Episode 1027

Previously…
– Under threat of blackmail from Loretta, Natalie was forced to allow her mother-in-law to stay with her and Spencer.
– Spencer grilled Loretta about her and Elly’s involvement in the outcome of Peter’s custody hearing, but Loretta denied knowing anything about it.
– Diane overheard Samantha planning to bring her ex, Tempest, along to Sun Valley with her and secretly notified Samantha’s new partner, Jaq.

Samantha Fisher stands over the open suitcase lying across her bed. In it, she has packed a few days’ worth of work clothes, shoes, and accessories — items that she has only acquired in the past few years, items that are at least a bit more stylish and interesting than her normal wardrobe of jeans, comfortable sweaters, and long-sleeved T-shirts. She wonders if it’s silly to have spent this much time and effort packing things that she won’t really wear or use, but she is also very aware that her cover story for this trip is that it’s business-related, and she hopes that having gone to such lengths will help convince her grandmother as to why she will be in Sun Valley.

If nothing else, Samantha hopes that packing this way might help her fully absorb and commit to this cover story so that she doesn’t blow it and tip off Claudia as to why she’s really visiting.

Deciding that her work is sufficient, Samantha places her brown leather toiletry kit into the suitcase and zips it up. She rolls it down the upstairs hallway of her father’s house and then carries it down the stairs. Just as she is setting it down on the hardwood floor in the entryway, the doorbell rings.

Samantha quickly crosses to the door, undoes the lock, and pulls it open.

“You’re early,” she says, before realizing that the person standing there is not, in fact, the intended recipient of her words.

Jaq Pearson stares back at her from the other side of the door. “Surprise.”

“What are you doing here?” Samantha asks, her head spinning as she realizes the complication that has just placed itself in front of her. “I’m– I’m leaving for Sun Valley any minute.” She turns and gestures at the suitcase, as if to prove that what she’s saying is true.

“I know. And that’s the surprise,” Jaq tells her. “I’m coming with you.”

“You are? I thought you had work all weekend.”

“They called a little while ago to tell me that they don’t need me. I guess they over-scheduled.” They shrug, the shoulders of their olive green cardigan rising and falling. “I have a bag in my car.”

“Oh. Wow.” Unsure what to do first, Samantha simply plasters a smile on her face. “I can’t believe it actually worked out this way.”

“I know. Must be fate.”

Jaq leans forward and plants a kiss right on Samantha’s lips; Samantha accepts the familiar warmth and softness, tries her best not to go rigid at the touch.

“You don’t need to do this,” Samantha says, her gaze shifting toward the front window that looks out to the street. Luckily, there is no other vehicle pulling up yet.

“I, um…” Samantha’s mind races. “I just need to use the restroom, and I guess we can go.”

“Sounds good.”

Samantha slips down the hallway and ducks into the half-bathroom. She closes the door and takes several seconds to catch her breath. An intense pang of guilt strikes her as she pictures Jaq’s eager, excited face.

“This was a bad choice in the first place,” Samantha mutters as she pulls her iPhone from her  pants pocket. She frantically types a text message: 

How close to my dad’s are you? Abort mission!

She waits a moment and then adds:

Sorry, but I realized that I need to go alone. Thank you for offering to come with me. But you don’t need to come to my dad’s house. I’m leaving for Idaho.

Another, equally uncomfortable wave of guilt ripples over her, but she tries to tell herself that she doesn’t have any other option. She was playing with fire in the first place. She only hopes that Tempest will get the messages and not ask any further questions.

—–

“How nice it is to be home!”

Loretta Ragan sets her designer suitcase and her oversized purse down on the floor of the foyer and sweeps her eyes over her son and daughter-in-law’s house.

“You know,” Loretta says while undoing the buttons of her lightweight purple jacket, “I really did miss traveling while I was incarcerated. And it’s been lovely to do it again. But there’s truly nothing like being settled at home.”

“I love how she just drops the word ‘incarcerated’ in there like it’s completely normal,” Natalie Bishop grumbles under her breath.

Her husband, who is standing right beside her, pokes her with his elbow.

“Where is that darling little Peter?” Loretta asks, her green eyes wide.

“He’s still napping,” Spencer tells her. “He should be up in half-an-hour or so.”

“Oh, well, that will give me time to freshen up. I always do feel a little dirty after flying.” She brushes off the sleeves of her jacket. “You know, all those people.” 

“Take all the time that you need,” Natalie says. “There are fresh towels in your bathroom.”

Loretta claps her hands together. “Wonderful! You’re learning, Natalie.”

With a wink, Loretta moves for the staircase and begins ascending the stairs, not giving her bags a second thought.

“I’ll bring your things up,” Spencer says, rolling his eyes in disbelief.

“Thank you, darling.”

Spencer and Natalie wait in the foyer in silence until Loretta has disappeared onto the second floor of the house.

“I’m glad the hotel we’re running is up to her standards,” Spencer says.

