Written by MichaelJune 20, 2020June 26, 2020

Episode 1023

Previously…
– Tori applied for the receptionist job at Objection Designs.
– At Sarah’s urging, Claire met up with Molly in an attempt to gain closure over Molly and Brent’s affair.
– Trevor, who’d come to deliver some work files, saw Claire leaving Molly’s house.
– Caleb snuck into the house, overheard Molly and Claire arguing, and then got into it with his mother himself before fleeing upstairs — moments before Molly collapsed.

After his argument with his mother, Caleb Taylor stomps up the stairs and slams his bedroom door. He grabs his noise-cancelling headphones, clamps them over his ears, and plops onto his bed to play Fortnite.

Even as he plays the game, however, the nasty exchange between him and Molly keeps spinning through his head.

“You’re such a hypocrite,” he snarled at her mere minutes ago. “Stop judging me when you won’t even let Claire judge you for shit you actually did.”

He could see how much he was hurting her, but it felt good to twist that knife after the way she came at him. He does feel a pang of guilt at the memory of her face as he spit those words at her, but he tries to push past it.

“She deserved it,” he mutters as he re-focuses on the game.

—–

“Molly!” Trevor Brooks shouts as he sees his pregnant boss and friend sprawled on the floor of her home’s entryway. He rushes toward her, dropping the blue folder of proofs that he was bringing her from the office.

“Molly?” he asks, kneeling beside her, but she doesn’t respond. Though her eyes are closed, he can tell that she is breathing.

“Is anyone home?” Trevor shouts as his shaky fingers fish his iPhone from his pants pocket. But he receives no response, and soon he is dialing 911 and praying that it is not too late.

“It’s so good to see you,” Claire Fisher says as she sets down her purse on the copper-topped table. “Both of you.”

She moves around the table to hug her son and his girlfriend. The dining room of Bill’s on the Pier is relatively quiet, with only a few tables full at this relatively early hour of the dinner shift. Through the windows, the shimmering water of King’s Bay itself dances lightly under the fading evening sun.

“It’s good to see you, too,” Travis says as he waits for his mother and Rosie Jimenez to sit before taking his own seat. “Sorry we’ve been playing phone tag for, like, weeks. My work schedule has been nuts.”

“Travis, I’m a nurse. I get how that goes. I’m sure Rosie does, too.”

Rosie raises her eyebrows and laughs. “Um, yeah. You think I can plan anything the way my shifts get scheduled?”

A busser comes by and fills their water glasses; Travis quickly exchanges pleasantries with his coworker.

“I didn’t mean to drag you right back to the place you’re always working,” Claire says once the busser has departed. “We could’ve gone anywhere.”

“But I know the food here is good,” Travis says with a grin. “Besides, the point is for all of us to sit down and actually get a chance to catch up face-to-face. How are you, Mom?”

Claire pauses and pushes a lock of brown hair out of her face.

“I’m okay,” she says, though she shoots a brief, uncertain look in Rosie’s direction as she does so.

“You can talk about Commander Taylor — Brent, I mean — all you want in front of me,” Rosie says. “He’s my boss, and we have a good working relationship, but I’m really sorry for what you’ve been going through.”

“Thanks, Rosie. Brent isn’t a terrible person. I don’t hate him. But I hate what he did.”

“I don’t exactly blame you,” Travis chimes in. “It’s so fucked-up.” He notices Claire’s reaction to his choice of words and adds, “It is!”

Claire drops her shoulders in resignation. “I know. It is. I’ve been trying to focus on work, and my kids, and my grandson. But it’s still hard.”

“It’ll get easier with time,” Rosie says gently. “At least, I hope it will.”

“It will,” Claire says. “Every day is a little more like closure. I actually… well, I actually saw Molly a little while ago.”

Travis sits back in his chair. “You did? How was that?”

“It wasn’t great,” Claire admits. “It certainly wasn’t what I was hoping for. We got into it pretty badly. But maybe, just maybe, this can be the start of moving forward.”

—–

Tori Gray rests both her elbows on the wooden table in her grandmother’s dining room. “And what’s that one? Two times two?”

“Hmm,” her younger brother says. Billy screws up his face. “Four?”

“Good! What about two times three?”

Billy taps his pencil’s pink eraser against his cheek. “Five?”

“No, that’s two plus three.” Tori holds up her fingers to demonstrate. “So if you have two fingers three times…”

“Six!” he exclaims excitedly.

“There you go. Good work!”

“Thanks.” Suddenly he hops out of his chair. “I have to pee.”

Tori laughs. “Go ahead.”

Billy scurries out of the room. A moment later, Sarah Fisher Gray pops in her head from the kitchen.

“How’s it going in here?” Sarah asks.

