That one lands with KENT. He turns quickly but manages to hold his temper—it’s a struggle. You can tell.

KENT Fine. Go.

CARLY I will. I’m going. (Beat.) Nice of you to ask about your daughter …

KENT Sorry, shit! I was gonna …

CARLY Yeah, I bet.

KENT I was too! Fuck, please, don’t be like that, Carly! I’m trying here!

CARLY Ok, then go ahead. Ask something.

KENT Well … not now, I mean … (Beat.) Fine. How’s the baby?

CARLY She’s three.

KENT You know what I mean! Is she alright?

CARLY She’s good. Great, actually.

KENT Yeah?

CARLY Yes, Kent. She’s amazing—she looks like you, which I hate, but luckily you were always good-looking so it oughta be ok. (Beat.) You should ask to see her more … you might know some of this shit.

KENT … I thought you said … that …

CARLY No, I never said don’t see her.

KENT Well, no, but …

CARLY That was never said. Ever. At some point you just stopped trying …

KENT It’s hard. I mean, when … we’re all …

CARLY Whatever. If picking up the phone is hard then yeah, it’s hard. (Checks the clock.) I gotta go.

KENT … but …

CARLY Call me if you wanna spend some time with your daughter.

KENT I will.

CARLY We’ll see.

CARLY heads for the door. KENT calls out as she is going:

KENT … is Greg picking you up?

CARLY stops and turns to her ex. He is quiet but he seems to be a mixture of angry, sad and scared. Like a child.

KENT Steph called me./ And she never calls me.

CARLY … ok …/ So?

KENT Didn’t you think that maybe you should tell me about this at some point?

CARLY I was gonna. At some point.

KENT Yeah? When’s that?

CARLY … when it became anything close to being “your business.”

KENT Listen … (Stops himself.) I’m trying hard not to go off here, ok? I have been doing a lot of work on me as a person—I don’t mean in, like, some faggy way, but—I’ve really been trying lately to get hold of my anger and, and my … taking more of an ownership for my mistakes and shit like that. You haven’t been around me at all but it’s true. I’m doing that now …

CARLY Yeah?

KENT Yes. I even watched a video about it …

CARLY Great. (Beat.) I’ll bet your little girlfriend Crystal is, like, super impressed with you …

KENT Carly, please, fuck! Just gimme a break here … I’m confronting you right now!

CARLY Really? Is that what you’re doing?

KENT Yes! So come on … answer me! Seriously!

CARLY Alright. Fine. (Beat.) Yes, Kent, Greg is picking me up from work. He does that on occasion.

KENT … shit …

CARLY You know why? Because he’s a gentleman, that’s why. He does things for me, not just himself … he considers other people sometimes and even though he’s gotta drive way outta town to where he’s substitute teaching, he still does things like that … so think about that when you’re over at Dunkin’ Donuts this morning without a care in the world …