Stan walked over to Peggy's office at 6:15 to see if she was ready to go home yet. She had been so exhausted lately, yet still insisted on working late all this week. Tonight he was tired too. Working on the Coke ad was wringing them all out. It would be good to just go home and relax. The time they had left for relaxing was going to be dwindling quickly, they were in contract for the house in Brooklyn, hoping to close on it in early June, and of course, the baby is due in mid August. Stan slowly opens the door to find Peggy on her couch, fast asleep with her mouth wide open. He had to laugh a little, she would not be happy at all if anyone else saw her like this.
"Jesus, she must be shot" Stan thought. She didn't even hear him come into the room.
He leaned down and gently touched her shoulder, not wanting to startle her.
"Come on. Let's go. You need to get some real rest." he whispered.
Peggy opened her eyes and blinked. She was feeling a little disoriented. "I'm ok. We don't have to go now. I just needed a little nap."
"No, we do have to go. I'm tired too. It's Friday, it's been a long week. And we're not coming in this weekend either." Stan tells her.
At first, and just out of sheer habit, she wants to resist and argue with him, but realizes he is right, she is exhausted. And hungry.
"Ok, let's go. Let's pick up Chinese for dinner. I'm dying for roast pork lo mein!" Peggy suggests.
"Really? From the place on the corner? By us? With all that salt and MSG? Didn't that give you a bad headache the last time we had it?" Stan is surprised her memory is so short.
"Oh yeah. I guess." Damn, she really wanted that!
"How tired are you? How about we head downtown and go to Chinatown...have some REAL Chinese food? Make a date of it, we haven't been on a date in a while."
Peggy smiles at him. "Have we EVER been on a real date? I pretty much moved right in with you."
"I don't know, Peggy. Do you want to go on a date tonight? That's what I'm asking you." He is a little irritated, maybe overtired. She still drives him nuts.
Peggy sits up on the couch and straightens her dress over her bump and runs her fingers through her hair. "Ok, let's go. Can we get a cab though? The thought of the subway...I just can't... "
"Yeah, but let's get moving. It's not a novel idea, you know, going to dinner on Friday night. Well, not novel for the rest of the world, anyway. Don't look at anything on your desk! Go pee and let's go." he tells her.
Peggy emerges from the ladies room, looking fresher...hair brushed, lip gloss on. Stan can't help thinking that she looks really pregnant now. But he reminds himself that this is not her first pregnancy. He remembers his cousins did look bigger with their second and third kids. Everyone in the office knew now, she was really starting to show a month ago. But not many were bold enough to ask her due date. Stan thinks she looks just beautiful.
Stan takes her hand in her elevator.
"You know, there's a great place I know for dim sum…been there since like 1920. It's not overly romantic, but the food is great. Little old lady pushes the cart around, you pick out what you want…"
"Mmm. That sounds great. I can't wait!" Peggy is glad she's getting out of the office. And once again, she is starving.
The weather is getting nicer now, it's still a little cool, but it feels great on this last evening of April. Most of April was really chilly and rainy, as it usually is in New York. Now leaves are starting to sprout on the trees, and the promise of warmer days hangs in the air.
Finally, after about ten or fifteen minutes of standing in the street, Stan manages to flag down a cab in front of the office building. It is a Friday night after all. And his terrific strategy to snag a cab, positioning his now visibly pregnant wife in front of him, did not work.
Stan opens the cab door and lets Peggy in first. She slides over, and not all that gracefully, due to her ever growing belly.
"Chinatown, Nom Wah Tea Parlor, Doyers Street" Stan tells the cab driver.
"I know where it is. That street's a pain in the keister to get to." the cabbie asserts.
Stan laughs. "I know. You can leave us at Mott and Pell…I know that area is crazy."
Doyers Street is one of only a few curved streets in Manhattan, basically an alley, and next to impossible to drive through, due to its narrowness and sharp angles. For a time, its sharp curve earned the street the nickname of "Bloody Angle," as it was the site of numerous gang street battles and murders. The street hosted many of the infamous gang wars of the Tong Gangs of Chinatown, beginning in the early 1900s and lasting into the 1930s. Hatchets were frequently used, leading to the creation of the expression, "hatchet man". An alleged network of tunnels connecting several buildings also made for easy getaways. Stan explained all of this to Peggy during the cab ride, which took a little over a half an hour due to all the traffic.
They got out in the heart of Chinatown. After a short walk through colorful and crowded Pell Street, Peggy and Stan arrive at Nom Wah, which is already quite crowded. The restaurant is bright and is reminiscent of an old fashioned diner, with its red leatherette booths and mosaic tiled floor. The lights are bright overhead and there is a cheerful noisiness to the place. The aroma is absolutely wonderful. The windows are steamy, casting an opaque light from the street outside that reminds Peggy of stained glass.
Stan helps Peggy take off her jacket and looks across the room, hearing laughter.
"Oh shit…" he says in a low voice.
"What's wrong?" Peggy asks.
"Elaine."
"What?" Now Peggy spots her too. "Oh…"
Elaine is in her nurse's uniform, her hand is resting on the arm of a good looking young doctor, dressed in green hospital scrubs. She looks great, her hair is longer, pulled into a ponytail, and she's not wearing her nurses cap. They are sitting at a long table with a group of other nurses and doctors, all of them laughing. Stan had recognized her laugh right away.
