A quiet Valentine's Day evening at the usually crowded Regal Beagle, Jack Tripper gently lead his live in girlfriend of three years, Vicky Bradford, into the restaurant and pulled out the chair for her before sitting in the chair across from her and lovingly taking her hands into his and smiling as big as day at the sight of her. They had moved in together just after Jack's former roommate, Janet Wood, had wed Philip Dawson and moved out as well.
"Happy Valentine's Day, darling!" he gushed adoringly, "I have a surprise for you, there is something I've been wanting to talk to you about."
Vicky smiled back, "What about, is anything wrong?" she asked with concern.
"Well," he nervously began, anticipating her reaction "You know we've been living together for three years now and it's been going really well and..." he stopped to collect his thoughts, sensing her visible confusion, "I was just thinking, I know you said you were afraid to get married because of your parents' divorce but I want you to know, just because it happened with your parents doesn't mean it would with you and me. We've done so well for this long, I can't see us not being together so I thought I'd try again. Vicky, I know it may be a long shot, but will you marry me?"
"Oh, Jack," Vicky sighed, her heart melting and breaking all at once, "I already told you three years ago, honey, I don't want to get married, okay? We're doing fine as we are now, if we get married it will just go downhill, besides," she paused to catch a breath, "Since your restaurant went under, how can I be sure you'd be able to support me? At least now I'm able to support myself as a flight attendant, just as I have."
Jack was baffled at her doubts, "Vicky, I can't believe you! We have been together this long and you've never doubted me! I've taken care of you!"
"Honey, please," Vicky cut him off, noticing he was near tears, "Calm down, I didn't mean it like that."
"Sure you didn't!" he snarled, "You never believed in me, I should have seen it! As if it wasn't bad enough that your father is always trying to break us up!"
"Jack, leave my father out of this!" she said, releasing his hands in hurt and anger.
Jack let out a disgusted laugh, "Leave him out of this? How can I? Three years trying everything he can to ruin our relationship and we've held on this long! I thought maybe, just maybe, if we'd got married, I don't know, maybe he'd finally accept us together?"
"I'm sorry, Jack," Vicky now spoke softly, "I love you, I always have, but I think it's time we both had a new start. You really need someone you can be married to and spend your life with," she paused to stand up and push her chair in and went over to kiss his forehead, "I'll move out tomorrow. Goodbye, Jack, I'll always cherish what we had."
"You'd think after three years you'd want to take the next step!" Jack screamed through oncoming tears as Vicky walked out of the restaurant door. He buried his face in his hands, starting to cry quietly in frustration. Just then, the waitress walked over.
"Hi, is everything okay?" the woman asked with concern, "I was coming over here to take your order and could not help but overhear the commotion over here."
"Oh, it's no big deal, just a Valentine's Day gone completely wrong!" he grumbled, squeezing his eyes with his fingers, "I tried to propose to my girlfriend, again, and she rejected me once again, for the same reason as the first time, then has the audacity to tell me she didn't think I could take care of her if we got married because my restaurant went out of business!"
"I'm so sorry," the woman said in comfort, placing her hand on his shaking back, "I just went through something similar myself. My fiance of five years was constantly using every excuse in the book not to go through with the wedding, and what does he do but humiliate me by calling off the entire engagement in front of both our families at Thanksgiving dinner!"
"Oh wow, I'm so sorry!" he huffed back, trying to compose his breath, "So what did you do about it..." he paused, not knowing her name.
"It's Rose," she smiled, squeezing his shoulder, "Rose Whitman."
Jack sniffed before looking at at her, "Like the chocolates?" he asked, blinking to clear his eyes.
"Yes, like the chocolates." Rose slightly laughed, "And you are..."
"Jack Tripper," he whimpered, still failing to calm down, "Like the song by the Beatles."
"Ah yes! Day Tripper! One of my favorites!" Rose said excitedly.
