SCENE ONE: IT IS THE NEXT MORNING, JENNIFER IS DOWNSTAIRS FEEDING ABBY IN HER HIGH CHAIR WHEN JACK COMES RUNNING DOW WITH HIS SHIRT UNTUCKED.

 

JACK: Jennifer, you're already dressed to go.

JENNIFER: Come on Abby, you want to grow up big and strong like your mommy right?

JACK: Jennifer?

JENNIFER: Yeah because once you find out what men are all about you're going to realise you're on your own honey. That's right, you're on your own.

JACK: Wait a minute. You think you're brain washing her?

JENNIFER: Come on sweetie.

JACK: That's impossible. You can't do that. She knows that she can count on me.

JENNIFER: HAH!

JACK: She knows that....

JENNIFER: HAH.... HA, HAH!

JACK: I thought we'd been through this last night. I have already apologized to you. I already did that.

JENNIFER: Apologized? You got arrested for illegal gambling Jack. An apology is not enough.

JACK: Wait a minute, wait a minute. All there was, was a game. One poker game. I thought I could win some money.

JENNIFER: Win some money? You lost money Jack. Money that we don't have to lose. (Beat) Is it Billie?

JACK: Is what Billie?

JENNIFER: Billie. She's the one who found out about this game right? She found out about it and she got you involved in it, didn't she?

JACK: No, no, no, no. I got myself involved in this. Billie is my assistant.

JENNIFER: And what else?

JACK: What do you mean, what else?

JENNIFER: Well she has a pretty strong hold on you. I just wonder why.

JACK: Wait.... wait a minute. You think that there's something going on between Billie Reed and myself?

JENNIFER: It has crossed my mind Jack.

JACK: That is.... that is insane. You know that I love you.

JENNIFER: Well sometimes I really wonder about that.

 

JENNIFER PICKS UP ABBY AND PUTS HER IN THE PLAY PEN.

SCENE TWO: JACK IS HURT BY THAT JENNIFER DOES NOT BELIEVE HE LOVES HER.

 

JACK: Wait a minute, you doubt how I feel about you?

JENNIFER: Why not? You don't trust me enough to tell me what you're doing. That's not how you show love in my book Jack.

JACK: I love you more than anything. You know that.

JENNIFER: Oh really? Then why would you prefer to go to a poker game with Billie than to Abe and Lexie's anniversary party with me?

JACK: I would much prefer to go to a party with you.

JENNIFER: But!

JACK: But.... this is not just a poker game. This is a game about The Spectator.

JENNIFER: Jack if you care so much about this newspaper why don't you stop all of this craziness and ask my father for the money?

JACK: You know why. First of all your father doesn't have that kind of money. Second of all I'm doing this on my own.

JENNIFER: I'm talking about your borrowing the money to make your payments, all right. You're going to go to a banker and ask him for the money so what difference does it make?

JACK: I'll tell you what the difference is. It's one thing to go to a banker. It's another thing to go to your father-in-law who couldn't turn you down if he wanted to.

JENNIFER: My father could turn you down.

JACK: He could try but he could not.

JENNIFER: All right, so maybe he wouldn't. It's better than getting yourself arrested for illegal gambling.

JACK: All right, all right. I made a mistake and I apologised. But you're forgetting one thing. The intention was there. To make the.... if The Spectator became a success I know that you would become happier and I know that she'd be happier too. We'd all be happier.

JENNIFER: You've got to be kidding me. I don't need you Jack, to make an empire out of everything for us to be happy. And you don't need money and you don't need power to show us that you love us.

JACK: You don't understand what I need. I need to do this. I need to give you everything that you ever wanted in this life. That's what I need to do.

JENNIFER: You know what I need and you know what I want? I want you to spend some time with us and I need you to show us some affection.

 

THEY ARE BOTH REALLY HURTING.

SCENE THREE: JACK AND JENNIFER DO NOT KNOW WHAT TO DO OR SAY, JUST THEN THERE IS A LOUD THUMP AS A NEWSPAPER HITS THE DOOR.

 

JACK: Damn!

 

JACK GOES TO GET IT.

 

JACK: I told them not to throw it at the door. It's obviously The Chronicle paper boy. Now let's see if Vern was able to do his work and save me....

 

JACK OPENS THE PAPER.

 

JACK: Oh no! JENNIFER: What's the matter, what is it?

 

JACK: This is worse than I could imagine.

 

THE HEADLINE READS "NEWSPAPER TYCOON ARRESTED IN HIGH STAKES POKER GAME" AND THERE IS A PICTURE OF JACK TAKEN AT HIS FERRARO AWARD.

 

JACK: They can't do this. They can't do this.

JENNIFER: I think they just did.

JACK: And I hate this picture.

 

HE THROWS THE PAPER ON THE TABLE THEN PICKS IT STRAIGHT BACK UP.

 

JACK: They're going to pay for this, you know that? They are. They are going to pay a million dollars for every word. The Chronicle is going to be sorry they ever did this.

JENNIFER: They are just writing the news. I mean you can't deny it. It's true.

JACK: But they're going to ruin me. In a financial community, they're.... oh the loan. The bank. The loan officer at the bank is going to see this and he's.... I gotta go. I gotta go.

JENNIFER: All right, can we just finish what we were talking about first please?

