VINNIE: I don’t blame her a bit, actually, Carter. Tell you the truth. You were on a roll. Unstoppable. I thought you might even end up running for Congress. Smooching babies and waving from cabooses. You had that aura about you. A kind of uh—yuppie Protestant aura, that’s become so popular these days.

CARTER: It caught me by surprise, Vinnie. I was as shocked by it as you were.

VINNIE: I doubt it.

CARTER: I didn’t even realize I had any feelings for her until—she just—opened up to me, I guess. She seemed so—

VINNIE: Desperate?

CARTER: Yeah. She did. Desperate and vulnerable at the same time.

VINNIE: A deadly combination.

CARTER: It just caught me completely off-guard.

VINNIE: Yeah. She pulled that on me too. In the beginning. All wide-eyed and bushy-tailed.

CARTER: But it wasn’t like a game with her or anything—not like you pretending to be a detective. She—

VINNIE: I never pretended with Rosie.

CARTER: No, but you know what I mean.

VINNIE: I know what you mean but I never pretended with her. I never had to pretend with Rosie.

CARTER: All right—

VINNIE: You’re not trying to imply that me and her had some superficial thing going, are you?

CARTER: No, I’m just saying—

VINNIE: That suddenly you came along and she saw the light?

CARTER: No! She seemed to have this idea in her head. And I don’t know where it came from.

VINNIE: What idea?

CARTER: That I was her—ticket—out. I guess.

VINNIE: Well, you were, weren’t you? She got what she wanted.

CARTER: No. No, she didn’t.

VINNIE: Oh. Well, what happened, Carter? Come on. You can tell me. We’re old buddies. Confidants. We’ve been through the wars together.

CARTER: I don’t know what happened.

VINNIE: Things went sour?

CARTER: Yeah. Very suddenly.

VINNIE: Things went a little limp in the sack, did they?

CARTER: No. She—(Stops himself.)

VINNIE: What?

CARTER: I’ve gotta get going, Vinnie. I really do.

VINNIE: Hang on, hang on. She found someone else. Is that it?

CARTER: No!

VINNIE: Here, take another pull.

VINNIE offers CARTER the bottle. CARTER takes it and drinks, hands it back.

CARTER: I didn’t want to get into this!

VINNIE: Well, I didn’t realize there was any big trauma. I thought you and Rosie were—

CARTER: We’re not!

VINNIE: You wanna—sit down and talk about it?

CARTER: No! I do not want to sit down and talk about it! I’ve got no business here! I’ve gotta get back. I don’t have time to fuck around here with your personal problems, Vinnie!

VINNIE: My personal problems?

CARTER: That’s right. That’s why I’m out here, in case you forgot.

VINNIE: Well, maybe I could help you out, Carter.

CARTER: You?