“He’s getting the hang of multiplication,” Tori replies. “I was a little worried I wouldn’t remember this stuff.”

“Welcome to every day of me helping Billy with his homework.” Sarah comes nearer and places her hands on the back of an empty dining chair. “Thanks for coming over and working with him on this. It means a lot — to him and to your dad and me.”

Tori shrugs. “He’s my brother. And I miss him. It’s good to spend time with him like this.”

She can see the clear emotion in her mother’s face, and Sarah is about to speak again when Tori’s cell phone, which is sitting on the table, lights up and begins vibrating. Tori’s attention instinctively goes to it, but time seems to stop when she recognizes the number on the display.

“Do you need to get that?” Sarah asks.

“Oh. Um, yeah. Probably.” Tori grabs the vibrating device and hops out of her chair. “I’ll be right back.” She darts out of the dining room and heads for the den.

“Hello?” she answers, feeling her hand tremble slightly.

“Hi, this is Lucinda from Objection Designs, calling for Victoria,” the voice says.

“This is Victoria.”

“Great. I wanted to follow up with you about your recent interview here.”

Tori’s stomach tightens as she braces for whatever news is about to be delivered.

—–

“They’re bringing her to the hospital now,” Trevor says into his phone. He pauses to listen to Brent on the other end, and then adds, “I’ll meet you there.”

As Trevor ends the call and drops the phone to his side, he watches through the open front door as the paramedics load Molly, who is on a stretcher, into the back of an ambulance. Though she doesn’t seem to be awake, he hates the idea of her riding to the hospital alone — or waking up mid-ride, scared and confused. He is about to go outside and ask if he can ride with her when he hears footsteps thundering down the stairs.

“What’s going on?” Caleb asks, his eyes wild with concern. “Trevor?”

Trevor turns to see the teenager stopped on the bottom stop. “Have you been home this whole time?”

“For a while, yeah.” Caleb looks through the door and sees the ambulance. “What happened?”

“You didn’t hear anything?”

“Hear what? I had headphones on. I was playing a video game. What– what happened to my mom?”

Trevor shakes his head. “When I got here, the door wasn’t fully closed. I peeked in and saw her lying here…”

“Is she okay? The baby…”

“That’s why they’re taking her to the hospital,” Trevor says. “Why don’t you ride along with her?”

Caleb freezes. “Me?”

“You’re a relative. If she wakes up during the ride, you should be there. Your dad’s meeting me at the hospital.”

Still, the teenager hesitates.

“Come on, I’ll take you out there,” Trevor says, using a hand to guide Caleb through the front door. “Your mom needs you.”

—–

The waiter finishes writing down all three drink orders and leaves the table.

“So I left,” Claire says, having paused her story while the waiter was nearby. “I was really hoping that Molly and I could have more of a productive conversation, but maybe that was a pipe dream.”

Travis picks up his water and takes a sip. “You’re angry. That’s okay.”

“It’s not really okay to lose control with people, or to snap like that,” Claire replies.

Rosie leans in and says, “So you’re supposed to let people walk all over you? No way.”

Claire contemplates that for a few seconds. “I got some things off my chest. I suppose that was productive. And now I keep… you know… trying to move on with my life.” She waves a hand through the air as if to indicate how nebulous and out-there the very concept seems.

“You’re gonna find someone, Mom,” Travis says. “Someone who will treat you right.”

Rosie elbows him in the side. “If that’s even what she wants. Plenty of people are happy being single and enjoying their family, their friends, their work…”

Claire brightens and starts nodding along. “I knew I liked you, Rosie.”

“Should I be worried?” Travis asks, smirking as he throws Rosie a sideways glance.

Rosie grabs his arm and pulls him closer. “You know what I mean.”

“How are the two of you doing?” Claire asks. “It looks like things are very good.”

Across the table, Travis and Rosie share an electric smile.

“Things are really good,” Rosie says. “Really good.”

“Rosie’s actually made some inroads in reconnecting with her family lately,” Travis says as he takes her hand.

“That’s so nice to hear,” Claire says, sitting back in her chair. “Why don’t you tell me all about it? Some happy news is way overdue.”

—–

Sarah waits in the dining room. When Tori returns, phone in hand, it is as if a gray cloud has swallowed her up; she moves lethargically, her eyes look dull, and her entire energy is darker.

“Something wrong?” Sarah asks.

“No, it’s fine,” Tori says, though it clearly is not. She sets her phone down on the table. “Where’s Billy?”

“He’s getting a snack.” Sarah levels a compassionate gaze on her daughter. “Are you sure you’re okay? You left to take that call and came back and–”

“I said I’m fine!” Tori snaps, but as soon as she gets the exclamation out, she looks like a balloon that has been popped.

