Life secrets and surprises are somewhere on the menu at the way-upstate New York diner where Paul (a quiet, thoughtful, and intense Anthony Edwards) has “good coffee made with a bad machine” nearly every morning except Sunday. Paul and server Katie (a perceptive and secretive Susannah Flood) have exchanged what might be described as casual conversations for the past two years. This customer-server repartee opens the narrative of Meghan Kennedy’s well-crafted “The Counter” currently on at the Laura Pels Theatre in the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre.

Despite the informality of Paul’s and Katie’s daily conversations, they have observed one another carefully over the counter and have formed personality traits that have yet been revealed. The speech bubbles crafted by Stacey Derosier’s lighting allow the audience in on their inner thoughts. Soon, the affability of their exchange no longer satisfies Paul, and he shares with Katie that “nothing’s happening here.”

He adds, “But it’s still the best part of my day. So. What if we decide to become friends. Real friends. Like we tell each other secrets. And we help each other sort through things. And give each other tough talk. What if we tried that? Wouldn’t it make things a little different and wouldn’t that be good?” Those speech bubbles morph into “tough talk” and secrets. And both Paul and Katie have ulterior motives to enter this new “contract.”

It is easier for Paul to share from his trove of secrets. He begins with, “I’ll start. I’m an alcoholic. I’ve never told anyone that. I was a terrible drunk and no one knew it because I drank at home, alone.” After a day of wondering “why are we doing this,” Katie shares her first secret. “I’ve got 27 voicemails saved on my phone. No one has been able to leave me voicemails in a very long time because I’ve got 27 saved voicemails. And they’re all from this one person.”

Paul quit drinking eleven years, and he no longer goes to AA meetings. Katie’s voice mailbox is full, and no one can leave her a message. These disclosures seem less than secrets on the surface. However, there is more excavating to come, more barnacles to be removed from the underbelly of life, more layers to be pulled back with Meghan Kennedy’s surgical precision.

That excavation begins when Paul confronts Katie with what he thinks is her biggest secret: Voicemails are not your secret; your secret is that this is your give-up life.” He then shares his biggest secret. He is no longer surprised by anything in life and wants Katie to assist him in ending his life: “I have this poison. It’s plant based. And one morning – not tomorrow, not the next day – but sometime in the next month or two or three, I want you to put it in my coffee.” Paul has been waiting to trust Katie before giving her the poison and Katies has been waiting to trust Paul before playing him the old emails. Then two transformative surprises change things. Katie receives a new email from the same man who left the earlier messages and Peg Bradley (an ambitious and determined Amy Warren) decides to come back into Paul’s life after having an affair with him five years. Dr. Bradley is the primary care physician for both Paul and Katie.

Just be prepared to discover how Paul’s, Katie’s, and Peg’s biggest surprises of their lives suddenly propel the three into the “first day of the rest of their lives” and the last day of the first of their lives. To say anything further would require a spoiler alert of epic proportions. Just know their choices will come as a pleasant surprise to the audience.

Meghan Kennedy’s “The Counter” is the not to be missed off-Broadway event of the season thus far.