was Phil’s ‘complement.’ He was a night owl, while she rarely missed a sunrise. Phil was studious, intellectual even. Donna, however, hadn’t read a book since Michael grew too big for her lap. She made sure her hair stayed its original honey blond with regular trips to the hairdresser, which Phil thought was just silly. “Well, when people start asking if you’re my daddy, we’ll see who’s silly,” she teased him in return. Growing up as one of nine children, Donna had a keen insight into people, though, which Phil had learned to trust implicitly.
When the phone rang at a quarter till ten, Phil answered without bothering to check the caller ID. “Hi, this is Phil.”
“Phil, this is Rita Heatley. I’m at Bobbi’s, and we need you and Donna right away if you can come.” Rita hesitated slightly before speaking the words, “Chuck has had an affair.”
“Chuck’s what?” That sounded so impossible, Phil was almost sure she said that Chuck had been killed.
“Chuck has had an extramarital affair. I don’t know much more. Can you come?”
“Of course, we’ll be right there,” he promised, his heart heavy with grief. Years ago, he had baptized Chuck, just a few months before he had performed Chuck and Bobbi’s wedding. He and Donna had watched them grow as a couple, and had commented on what good parents they had proven to be.
Dear Father, I don’t know if Bobbi and Chuck have it in them …  Can he repent? Can she forgive him? This is going to have to be Your wisdom, not mine. What do I say?  Where do I even start? Keep Bobbi and Chuck and the boys in Your hands, and help me help them. In Jesus’ name.
Phil shoved his book in the side table drawer. Someday.
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