Sarah holds up both hands. “Okay. I’m not pushing.”

Quietly Tori sits back down at the table. Sarah remains beside her in silence, having been both a parent and a child long enough to know that these moments need their time to breathe.

“It was about a job,” Tori finally tells her. “I didn’t get it.”

Sarah offers a sympathetic groan. “I’m sorry. Was it something you were excited about?”

“Kind of. It was something I thought I had a decent shot at. I know I’m not super-experienced, but I can answer phones and get coffee and be friendly and– ugh. I’m ready to get my life started, you know?”

“Your life isn’t dependent on what you do for work,” Sarah says, “but I understand the feeling.”

“I feel like such a loser,” Tori says. “I am such a loser. I can’t even get my aunt to hire me to greet visitors–”

“Your aunt?”

Tori looks up sharply, snapped out of her self-loathing daze. She realizes what she has given away.

“The job was at Objection,” she explains. “The receptionist is going on maternity leave. Samantha pushed me to apply for it — I thought I might not be qualified, but she said I had a good chance, and I even talked to Aunt Molly before I interviewed.”

Sarah slaps a hand down on the table in annoyance. “I know Molly does whatever the hell she wants when it comes to me or Claire or whoever else, but I really thought she’d be better toward her own nieces and nephews.”

Tori sighs. “I’m sure it wasn’t even her decision to make.”

“She runs the company. She can push for something if she wants.” Sarah slides her chair away from the table. “I’m not letting her get away with this.”

—–

Caleb’s body vibrates with nervousness so badly that he can hardly keep it contained in the stiff chair in the waiting area outside the hospital’s emergency room. The ambulance ride here was terrifying — seeing his mother on a stretcher and hooked up to oxygen, the paramedics shouting ominous-sounding words, the chaotic speed of the vehicle, the blaring sirens. He was relieved when they arrived and someone directed him where to wait, but he hadn’t considered that he would beat everyone else here, and waiting for some doctor to come tell him something is almost worse than being in that ambulance.

He can’t figure out what happened to his mom. She seemed fine while they were arguing– talking. All they were doing is talking. He keeps correcting that in his mind. When he went upstairs, she was fine.

Caleb springs out of the chair the second he sees his father, still in his blazer from work and with his badge on his belt, rushing in.

“What happened?” Brent asks, his panic apparent.

“I don’t know. I was…” Caleb’s chest feels tight as he tries to get words out. “I was upstairs. I had my headphones on. I heard something and came down and Trevor was there, and the EMTs.”

Brent touches a hand to his chin. “She’s been under a lot of stress. Between keeping up at work, and dealing with this… this whole situation. Did they say anything when they brought her back?”

“Just to wait here. I texted Christian. He’s coming, too.”

“Thanks, buddy. I’m sure it was a big comfort to Mom to have you in the ambulance with her.”

Caleb can see the anguish in his father’s face, and for an instant, he wants to come clean about having gotten into an argument with Molly. But it isn’t relevant medical information; she was under stress, like Brent said. It’s a high-risk pregnancy because of her age. It isn’t like Caleb shoved her down the stairs or something.

“I bet everything’s gonna be fine,” Caleb says with false optimism.

Brent’s mouth tightens into a thin line. He nods, as if trying to will himself into believing this, and gives his son a pat on the shoulder.

They are both looking idly in the direction of the elevators when Trevor steps off one. He spots them and half-jogs over.

“No news yet?” he asks.

“I just got here,” Brent says. “You didn’t have to come all the way down.”

“Please. Molly’s my friend. I want to make sure she and the baby are all right.” He turns his attention toward Caleb. “Was everything okay in the ambulance?”

“I guess so. Nothing else happened.”

“Good,” Trevor says, his eyes flickering around uneasily.

“I’m thankful you got there when you did,” Brent says. “She didn’t say anything to you, did she?”

“I don’t think she was awake,” Trevor responds.

“Yeah, she wasn’t awake in the ambulance,” Caleb adds.

Brent exhales loudly, though it does little to relax him. “She’s been under a lot of strain. Maybe she just fainted.”

“There is one thing,” Trevor says, his words dragging with hesitance.

But Brent looks at him with renewed intensity. “What’s that?”

It takes another moment before Trevor continues.

“When I pulled into the driveway, right before I found Molly,” he says, “I saw someone leaving the house.”

“What? Who was it?” Brent asks.

The dull vibration in Caleb’s body busts out into full-blown shaking.

Trevor swallows, his tone turning even more somber. “It was Claire.”

END OF EPISODE 1023

Will Caleb keep mum about his fight with Molly?
How will Brent react to learning Claire was with Molly?
Did you think Tori would get the job at Objection?
Talk about all this and more in the comments below!

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