"Yeah!" Jack laughed a little, "I'm sorry, I must sound like such a wuss, it's just after three years you'd think you'd actually have faith in a person you're that serious with!"
Rose put her arm around him a little, "No no, it's okay to cry, it doesn't matter how pointless something seems. My fiance never showed any emotion and it got to a point where I was never sure if he ever felt any kind of compassion at all. I think it's great you're not afraid to be sensitive and show it, just let it out."
With that, he sure did. She pulled him into her, resting his head against her stomach, and he wrapped his arms needily around her waist, repeating "I loved her, how could she do this?"
Rose just stood there, holding and listening, rocking him gently in her already adoring hold, finally kissing the top of his head and whispered, "You'll be fine, this may be a blessing for both of us."
An hour or so later...
Jack still couldn't bring himself to stop crying no matter how much he tried to, and Rose just stayed with him through it, holding him tightly as she had been, whispering words of comfort and encouragement and telling him everything would get better over time, when suddenly the moment was interrupted by a startling yell.
"Rose!" A voice boomed out from the back of the restaurant, "Get back to work! You've been stalling the order for over an hour now!"
"Can it, Doug!" Rose snapped back, defensively, still not letting go of the hold, "Can't you see he's upset?"
"That doesn't matter, you're a waitress, not a counselor!" the manager bellowed, "I didn't hire you to coddle the customers, now take the order and be done with it!"
Rose grumbled in frustration, cuddling Jack one more time before leaning down to whisper, "I'm sorry about this, Jack, I need to get back to work, but we'll talk later, cheer up okay? Everything will work out fine."
"That's okay," Jack hesitantly let go of Rose and breathed deeply, feeling worn out from crying, "Thanks for helping me out, Rose. You're an angel."
She took his hand into hers, looking intently into his eyes, almost hypnotized by the innocent sweetness of his face as he looked back at her, and they seemed to inch closer to one another without realizing, when suddenly the manager yelled again.
"Rose! I said get back to work this instant!" he boomed out.
"Get a life, Doug!" she muttered, once again turning her attention to Jack, "I almost forgot, can I get you anything? I never did take your order yet."
"Ah, no thanks, " Jack tiredly murmured, "I should probably just be getting home anyway, but maybe I'll see you again here or some place."
Rose beamed at him, stealing one more prolonged look into those deep blue eyes, "I'd like that, here's my number in case you need to talk."
She wrote down the number on a napkin on the table and handed it to him, gently kissing him on the cheek. Jack reciprocated, doing the same to her.
Rose seemed to float as she walked to take the order of the next customer, quietly singing "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" to herself the whole way, and Jack walked out the door, his heart still in pieces, and headed home, vulnerably clutching the napkin containing her number.
Meanwhile, back at home...
Jack headed back to his apartment, desperately hoping to work things out with Vicky. He opened the door and called for her.
"Vicky, is there a way we can..." he stopped mid sentence, noticing a note taped to the door that said 'To Jack, Read Me'.
He unfolded it and began reading what it said...
"Jack, I'm sorry things had to end the way they did, but I've decided this transition would be easier on us if I went back to my father's place so we don't feel obligated to change our minds. Just know, I have nothing against you and will always have a place for you in my heart, but I do feel it best to go our separate ways so we can both find what we need to be happy in our lives. Thank you so much for all you have done for me and loving me the way you have and I wish you all the best this life can give you. With all my love, Vicky."
As Jack read the words his ex girlfriend had written, his eyes filled up again. He headed into the restroom to wash up and prepare to sleep, holding the note to his heart on the way in. As he put the note down on the counter, his eyes blurred over. As he blinked quickly to clear it, a tear spilled out, fell down his cheek and landed onto the paper, blurring her name where she had written. With that, he washed his face and headed back into the bedroom, climbed into his bed and switched off the light, closing his eyes as one more single tear slipped out and landed onto his pillow as he whispered, "Goodbye, Vicky..." and drifted off to sleep, still clutching the napkin he was given.