Two cars arrive separately and take parking spots next to each other in a McDonald's parking lot. A woman, pregnant in a flowing olive-green tunic, steps out and waits while a man gets out of the other car.
"Do you have a pen?" he asks.
"Yeah." She unlocks the door she'd just locked with the remote and pulls out a heavy leather bag. She straps it across her shoulders and they both walk inside. Eyes downcast.
They wait, standing a couple inches apart, behind several people ordering Egg McMuffins or pancakes or breakfast burritos. They don't speak. Just wait. Then order. She orders a sausage biscuit, and he gets a McGriddle sandwich. "I'll get it," he says and pulls out a credit card, swipes it, while the woman finds an empty table, across from two elderly men with discarded wrappers littering their table, still drinking their coffees.
The man walks over and takes a seat at her table. "Let's get this done," she says and pulls a black pen from her bag, then sets the bag carefully next to her seat. He opens a stapled wad of papers.
"Okay, sign and date here," he says, pointing to a blank line on page three. She signs, a sadness in her face, while she stares down at the words on the page.
"Now here." She signs again. The black ink trailing and drying on the page while she hesitates, her arm resting on the page.
The man stands and brings over their food.
"Don't you think we could work it out?" she says, resting her arm on the shelf her pregnant belly provides. Then rubs gently the foot away from where it's lodged under her rib, creating a sharp pain.
He shakes his head back and forth, then slides her sandwich across the glossy table until it stops, in front of her. She opens the wrapper and eats quickly.
"The child care isn't a write-off," he says.
She nods understanding and signs one more time, after he points out the last blank line.
"Why?"
"Your company had a loss this year." She looks up and smiles.
"What? I didn't make a profit?" They smile.
"Maybe next year."
They finish their food quickly. Then walk out of the restaurant separately. She sits heavily into her car and drives south, while he goes north.
