Sean walked slowly back to the lobby. He had barely been sitting for a minute when a nurse wheeled Manny out into clear view. Sean was dumbfounded. He mouthed soundlessly and made strange hand gestures as if to ask why she was still pregnant.
"Hey," Manny said shyly, "False alarm. I'm so, so sorry, Sean." Manny sat very tensely, waiting for his response.
"Oh God, Manny, don't be sorry! I am just so relieved that you and the baby are okay!" He saw Manny's face and stature loosen a bit. "So are you ready to go back to your place?" he asked her.
She smiled. "Yeah. Definitely. Lets get out of here!"
"Okay great." Sean walked around and took the wheelchair from the nurse. "Thanks." He pushed Manny out to the car.
Once back at Manny's…"Oh, I need to lie down!" Manny laughed, "I'm so tired!" She flopped onto the couch and threw her arm dramatically over her eyes.
"Yeah," Sean said slowly, "me too, now that I think about it. It's been a long day."
Manny got up again and pulled off her black sweater and stood in her black spaghetti strap. Her bare shoulders, back, and chest were revealed to Sean and he couldn't help but stare. She caught Sean's eye. Even though her belly was bulging, her skin looked so soft, he wondered what it would be like to caress his hands over her. Manny had not put on really any excess weight during this pregnancy. Her waist was still tiny, her legs still slender.
Sean had an idea of what Manny was trying to do. He decided to play the game. He reached over his back and pulled off his plain white shirt, once much like the ones that he used to wear. Sean was right; Manny couldn't help but look at him now. She was impressed. Sean still managed to keep in very good shape, despite his busy schedule.
Sean caught a glimpse of Manny scanning him. He took it up a notch. "What?" he asked playfully, even though he knew what she was looking at.
"Nothing…" Manny replied mysteriously. That tone of voice was turning Sean greatly on. "Goodnight, Sean…" There it was again. She disappeared into her room and her door snapped shut.
"Sweet dreams." Sean called to her before going into his own room.
Sean and Manny both lay awake, only separated by a thin cheap wall, but it seemed like so much more. There was a certain barrier between them; Sean was still in some ways hung on Emma. She was like a song that he couldn't ever get out of his head. Sean didn't want to forget her, but Manny was right, he needed to move on from this.
Manny turned onto her side, thinking of ways to help Sean. She wanted to give them a shot but since he was leaving in three days…she couldn't stop him and definitely not go with him because of the baby…why, she thought, why did it have to be so complicated? Wasn't it enough that they cared a lot about each other and wanted to be together? Shouldn't that be the easiest thing to establish? Then why were there all of these blockades in their way?
On the other side of the thin wall, Sean was thinking the same thing. He made a promise to himself that night that he would put all those things aside and talk to Manny tomorrow about possibly starting something. Something or someone needed to give Sean that first push and that someone was Manny.