Previously…
– Claire was left reeling from the news that Molly was pregnant with Brent’s baby.
– Diane and Samantha realized that the late Henry Bishop had a locket that matched Therese DeLuca’s, but when Samantha showed her grandmother the locket, Claudia refused to explain further.
– Samantha and Tempest met up to talk, but things grew heated, and the exes left on even worse terms.
– After admitting their mutual feelings, Jason and Sabrina made plans to go on a real date.

A busser clears a nearly empty plate of calamari, now littered with bits of breading and squeezed lemon wedges, from the copper-topped table in the dining room of Bill’s on the Pier.

“My mom thinks it isn’t worth pushing my grandmother for more information,” Samantha Fisher is saying as she holds up the silver locket for her dining companions to see.

“Diane is giving up on something without getting a full explanation?” Alex Marshall asks with wonder from across the table.

Samantha grins. “When you put it that way…”

“Maybe she’s right,” Trevor Brooks says, before pausing to pick up a French fry that his toddler son has just tossed onto the floor. “What did we say about throwing food?” he asks Chase sternly.

Cowed, the boy nods and then eats another of his fries.

“What I was gonna say,” Trevor continues, “is that maybe that’s all there is to find out. Your grandfather and this lady Theresa–”

“Therese,” Samantha says as she pushes her glasses up her nose.

“Your grandfather and Therese were in love, and he wasn’t allowed to marry her, so he had to marry your grandmother instead.”

Samantha ponders the locket for a moment before setting it down on the table.

“Maybe you’re right,” she says. “I can’t shake the feeling that there’s something else to this, though. My grandmother got so angry when I showed her the locket.”

“Wouldn’t you be angry if you went your entire life feeling like you were your husband’s second choice?” Trevor counters.

“Do you think your mom might be backing down from this — which is a very not-Diane thing to do — because she’s afraid of dredging up something really ugly?” Alex asks. The way that he lifts his eyebrows implies exactly what he means. 

“That would make sense,” Samantha says. “I hadn’t thought about it, but yeah — and I’ve been feeling like I really want to know, because the last time there was a big family secret that got exposed…”

“It was really painful for you,” Alex finishes for her.

As she nods, she sees Trevor’s expression shift.

“Speaking of which,” he says as he looks at something behind Samantha.

She turns her head just in time to see Tempest Banks approaching their table.

—–

As she stands in front of the open door in the freezer aisle, contemplating two different flavors of dairy-free ice cream, Claire Fisher hums along to the Whitney Houston song playing over the grocery store’s sound system. She is about to put back the pint of double chocolate brownie when she hears her name from down the aisle.

“Claire. Hi there,” Conrad Halston says as he walks toward her.

She fixes a pleasant smile on her face and lets the freezer door close.

“Shopping for dessert?” he asks.

“Guilty.” She holds up the pint of salted caramel ice cream. “Tempest is picking up takeout from Bill’s on the Pier for dinner, so I thought I’d stop on my way home and get us something for afterward.”

“You had the same thought as me. I told Bree we could have ice cream and watch whatever movie she wants tonight.”

Claire winces. “Letting a teenage girl pick the movie? Brave.”

“At least she’s out of her Twilight phase.” He casually scans the offerings through the glass door. “How’ve you been?” 

“I’ve been better,” she says.

“I’m sorry to hear that. Anything I can help with?”

She turns to him with realization. “You haven’t heard yet.”

Conrad cocks his head. “Heard what?”

“About Molly,” Claire says. “About Molly and Brent.”

A crystal chandelier glitters overhead, casting an enchanting glow over the dinner crowd inside Windmills. Jason Fisher sits at a table near the center of the room. He wears a navy blue blazer and a crisp white dress shirt with the top button undone. His hands rest uneasily atop the freshly pressed white tablecloth, and he alternates between taking sips of his ice water and checking the time on his phone.

At least — even though it is only two minutes after the appointed time — he sees his dinner date enter the room. He stands and smiles involuntarily; Sabrina Gage wears a simple black dress with spaghetti straps and a tasteful gold pendant necklace. Her dark hair is swept up, and the style only emphasizes her large eyes. He sees her paying extra attention to navigating the busy space in her high heels.

“I’m sorry I’m late,” she says when she reaches the table.

