Rachel freezes. She feels like all of a sudden she can't move and can't speak. She doesn't know what to say. Ross wants to know if she loves him. Of course she loves him. It's Ross. But she also already decided that she and Ross won't work. She really doesn't want to put either of them through the pain of trying and it not working out. She hasn't said anything in a while. She can still hear Ross breathing on the other end. He's waiting for her to say something. She's trying so hard to think of what to say.

"Hey, Rachel. Are you okay?" It's Nick in the other room. "I thought you were talking to Ross."

Rachel turns to him without saying anything. She must look as nervous as she feels because Nick immediately looks worried when he sees her face.

"Woah." He says, "What's going on?"

Rachel doesn't want the awkward silence to go on any longer. "Ross, this really isn't a good time. Let's talk about this another day." And then she hangs up without waiting for a reply.

"Come on!" She says to Nick. "We're going to miss our reservations."


At dinner Rachel tells Nick everything. She tells him about the airport, and how Ross was going to tell her he loved her, and then about what he said earlier that day.

"Okay." Nick says, "So he's in love with you. And you're in love with him. And you have a child together. I don't see what's wrong with this."

Rachel sighs. "We live on different continents!"

"Why can't he come here?"

"He has a job in New York." Rachel says.

"He could get a job here." Nick argues.

"He has a son in New York."

Nick's eyes widen. "How many kids does this guy have?!"

Rachel rolls her eyes. "Just two. Emma and Ben."

"Who's Ben's mother?"

"His first wife, Carol." Rachel tells him.

"Wait he's been married more than once? I thought you guys weren't married when you had Emma."

"We weren't. But we did get married once when we were drunk. But by that time we were divorced." Rachel explains.

"So this guy's been divorced twice?" Nick asks.

"Well," Rachel says, "actually he's been divorced three times."

Nick's eyes widen. "Isn't he your age?"

Rachel nods.

"That's a lot of divorces in such a short time. Why are you in love with this guy?"

"Forget about the divorces, Nick! What am I supposed to do?"

"Okay." Nick says. "Do you love him?"

"Yes." Rachel nods.

"Then maybe call him back. You can just talk about how you feel." Nick suggests.

"But what if we get back together and it doesn't work out?"

"Well then you'll know." Nick says. "You never know if you don't try."

"But then things will be awkward between us!"

"Aren't they awkward now?"

"Well, yeah. But—"

"Just talk to him. Tell him that you're scared of it not working but you love him. Then you two can figure it out from there." Nick says. "Besides, waiting for you to call back is probably driving him crazy."

"I guess you're right." Rachel says.


Later that night, Rachel is sitting on the couch, staring at the phone. She knows she has to call Ross. But she just doesn't want to have that conversation. She's so scared of losing him as a friend. If the two of them try to date and it doesn't work she doesn't know how they'll move on.

She loves Ross. She wants to be with Ross. But she also doesn't want to lose Ross altogether. She really is dreading making that call. And so she decides to wait until the morning.