It was a warm spring night the night Woody Boyd married Kelly Gaines. Rebecca Howe, the Cheers' "office manager", felt anything but warm. She had gotten drunk and she was smoking cigarette after cigarette trying to make her heart feel a little less cold. What had become of her? All those years of climbing the corporate ladder and making it her goal to snag a wealthy husband had made her whole world crumble at her feet. She scuffed when the Lillian corporation had given her the job of operating Cheers because she found it beneath her and now the bar she had her heart set on despising had become all she had.
Then comes that moment of clarity a person had when they allow themselves to indulge in self pity: they get to have a choice. A choice between sitting around moping about how pathetic they think their lives are or they get up and do something about it. After consuming enough booze and cigarettes to sink a ship, Rebecca had made her choice. She threw her last cigarette into the trash, wiped her eyes, and got up to walk out of the office. The bar's lights were dimmed low but it wasn't dark enough for her not to see where her coat and purse were. She was all set to leave when the phone rang.
"I should get that," she said out loud. Who was going to hear her anyway? A few rings and a few steps later, she turned back to walk out the door again. They had an answering machine and it was late at night, it could certainly wait until tomorrow. Rebecca never looked back with that in mind.
"Hello, you have reached Cheers," Sam Malone's voice recording echoing through the empty bar. "We are not available at this time, so if you leave management your name and number we will get back to you as soon as we can. Thanks and have a good one!"
"Sam," Diane sighed heavily at the other end of the line. She looked out from her apartment balcony in California and glared at the sun setting over the ocean with tears in her eyes. She couldn't believe she was doing this and she couldn't believe she could believe Sam would even answer the phone in the first place knowing it was her. She had waited too long and the phone line had gotten disconnected from her.
She swallowed hard and dialed again. She just had to get what she needed off her chest and she didn't care if she only had an answering machine to talk to. She figured she must be a true yankee if sunny, warm days made her feel more alone than a gray, blustery day ever could. She concentrated on her breathing as she went through the motions with the dial tone and the answering machine recording. Hearing his voice was a small comfort to her after all.
"Sam," she began as the machine beeped. "I don't think I need to tell you who I am. Listen, I'm crazy but you knew that a long time ago, didn't you? Anyway, I don't know if you know or not but I live in California now. I have an ocean view from my apartment and it's so beautiful when the sun sets much like now. I wish you were here to see it. I guess, I just wanted to tell you that I'm fine and I will leave you my number to call me back we have so much to discuss. I..."
The machine had disconnected her again. She cursed at herself for talking so long and quickly dialed back to leave another message but it wouldn't go through. The operator had told her that the phone number was no longer available.
"Impossible!" Diane shrieked every time the operator said it. "I got through just fine a few minutes ago."
After a few tries, Diane slammed the phone down and began to cry. Did he really hate her that bad that he would disconnect the phone wires? Maybe Carla did it out of spite? She honestly wouldn't put it past Carla to do something like that. She wiped her eyes and tried to tell herself what was meant to be would find a way.
That night ended up being the night Rebecca had lit the bar on fire. It was engulfed in flames as soon as Diane connected to the bar for the second time. Sam never got her message and the strange part was the answering machine was presumed lost in all the debris from the fire. Rebecca would never know the pain she caused Diane that night and Diane would never serve as a reminder to Rebecca to take a sign when you get one. No one would ever know the true impact of that night had it all played out differently.