SCENE 44: THE HOMECOMING
INT. COZY RESTAURANT – NIGHT
Warm. Dreamlike. A piano hums gently beneath quiet conversation. Golden light flickers off wine glasses and polished wood. Laughter, clinking glass. Everything glows.
AT THE BAR – HER & RUBY
She stands beside Ruby, drink in hand — relaxed, radiant.
They laugh — light, easy. Comfortable.
RUBY
(raising her glass, teasing)
I hope I get to read it one day.
HER
(grinning, but weary)
Yeah… we’ll see.
It’s not as easy as I thought.
RUBY
(soft, knowing)
The real ones never are.
A beat — something lingers behind her eyes.
Then—
The doors open behind them.
A subtle shift in the room’s gravity.
Her smile flickers.
A pause.
She blinks.
Turns.
IN THE ENTRANCE – WILLIAM
He steps in with a small group — coat over one arm, mid-laugh.
THOMAS is beside him — calm, observant, already scanning the room.
William slows. His eyes catch something —
Her.
Everything stops.
He freezes.
One foot forward, like suspended mid-step.
The piano dulls.
The lights soften.
The moment stretches — sound pulled underwater.
AT THE BAR – HER
Glass mid-air.
Breath caught.
Her eyes, locked.
Stillness washing through her.
ACROSS THE ROOM – WILLIAM
Still staring.
Chest rising slowly.
Like remembering something he never knew he forgot.
Thomas watches him, clocks the shift.
A knowing glance.
Then, low — just for William:
THOMAS
(grinning, nudging)
What are you waiting for?
William blinks.
Breath catches.
The rest of the world blurs, muffled and distant.
He just looks at her.
Like she stepped out of a memory he never had — but always felt.
WIDE SHOT – THE ROOM
People move. Talk. Laugh. But not them.
Two people. Still.
The rest of the world blurs, muffled and distant.
He steps forward.
CAMERA TRACKS – BOTH SIDES
They begin to walk.
Slow.
Deliberate.
Inevitable.
The crowd parts around them — unaware, uninvolved.
The lighting dips gently — isolating them.
Like a spell unfolding.
CLOSE-UP – HER
Lips part. A soft breath.
A smile that trembles at the edges — joy, disbelief… knowing.
CLOSE-UP – WILLIAM
A crooked smile rises.
Eyes wide. Brow soft.
Like watching a dream return to him.
WIDE SHOT – CENTER OF THE ROOM
They meet in the middle.
A beat. A silence. The lights cradle them.
WILLIAM
(softly, almost amused by his
own breathlessness)
Hi… I’m William.
She breathes in — eyes shining — like something inside her finally stilled.
HER
(smiling)
I’m Lily.
A pause.
He blinks — processing. The name lands like a soft echo.
WILLIAM
(quiet, smirking)
Of course it is.
She laughs — small, caught off-guard, but warm.
He does too — that kind of laugh that comes when your chest releases without warning.
The piano rises gently beneath them.
The room moves on. But they don’t.
They stay — locked in the quiet miracle of the moment.
A small tilt of the head.
A quiet gesture toward the table.
No words.
She nods.
Follows.
They move — like a dance already started.
EXT. STREET OUTSIDE BAR – NIGHT
They walk out together — dazed, glowing.
The city behind them hums softly.
They reach the sidewalk. Linger.
WILLIAM
(small smile)
Is tomorrow... too soon?
LILY
(soft, certain)
No...
Tomorrow’s perfect.
They hold it.
She turns.
So does he.
But she looks back first — He’s already watching.
They laugh — breathless.
She walks backwards a few steps.
He mirrors her.
Then she turns away.
HER SCARF LIFTS —
Caught in a gust of wind.
It whips upward — that same unmistakable motion. Alive.
That moment in the rain — again.
CLOSE-UP – WILLIAM
He stops.
The smile drops — not from fear.
From realization.
A beat.
WILLIAM
(whispers)
It was you.
Stillness. Everything slows. The wind brushes past him.
He doesn’t move.
His eyes —open, soft.
He stands in the middle of the world.
Holding what he couldn’t name — until now.
