Previously…
– Claire was heartbroken by the news of Brent’s affair with Molly — and Molly’s resulting pregnancy.
– Christian had an emotional reaction to learning that his parents were expecting another child, while Caleb stoically shut down.
– While Loretta blackmailed Natalie into allowing her to stay at Natalie and Spencer’s house, Tim contemplated ways to get Loretta out of King’s Bay.

“Do you want to sit in Grandpa’s chair?” Tim Fisher asks as he hoists Peter up into his arms.

“Yeah!” the toddler shouts. “Can I play the computer?”

Natalie Bishop, who is standing near the door of Tim’s office at Vision Publishing, speaks up: “FYI, his idea of playing on the computer is smashing his hands into the keyboard like he’s a really enthusiastic, really bad piano player.”

Tim grins as he places Peter in the cushioned black leather chair.

“I’ll power it down before I let our new VP of dinosaurs and toy trucks get to work,” Tim says. He spins Peter around in the chair and, while it is still whirling, turns off the computer.

“Again!” Peter shouts happily.

Tim spins the chair once more.

“Thanks for bringing him by,” he tells Natalie. “It’s always a good day when I get to see this little guy.”

“We were downtown, and he wanted to see his dad, so I figured it wouldn’t hurt to stop by,” she says.

“Spencer should be out of his meeting in 10 or 15 minutes.”

“Again!” Peter yells, even louder than before.

“Hey. Inside voice,” Natalie warns him. The boy scrunches up his face and sits patiently until Tim spins the chair again.

“It’ll give us a chance to talk,” Tim says.

Natalie cocks an eyebrow. “About?”

“The, uh, doting grandparent staying with you and Spencer.”

“Ah.” Natalie widens her eyes knowingly. Then she digs into her purse and takes out a coloring book and crayons, which she sets on the desk in front of Peter. “Why don’t you color for a minute while Grandpa and I have a chat?”

Peter eagerly grabs the crayons and flips open the book to a random page. Tim and Natalie move toward the opposite side of the office, where they seat themselves in the two striped slipper chairs.

“What do you want to know?” Natalie asks.

“What do I need to know?” Tim counters. “Loretta has been here for months. You can’t tell me she’s behaved herself this entire time.”

“If by ‘behave herself,’ you mean ‘hasn’t been a total B-I-T-C-H,’” she says, glancing to be sure that Peter isn’t paying attention, “then no, she hasn’t behaved herself. But she hasn’t done anything completely psycho. The fact that she keeps taking these little trips to ‘attend to business’ or whatever helps — I can forget about her for a few days at a time.”

“I bet.” Tim strokes his chin thoughtfully. “I find it difficult to believe that she doesn’t have some ulterior motive — that she isn’t working toward some bigger goal here.”

“Besides wanting to keep tabs on her family? The way that woman talks about her son and her grandson and her legacy, you’d think she was on Game of Thrones.”

“Maybe that’s it,” Tim admits with a shrug. “Maybe you guys have placated her by letting her have access to Peter.”

“I sense a but coming.”

“I don’t trust Loretta, not after everything she’s done to our family,” he says. “The longer this goes on, the more I worry about whatever grand plan she’s got up her sleeve.”

“I wouldn’t put it past her,” Natalie says. “So the question is: what do you think we can do about it?”

—–

The springtime sunshine blazing over King’s Bay Academy seems to have injected a new energy into the entire campus. Many students have abandoned the cafeteria for the expanse of lush green lawn at the front of the school, sitting in clusters and circles with their friends. Toward one edge of the lawn, Christian Taylor and Bree Halston are engaged in a breathless debate.

“Heidi N. Closet was so good!” Christian says. 

“She was a lot of fun, but you can’t tell me she was as polished as Jaida or Gigi,” Bree says, rolling her head to one side to make her point.

“Maybe not,” Christian replies, “but she’s so much fun. She should’ve stayed in longer.”

Marcus Gray sets down what is left of his turkey sandwich and laughs. “I feel like you guys are speaking a different language.”

Christian turns toward his friend and offers an apologetic expression. “Sorry. We get a little carried away.”

“You would like Drag Race. Seriously,” Bree says. She reaches over and places her hand on Marcus’s, a move that Christian silently takes in. “It’s really fun.” 

“I don’t know if it’s really my thing,” Marcus says as he fishes a few potato chips out of the bag. 

“You’d get into it,” Christian tells him. “It’s not just what you think of drag being. It’s, like, acting and comedy and music and fashion all in one.”

Bree squeezes Marcus’s wrist. “Just watch with us once. One time!”

Christian’s eyes watch the way that Bree’s fingertips linger before leaving Marcus’s forearm.

“Come on, you know there’s a reason you sit with us and not the football players,” Christian says.

