Hyacinth wakes up before Richard does and she notices his arm is around her shoulders. She snuggles back into his arms and picks up her book. She doesn't want to wake him since he looks so relaxed and that is rare for him. She opens her book and begins to read. The person on the other side of her has been asleep the entire flight which has meant she hasn't had to make meaningless small talk. She's enjoyed seeing Richard so relaxed. She's reading a silly romance novel her sister, Daisy, suggested she read. A tear trickles down her face as she realizes that the couple in the book is very much like her and Richard. Maybe that's why Daisy suggested this book. She looks up at her husband and knows things have to change. Richard did the right thing by insisting on counselling. She sets her book down in her lap and runs her hands over her face. She knows her marriage isn't working, but she never though Richard would consider leaving her.
The flight attendants begin moving through the cabin to serve dinner. Hyacinth shakes Richard gently. "Richard, they're serving dinner."
Richard stretches carefully trying not to hit anyone around him. Hyacinth moves from his arms to give him some space. "Did I hold you the entire time I was asleep?"
"You held me the entire time I was asleep and I didn't want to wake you when I woke up so I stayed put." Hyacinth tells Richard.
"That's interesting. I haven't done that for a long time. It was nice though." Richard says looking seriously at his wife.
The flight attendant comes by with their meals. Hyacinth has chicken and Richard has beef. Richard watches his wife carefully open her meal and gingerly sniff it. "Well?" Richard asks sipping his water.
"It's airplane food. What can I say?" Hyacinth asks shrugging nonchalantly.
"Well, we should get good food in Maine. This town of Great Hope Springs is right on the ocean, so we should get some wonderful seafood while we're there." Richard tells his wife.
"Well, at least it has one thing going for it." Hyacinth grumbles.
"Why are you so against this? We need to change something and I don't know how else to do this. I'm out of ideas. This was my only option left to me." Richard says tiredly.
"I think we could have worked things out on our own without the help of a marriage counsellor." Hyacinth sounds angry, as if she resents him for doing this.
"I don't see how that's possible considering that you don't listen long enough for us to have a real conversation. We can't fix things if the conversations are one-sided. I can't keep talking to myself." Richard hisses under his breath.
"Well, we'll see if we can fix things." Hyacinth says nonchalantly.
Richard grumbles angrily under his breath. He can't believe his wife is being so calm. He's been so worried about his marriage, but his wife seems completely unconcerned about the state of their union. Richard stacks his empty dishes on the edge of his tray table and puts his wife's dishes on his tray table as well. He picks up his book and puts his reading glasses on. He doesn't want to talk to his wife anymore right now. He's enjoying his book very much which keeps him from thinking about how angry he is at his wife.