“You’re right on time,” Jason says. “And you look beautiful.”

Even through her makeup, Jason can see Sabrina blush.

“Thanks, Jason. You look really handsome.”

He moves to pull out her chair. She sits down, and he pushes it in.

“This is so nice,” she says as she gazes around the room, surveying the well-dressed diners and poised waitstaff. “It feels like…”

He grins at her over the table. “Like a real date?”

“Yeah. I…” She places her palms down on the table, and Jason notices her fingers chattering a bit.

“I feel so silly admitting this,” Sabrina says, “but I’m kind of nervous.”

“Don’t be. It’s just me. And I’m really glad we’re finally doing this.”

“Me, too.”

They share warm smiles, and Jason picks up the wine list.

“I didn’t want to order wine before you got here,” he says. “What are you in the mood for?”

“Oh, I don’t know. I… I don’t know that much about wine.”

“Well, here’s a good place to start: what don’t you like?” 

Before she can answer, however, Jason’s attention is pulled toward the entrance of the dining room.

“What is it?” Sabrina asks.

Jason answers quietly, through gritted teeth, “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

When Sabrina turns, she sees exactly what has distracted him: Helen Chase, standing there with her husband and waving madly at them.

“I thought that was my little brother sitting there,” Tempest says cheerily, an instant before she recognizes Samantha as the other diner at Alex and Trevor’s table.

She freezes mid-step, and Alex motions for her to continue toward them. Samantha’s heart pumps a little harder as she recalls her and Tempest’s last attempt at talking — and its disastrous results.

“Hi, Tempest,” she says evenly, not wanting to make this more uncomfortable than it has to be.

“Chase, do you see who’s here?” Trevor asks his son, who is still munching on a French fry as he looks up. The little boy’s eyes bug out comically when he recognizes his half-sister.

He starts to scramble out of his chair with little regard for his own safety, and a laughing Trevor reaches out his arms to airlift Chase the rest of the way. Quickly he scurries over to Tempest, who is bending down with outstretched arms.

“Are you here for dinner?” Alex asks.

“Picking up takeout for Claire and me,” Tempest says as she stands, lifting up the toddler. “Thought I’d say hi and…” Again her gaze lands right on Samantha.

“Hey, Chase. Didn’t you say you had to go pee-pee?” Alex asks, already standing from his seat.

The boy nods his head exaggeratedly, nearly bonking it into Tempest’s head in the process.

“Why don’t you give me a hand with him?” Alex suggests to Trevor, and within seconds, the two fathers have spirited the boy off to the restroom, leaving Samantha and Tempest hovering awkwardly near one another.

“That was subtle of them,” Samantha says uncomfortably.

“Real subtle. Yeah.” Tempest draws in a deep breath. “Sorry I let things get so bad when we met up. I got, like, frustrated, and…”

“It’s okay. Here, sit.” Samantha taps the table, and Tempest carefully assumes the chair that Alex just vacated.

“I understand. I really do,” Samantha says once they are sitting across from one another.

“I want us to be friends, at least. I’m sorry I didn’t get to tell you I was dating Jaq before you saw us together.”

“I’m sorry I acted like such a baby. I…”

“What?”

Tempest shakes her head and puts on that all-too-familiar steely, impenetrable face. “Doesn’t matter.”

“It does matter,” Samantha prompts as she fiddles with the silver locket resting on the table.

“What’s that?” Tempest asks abruptly.

“What?” Samantha looks down at the locket. “Oh, it’s nothing.”

“She give that to you?”

“What? Jaq? No, they didn’t.” 

Tempest flashes a dubious grin at her. “Lemme see. You said you wanted to be friends–”

She reaches over the table and snatches the locket, but Samantha pulls back.

“It’s not from Jaq,” Samantha insists.

Sensing something in her ex’s voice, Tempest lets go — just as Samantha pulls even harder on the chain. The locket tumbles and clatters on the floor.

“Ugh!” Samantha moans as she looks down.

Tempest peers over the edge of the table to see the broken locket splayed on the floor.

—–

Claire and Conrad stand toward the center of the freezer aisle, leaving space on either side for other shoppers to pass.

“I always suspected there might be some unfinished business between Molly and Brent,” Conrad says, “but you learn to accept that as part of dating someone who’s been married and divorced.”