Marcus turns sharply toward him. Seconds stretch on. Christian is all-too-aware that he might have crossed a line, one that he has hardly known existed until this very moment. But then Marcus’s demeanor softens, and he is the Marcus whom Christian has gotten to know over the past few years.

“Okay, fine,” Marcus says with a heavy exhale and a chuckle. “I’ll give it an episode.”

“I promise you’ll like it,” Bree says, her eyes twinkling. “And if not…”

Marcus cocks his head and looks at her. “Then what?”

Watching them, Christian feels a strange glimmer of annoyance in the pit of his stomach.

Bree waves a hand. “Then we’ll watch some stupid thing you like right after. Right, Christian?”

Christian runs a hand through his dark hair and forces himself to brighten. “Yeah. Like, I’ll sit through an entire NFL game, even.”

“Okay, it’s on,” Marcus says as he reaches for more chips, and Christian can’t help but observe the way Marcus’s lips cover his teeth as he grins with amusement.

The sharp, insistent ring of the telephone cuts through the noise of hospital staff going about their business and patients’ loved ones gathered in the waiting area. 

“Fourth floor nurses’ station,” the nurse at the desk announces as she picks up the receiver.

On the other side of the counter, Claire Fisher is filling out a chart. As she closes the folder and glances up, she sees her former sister-in-law crossing the floor.

“Hey! Everything all right?” Claire asks as she approaches Sarah Fisher Gray, chart in hand.

“Matt’s just having a routine check-up,” Sarah says, folding her arms across the front of her blue paisley blouse. “They’re doing some tests, so I thought I’d pop out and grab a coffee.”

“His recovery is going well, I hope?”

“That’s what the doctor says. He still has some discomfort and he gets tired pretty quickly, but other than that, it seems like everything is on-track.”

“Good,” Claire says. “I’m really glad to hear that.”

Sarah levels a serious stare upon her, one that makes it impossible for Claire to avoid eye contact. “And how about you? How are you doing?” 

All Claire can manage, for a moment, is a heavy sigh. “I’m fine. I’m doing my best to focus on work, spending time with Tempest and Travis, and even Spencer and Peter.”

“That’s good. Very mature of you.”

“It’s all I can do for myself,” Claire says, her frustration shining through. “If I dwell on the fact that I don’t have any closure with Brent — or with Molly — I’m going to go nuts.”

“You’re entitled to be angry,” Sarah tells her. “The way they both betrayed you was so gross.”

“But I can’t change how it played out.” Claire shakes her head ruefully. “It’s crazy to me — one minute, I was excited about spending Christmas with Brent, even thinking he was going to propose, and in an instant, our entire relationship was turned into nothing.”

“I can sympathize, even if my situation with them was a lot different. I know that I had some responsibility for making it worse, but the way the two of them were hiding their feelings while Brent was married to me…”  

“It’s really crazy to me that Molly would make that same mistake again. Granted, I’m not her sister, but we’ve been close over the years.”

“Molly has a way of justifying her own bad behavior,” Sarah says, “while finding a way to condemn other people for theirs.”

“It’s infuriating,” Claire admits.

Sarah leans against the counter with one bent arm. “She shouldn’t get away with it. Frankly, I think you should make it clear to her that you won’t let her.”

—–

Natalie shifts in the chair, pulling up one leg and turning toward Tim as she awaits his answer.

“That’s the part I’m trying to figure out,” he says, the burden of Loretta’s presence showing on his face. “She has to be up to something.”

“My biggest fear was that she was going to try and snatch…” She waves her hand to indicate Peter, who is happily absorbed in coloring. “Having her in the house felt like the best defense against that.”

“I get that. But I wouldn’t put it past her to have some long game — some plan for revenge against everyone she thinks has wronged her.”

“Again, what are we supposed to do about it? Aren’t you worried about poking the bear?”

“I’m not sure I buy that this bear is sleeping. That’s the thing.”

Natalie frowns. “Tim, as someone who’s pulled her fair share of schemes–”

“To put it lightly.”

“–I can say that I pulled those schemes when I wanted something. But Loretta has what she wants: access to Peter and Spencer.”

“She also blames my mom for killing Philip,” Tim reminds her, “and she still blames Claire and me for James’s death. I don’t for a second buy that she’s past any of that.”

“Then what are we supposed to do? Frame her to head her off at the pass?” 

“Not frame her. Force her hand. Get her to show her cards. The woman is on parole. There are a lot of ways she can mess that up and be sent back to prison.”

Natalie shakes her head vigorously. “Again, I’m all for a good scheme, but here’s the thing about schemes: they have a tendency to blow up in your face. And it sounds like that’s exactly what could happen here if you keep pushing this.”