Peggy looks up at Stan, he looks a little nervous.
"Stan, do you want to leave? I know this is uncomfortable."
"No…she'll probably see us…plus that's a little juvenile, don't you think. We're not in high school. Let's just say hi and leave it at that." Stan says. He's trying to convince himself that he's adult enough to handle this.
Just then, Elaine does spot them both. She's a little surprised as well. She smiles and stands up and waves them over. Stan and Peggy make their way over to the table through the crowded space. Still smiling, Elaine addresses Peggy first.
"Hi, you're Peggy, right?" Elaine can't help but notice Peggy's belly. She then glances at both Peggy and Stan's left hands…yup, wedding rings on both of them. "Wow, that didn't take long…" she thinks to herself, not knowing how long she can keep this smile plastered on her face.
"Yes…and you're Elaine! It's been a long time." Peggy has the same awkward smile on her face. "How are you?"
Elaine gives Peggy a kiss on the cheek and then kisses Stan's cheek.
"I'm well, doing real well. Looks like you two are doing well too" she says with a giggle.
Stan finally speaks…. "Yeah, um, we got married. Um, a few months ago. How are you, what have you been doing? You look great."
"Well, thanks. Yeah, I'm still at St. Vincent's, not in emergency anymore, I transferred to Labor and Delivery, much nicer atmosphere." Elaine debates whether or not mention Peggy's pregnancy. She decides, what the hell, it's obvious, so she continues.
"It looks like you guys will be there soon enough. When are you due?" Elaine asks, still smiling.
"August 14th." Stan answers.
"Wow, that's great. Well, then Peggy, I hope it's not going to be too hot a summer! Are you still in the village?" Elaine asks, looking at Stan.
"Yes, but we're moving to Brooklyn. We hope to be in by June." Peggy answers.
"Oh, that's good. That apartment is great, but holy cow, how about all those stairs…Jesus that must be tough, in your condition." Elaine says to Peggy, and with genuine concern.
"Oh my God, yes..I HATE those stairs!" Peggy laughs. "But it's probably the most exercise I get lately."
Elaine and Peggy are conversing very easily, but Stan still can't help feeling uncomfortable and maybe a little foolish. His last conversation with Elaine was excruciating. He was sheepish and apologetic and trying to let Elaine down gently. She knew it was over, going nowhere. She had felt it coming for months, he had become more and more distant. But during that conversation, Elaine kept pressing him, she still wanted to know the reason the relationship had to end, she wanted him to actually say it. Stan finally told her he thought he was in love with someone else. Elaine had long suspected it was Peggy, she had heard her name too many times. And really, if he was not at home with Elaine, he was at work. So it had to be Peggy. Elaine didn't press him further at the time.
But now it was confirmed…here they were, together, right in front of her. Married and expecting. Oh well, she knew it was over before it was over, and anyway, she has a new man herself.
Just then Elaine blushes…she turns around to the handsome doctor next to her. "Oh God, I'm so sorry…Tom…this is an old friend, Stan Rizzo and his wife Peggy…Stan, Peggy, this is my boyfriend, Tom Davis. Dr. Tom Davis."
Tom stands up and shakes Stan's hand, then Peggy's. He is nearly a foot taller than Stan, with sparkling blue eyes. He reminds Peggy of Don in a way, very handsome, but more affable, open. He didn't have that scowl Don sometimes had.
"Good to meet you. I believe Elaine spoke of you. Fondly, of course." Tom chuckles. "Why don't you join us…they can just drag over one of those small tables."
"No, no…" Stan says. "You guys have started already. Enjoy." He looks at Elaine, he's happy for her. This was uncomfortable, but not as difficult as he thought it might be. He gives Elaine a kiss.
"Great seeing you, Elaine, really." He then bends lower and whispers, just loud enough for both Elaine and Peggy to hear.
"Tom seems like a great guy. So you traded up, finally landed a doctor, and a looker too…lucky girl." He laughs.
"Hey, keep it down…I want to hang onto this one, he's a keeper!" Elaine laughs, kissing Stan back.
She then kisses Peggy and whispers into her ear. "I'm happy for you both, really. He's been in love with you forever, you know."
Peggy is stunned. She doesn't know what to say to this. And now she feels badly about how Elaine must have felt.
Elaine pulls away from Peggy and says "Enjoy your dinner, you two. You know what's great…other than the dumplings of course, the scallion pancakes…to die for!"
"Sounds great." Stan tells her. Just then a tiny, older Chinese woman takes Stan by the wrist. "You wanna tale for two?" she asks in a heavy Chinese accent.
Stan and Peggy follow her across the restaurant to a small table in the corner.
Peggy looks at Stan across the table. "Stan, did you talk to Elaine about me?"
"No. I don't know. Maybe I talked about work. Why?"
"She just told me she knew you loved me."
Stan looked over at Elaine's table, then back at Peggy.
"When we broke up, she kept asking me why. I told her I was in love with someone else. She's not a stupid woman, Peggy. I guess she figured it out."
Peggy smiled at him. "Well, she looks happy. She told me she's happy for us. You know, I'm happy for her too. He's so handsome, her boyfriend."
"More handsome than me?" Stan asks with his impish grin.
"No one is more handsome than you."
Stan smiles. "Now, THAT is the correct answer."