JACK: You don't understand. This man is.... is so conservative that if he sees this, the negative publicity is just going to send him to the other side...I gotta go.

JENNIFER: I understand that but our marriage is more important right now, don't you agree Jack?

JACK: I agree but....

JENNIFER: But what? You're going to run out the door anyway, is that what you're telling me?

JACK: You have to understand. Try to understand.

JENNIFER: I have been trying to understand. I am trying to understand, all right. But I still want to know what they mean by high stakes poker game.

JACK: Well that's.... that's just a bunch of hype that they put in their papers. That's all that is.

 

JENNIFER READS THE ARTICLE.

 

JENNIFER: Well you told me that you only lost $100 Jack.

JACK: Well $100 is high stakes to a lot of people.

JENNIFER: The police confiscated up to.... one.... ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS in this poker game.

JACK: Let me see that, let me see that. You can't believe anything you read these days.

 

HE GRABS THE PAPER FROM HER.

 

JACK: I didn't see a hundred thousand dollars there. It wasn't there. I didn't see it.

JENNIFER: What kind of scam are you into this time Jack, tell me.

JACK: I am not running any kind of scam. I am just trying to save a loan that will save the paper.

 

HE RUNS UPSTAIRS TO FINISH GETTING DRESSED.

 

JENNIFER: Jack, what are you up to? Oh my god.

 

SHE PICKS UP ABBY.

 

JENNIFER: Come here sweetie. I don't know what your daddy's up to but it is not good. It definitely is not good.

SCENE FOUR: JENNIFER HAS GONE TO WORK. JACK HAS PUT ON HIS BEST SUIT. AS HE OPENS THE DOOR TO LEAVE, A WOMAN IS STANDING THERE.

 

JACK: Oh. Excuse me, you startled me.

TRISH: I'm sorry Mr. Deveraux. Do you have a moment?

JACK: Ah.... aaaah, wait a minute, you're.... you're.... Trish from the bank.

TRISH: That's right. I'm Mr. Vincent's secretary.

JACK: Mr. Vincent's secretary. That's.... well that's very conscientious of him. I've been trying to reach him all morning on the phone. He hasn't been able to answer my calls I suppose.

TRISH: Yeah. That's why I'm here.

JACK: Why are you here?

TRISH: To tell you to forget it. Mr. Vincent isn't going to make you that loan.

JACK: (Beat) Wait a minute. I'm sure that if I can see him face to face I can convince him to give me the loan.

TRISH: No, no, no, you can't. Look I've seen him like this before. Once he makes up his mind about something he stands by it no matter what.

JACK: I am certain that if I can see the man face to face I can convince him to let me....

TRISH: I'm really very sorry Mr. Deveraux. I know how badly you wanted that loan.

JACK: Tell him thank you for the personal touch.

 

SHE LEAVES AND JACK GOES INSIDE AND SLAMS THE DOOR.

 

JACK: Now what the hell am I going to do?

SCENE FIVE: JACK DOES NOT KNOW WHAT TO DO. HE THEN GETS ON THE PHONE TO BILLIE.

 

JACK: Come on Billie Reed. Where the hell are you? Pick up the phone, dammit. Come on.

 

THE DOOR OPEN. IT IS JENNIFER BACK FROM THE STUDIO WITH ABBY. JACK PUTS THE PHONE DOWN.

 

JACK: Oh you're back already.

JENNIFER: Yeah.

JACK: How did it go?

JENNIFER: Ah, it was good. Did you see the show?

JACK: (Beat) No. No I didn't see the show. I was busy.

 

JACK IS PRE-OCCUPIED AND DEPRESSED.

 

JENNIFER: Oh it was really good. We.... we talked about that homeless girl, Wendy.

 

WENDY IS A GIRL FOUND BY ABE'S BROTHER, JONAH. SHE WAS PREGNANT AND HE DELIVERED HER BABY.

 

JACK: Wendy?

JENNIFER: Jonah helped to deliver her baby, remember?

JACK: Oh right, right, Wendy, right, right.

JENNIFER: What's wrong?

JACK: Nothing's wrong.... what am I saying? Of course, everything's wrong. I did it. I.... lost the loan. And I can't blame anyone except myself. So you have every right to say I told you so. Every right.

 

JENNIFER IS UPSET BECAUSE SHE CAN SEE WHAT THIS MEANS TO JACK.

 

JENNIFER: You know Jack, that's not important.

JACK: It's not?

JENNIFER: No. (Beat) Look, we have a beautiful baby girl.

 

SHE PUTS ABBY IN JACK'S ARM.

 

JENNIFER: And she's so healthy. And we have each other. And nothing else is important. All that other stuff is just stuff.

JACK: You really think so?

JENNIFER: Yes. You drive me crazy but I knew what I was getting into when I married you. And there's an old saying that if everyone took all of their problems and they threw them on a mountain, that each and every one of us would run for our own.

 

HE LOOKS DOWN AT ABBY.

 

JACK: I can see that, yeah.

 

JENNIFER: You know our problems are nothing compared to some people Jack. (Beat) We love each other and that is something that we cannot ever forget. (Beat) So I guess I'm stuck with you.

 

SHE WRAPS HER ARMS AROUND JACK AND ABBY; HE RESTS HIS CHIN ON THE TOP OF HER HEAD.

JACK: I guess you are.