Tim narrows his eyes at her. “Why are you being so resistant? Do you want Loretta under your roof?” 

“No! Ugh.” Natalie recoils. “But I’m scared of making things worse. I’m sure you can understand that.”

“Of course I can,” he says, softening. “If there’s one thing I’m sure of, though, it’s that Loretta isn’t just going to hang around indefinitely playing Granny. We need to figure out what her plan is before she has a chance to put it into action. And if I have to do that on my own, so be it.”

—–

After Christian, Marcus, and Bree finish eating, they walk down to the trash cans at the front of the quad — next to the payphones that Christian has never seen anyone use, except as props in Instagram photos — to throw away their garbage. As they are doing so, he sees his twin brother approaching from the parking lot with two of his soccer teammates.

“Did you go off-campus?” Christian asks as Caleb, Arjun, and Greg stroll toward them.

“Keep your voice down,” Caleb snaps. “Are you trying to be a narc?”

“So you did go off-campus,” Christian says. Bree and Marcus stand behind him, shuffling their feet at the sudden awkwardness.

“What’s the big deal?” Caleb says. “We wanted some non-shitty, non-cafeteria food.”

Christian stares at his brother. It never ceases to astound him how it can both be like looking into a mirror and like seeing a complete stranger for the first time.  

“Just don’t get in trouble, that’s all,” he finally says.

“We won’t, if you keep it down,” Caleb responds. “We’re back, see? In plenty of time for the bell.”

Christian holds up both palms. “Okay.”

Caleb looks over Christian’s shoulder, at Bree. “Loosen him up a little, would you? Make him do something crazy one of these days.”

He snaps his fingers, and his two teammates fall into line behind him. The three of them stride across the quad.

“He always has to be such a jerk,” Christian says, “even when I’m just asking a question.”

“He was getting defensive, that’s all,” Marcus says. “He knew he did something wrong.”

Christian nods, but the tension hangs in the air.

“Think we could get Caleb to watch Drag Race with us?” Bree asks, snickering, and the boys break out into laughter, too. 

“I don’t know about that,” Christian says before pointing at Marcus. “But you — you’re not off the hook.”

“I know, I know,” Marcus says. “Tell me where and when. I’m down.”

“That’s the spirit,” Bree says, and she hooks her arm through Marcus’s so the three of them can walk to their lockers. Christian walks a few steps behind his two friends, unable to ignore the casual closeness between them.

—–

Claire looks back at Sarah uncertainly.

“What am I supposed to do?” Claire asks. “I certainly don’t wish any ill will toward her or the baby.”

“Of course not,” Sarah says. “You aren’t a monster. But you also don’t need to suck it up and pretend like you’re okay with what’s happened.”

“I’m not okay with it.” Claire gazes around to be sure that they aren’t overheard and then adds, “Part of me wishes I’d slapped Brent silly when I had the chance.” 

Sarah grins. “You could still have the chance.”

“It seems juvenile and petty.”

“Sometimes we all need to be juvenile and petty.”

“I don’t know about that,” Claire says, “but it’s tough to go about my life without any resolution to this. I can feel it eating at me from the inside.”

After offering a reassuring smile, Sarah says, “I’ve been there. I understand. You’re welcome to vent and bitch to me as much as you want.”

“Thanks, Sarah.”

“In the meantime, you’re also well within your rights to let both of them know just how badly they’ve hurt you. You do get a voice in this, too.”

Claire kicks the toe of her Nike sneaker against the scuffed linoleum floor.

“I’m serious,” Sarah says. “You’re allowed to be upset with them. Maybe letting them know how much this hurt you will force them to take responsibility for all the people they’ve steamrolled in the name of their great love or whatever. There’s you, there’s me, Molly tossed Brian to the side… even Craig, as insane as he was, suffered because of them.”

“Now there’s a horrible blast from the past,” Claire says. “I definitely don’t want to be lumped in with Craig Simmons, but I understand what you’re saying.”

“Good.” Sarah checks her Apple watch. “Do you want to come down and get a coffee with me?”

“I’m still wrapping up my shift, but thanks. Go ahead and then go be with your husband.”

“Okay.” Sarah gives her a comforting pat on the shoulder. “And remember, I’m always hear to listen if you want to talk.”

“Thanks, Sarah. Give Matt my best.”

“Will do.”

Sarah walks off, headed for the elevators. Claire remains at the nurses’ station, her mind whirling with thoughts. Finally, she pulls her cell phone from the pocket of her scrubs and begins composing a text message.

END OF EPISODE 1021

What is Claire going to do now?
Is Tim’s fixation on Loretta going to make matters worse?
What do you think of the dynamics among the teens?
Talk about all this and more in the comments below!

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