Thirtysomething1987

Michael Steadman:
I just... I want to explain, okay? It's just that the timing of this has been so weird.

Hope Murdoch Steadman:
Well, I'll try to plan the next miscarriage better.

Michael Steadman:
Wait a second. Hope? Now wait a second.

Hope Murdoch Steadman:
What?

Michael Steadman:
Look. Things are out of control right now. I mean, neither of us has a handle on anything. So sometimes it just... it gets hard to figure out priorities.

Hope Murdoch Steadman:
No. Your priority is your new job.

Michael Steadman:
So what did you want me to do? Did you want me not to take it, Hope?

Hope Murdoch Steadman:
Of course not.

Michael Steadman:
Okay, so then if I take it I have to do it well, right? Because if I don't do it well, and I mean really well, I mean excel at it, then I'm out, you understand that, right?

Michael Steadman:
[grabbing Hope by the arm when she tries to walk away] Wait a minute.

Hope Murdoch Steadman:
[pulling her arm away from him] Fine. Go ahead. Excel at it. What do you want me to say?

Michael Steadman:
Okay. Look. I know that it's not that simple.

Hope Murdoch Steadman:
No. You make it simple. You couldn't be there today because Drentell walked into your office. You couldn't say 'excuse me, Miles, I have an appointment'? If you walked into his office, he would leave. No, you couldn't be there, thinking you were going to lose your job because you had an appointment at your daughter's school?

Michael Steadman:
No! That's not fair.

Hope Murdoch Steadman:
No, it is that. I mean that's what your priorities are: job, money, family, in that order, and that's doesn't even include throwing sports in there.

Michael Steadman:
Those are not my priorities. Damn it, Hope, see? You don't even know my priorities. I have responsibilities. I mean... I'm the provider here, Hope!

Hope Murdoch Steadman:
I have a job, excuse me!

Michael Steadman:
Okay, you could have been the provider, okay? But we chose to do it this way. And that... that's fine. Okay? I don't have a problem with that. But that means I have a responsibility. Don't make a face at me, Hope! So if I'm out of work for two months. And I find a job...

Hope Murdoch Steadman:
You don't even like this job.

Michael Steadman:
...and I find a job. And I see a chance to breath again. And not have to worry about a budget, or what a new baby needs, everything that goes with a new baby, then your damned right I'm going to work hard at it.

Hope Murdoch Steadman:
We don't have a new baby.

Michael Steadman:
Yeah. But we were going to. And we were living off our savings. And we had a mortgage rate that seemed to go up every month. We had bumped-up car insurance rates...

Hope Murdoch Steadman:
And the baby's liabilities outweighed its assets.

Michael Steadman:
No, Hope! That's not what I'm saying.

Hope Murdoch Steadman:
No, no! Fine. Fine! This was a bad time for me too. I didn't want this baby either.