"Julia -"

"I have a show to put together," she stated.

"You always have a show to put together -"

"Its an honest job," Julia said, searching for her list of guests who were to be on Madge Crawford's show that week.

The low esteem in which Phillip held the ephemeral product of the television industry, in comparison to his construction projects, was a perpetual sore point between them - one that had been submerged beneath a myriad of other wounds they had inflicted on each other.

There was no rejoinder for a long moment while Phillip put on his coat and wrapped his scarf around his neck.

"Julia?"

"Huh?"

"I want you back."

The words hung in the air like stale tobacco smoke. The silence of the cement-block room allowed the echoes to hover without diminution for a long moment while they stared at each other. Julia did not want to respond, did not want to hurt or be hurt by the words that came to her tongue at that moment.