“I thought I’d accepted that,” she responds. “I really had. I knew Brent and Molly had had this huge, epic love — and I didn’t expect or even want to have that with him. It was comfortable and warm. We understood each other — or, at least, I thought we did.”

Conrad lowers his eyes. “I’m very sorry you’re having to deal with this.”

“You might be the only person who can really relate to what it’s like. Aside from Sarah, of course.”

He nods along. “It’s shocking, and yet… it isn’t.”

“Right. It makes me so angry that they’d string the two of us along.”

“I thought Molly and I could’ve had something special. You and Brent, too.”

“We did. I really thought we did. We were even talking marriage. For him to jump back into bed with his ex-wife…”

“I suppose Molly tried to do the right thing,” Conrad says, “even if that meant ending things with me only a few hours before she and Brent reunited.”

Claire lets out a frustrated huff through her nostrils. “Reunited is a very tasteful way of putting it.”

Conrad joins her in sighing, and the sounds of the grocery store bustling all around them simply rest there for a long moment.

“I can only think of one thing to do,” Conrad says.

“What’s that?”

“I’m going to allow myself double the amount of dessert I’d normally have,” he says as he moves for one of the freezer doors, “and I suggest that you do the same.”

Claire lets out a small laugh as she joins him at the display. “I’m glad you said it… because was already thinking it.”

—–

Jason groans as Helen, dressed in a silky, royal blue jacket, hurries toward his and Sabrina’s table. Don follows several steps behind her with an apologetic look on his face.

“Hi there,” Jason says, doing his best to maintain an even, pleasant tone. “What are you guys doing here?”

“Don wanted to treat me to a romantic night out,” Helen says. “It looks like we aren’t the only ones with that idea.” She smirks suggestively at them.

Sabrina raises one hand meekly. “Hi, Mrs. Chase.”

“Please. Call me Helen. You’ve earned it.”

Jason looks at Sabrina with confusion.

“So, is this a date?” Helen asks. 

“I promise we aren’t here to interrupt your evening,” Don says from behind Helen. He rests a hand on her left shoulder. “Just a coincidence.”

“For the record, Helen, it is a date,” Jason says. “And if you have any objections to that–”

“Objections? Me? Never!” The older woman tosses her honey blonde hair over her shoulder. “What would I ever object to?”

“You do have a… history of not approving of my romantic choices since Courtney.”

“Oh, please!” Helen swipes a hand through the air dismissively. “That trollop Natalie was one thing. I knew she was never what she portrayed herself to be. In fact, she was nothing more than a lying, money-grubbing–” 

“That’s enough,” Don interrupts his wife.

Helen scowls for a moment before her smile re-emerges. “I promise, no objections here. Sabrina is a lovely woman. Please enjoy your dinner!”

“You guys, too,” Jason says, and the four exchange parting pleasantries as Don leads Helen away.

Jason waits until the Chases are out of earshot before he speaks again:

“That was normal. Abnormally normal for Helen.”

“She was nice,” Sabrina says.

“That’s the abnormal part,” Jason says. “How’d you do it?”

“Do what?”

“Win her over,” he says. “How did you get on a ‘Call me Helen’ basis with my former mother-in-law?”

—–

Tempest scrambles out of her chair to grab the locket. “Sorry. I can replace it–”

“It’s not that. It isn’t even expensive,” Samantha says, working hard to mask her annoyance. “It was my grandpa’s.”

With her fingers resting on the copper tabletop, Tempest freezes. “Dammit. Sam, I didn’t mean — I was trying to–”

“It’s okay.” Samantha bends over to pick up the locket. “Wait.”

Tempest leans in, too, as she sees something. “I think the back and front just came apart. We can snap it back together.”

Samantha shakes her head. “Not that. Look.”

She holds up the small, heart-shaped piece of paper that was until moments ago housed inside the locket.

“I thought this was blank and no one ever put a photo inside,” she explains before flipping the paper around. “But there’s something written on the back.”

Tempest leans forward and squints as she looks over the small, handwritten blue letters and numbers on the back of the paper heart.

END OF EPISODE 1015

Was there a hidden message inside the locket?
Will Jason find out that Sabrina once assisted Helen with a plot?
Can Claire and Conrad support each other through their heartbreak?
Talk about all this and more in the comments below!

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