Natalie turns to him. “She’s your mother.”

“And you’re the one who agreed to let her stay here. Don’t you think it’s time we got her a place of her own?”

Though she is cringing inwardly, Natalie does her best not to let her discomfort show on the exterior. “You know she won’t go for that.”

“Hasn’t it been nice these past few weeks, with her traveling?” Spencer asks. “We could go back to normal around here.”

“We blackmailed each other into getting married to avoid legal trouble,” Natalie says. “How normal do you think things are going to get?”

“We could be raising our son in peace while I go about my business without you bothering me and you spend my money without me asking too many questions.” 

“That does sound really nice.”

“Then why are we doing this?” Spencer asks with exasperation. “I never would’ve agreed to let her stay here for months.”

“Because.” Natalie jabs her index finger at his chest. “Do you think I had a choice? If Loretta thought we were keeping her away from Peter, I can only imagine what she’d do. She had you snatched out of a hospital and kept away from your birth parents for over two decades — and you aren’t even blood-related to her.”

Spencer sighs, knowing that what she’s saying is true.

“Face it,” Natalie says. “That woman is not leaving our house voluntarily — at least not until something major changes. And if that’s what it takes to keep her from doing something insane, I can suck it up. Now, I’m going to go make some lunch.”

She starts to exit and then pauses, gesturing toward Loretta’s luggage.

“Don’t forget to deliver her bags to her room,” Natalie says before departing.

Spencer lets out a groan and then picks up his mother’s things.

—–

Tempest Banks sits in the backseat of an Uber, listening to the new Chloe x Halle album through her earbuds and scrolling through Instagram on her phone, when she sees a text alert pop up at the top of the screen. Before she can click through to it, another alert — this one also from Samantha — flashes on the screen.

She exits Instagram and navigates to her messages, where she reads both of Samantha’s texts with confusion:

How close to my dad’s are you? Abort mission!

Sorry, but I realized that I need to go alone. Thank you for offering to come with me. But you don’t need to come to my dad’s house. I’m leaving for Idaho.

Tempest leans back against the car’s upholstered seat, the music fading into the background of her consciousness as she tries to make sense of Samantha’s sudden change of attitude. Only a few hours ago, she was encouraging Tempest to come along on this trip to Idaho for moral support and for back-up. And now she’s changing her mind?

Her thumbs hover over the response bar, but she remains uncertain of what to say.

“Says we should be to your destination in four minutes,” the driver, a guy in his 30s with a bushy beard, says as he steers into a right turn.

Tempest hears him well enough over her music and responds, “That’s great. Thanks.” Without responding to Samantha, she places the phone beside her on the seat and watches the evergreen trees go by outside.

—–

Samantha waits in the bathroom for as long as she can justify, even using the toilet although she did so barely ten minutes ago. Still, Tempest doesn’t respond to her messages. She thinks of calling, but she fears that Jaq would be able to hear her. Finally, she flushes, washes her hands, and returns to the entry.

“All ready?” Jaq asks.

“Yeah! Let’s hit the road. We have a long drive ahead of us.” As Samantha is reaching for her suitcase, however, she sees through the window that a nondescript black sedan is pulling up curbside.

“You know what?” Samantha says suddenly, positioning herself so that Jaq must face away from the window in order to face her. “Like I said, we have a long drive ahead of us.”

“Yes…” Jaq furrows their brow. “And?”

“You should definitely use the restroom before we go. It’d be nice to get a few hours outside King’s Bay before we have to stop.”

“Okay. That’s a good idea.”

“Right this way,” Sam tells them, motioning widely with her hand despite the fact that Jaq has been here and used that powder room plenty of times.

Jaq looks at her strangely and then laughs. “Thanks, Jeeves. Be back in a sec.”

With one eye carefully watching the sedan out front — inside which she can now see Tempest in the backseat — Samantha feels her heart pounding as Jaq heads down the hallway.

—–

“That certainly feels lovely,” Loretta declares as she strides into the kitchen. “Oooh, what’s this?”

Spencer looks up from his iPad, on which he is reading a news article at the kitchen table.

“Natalie heated up some leftover pasta for lunch,” he says, “and there’s a side salad if you want some.”

Loretta goes to the expansive, granite-topped island and surveys the food. She grimaces. “She should know how I feel about olives by now.”

“There’s plenty of other food in the refrigerator,” Spencer says.

After regarding him with a dash of astonishment, Loretta crosses to the large SubZero refrigerator.

“Is Peter up yet?” she asks.

“Natalie’s getting him now. He should be down in a few minutes.” Spencer glances at his iPad again but, unable to focus, looks up again. “How was your trip?”

Loretta remains focused on reviewing the fridge’s contents. “Wonderful. It’s so nice to be able to see old friends.”

“And where were you, exactly? Who were you seeing?”

She turns over her shoulder, her expression suddenly appalled. “People. Friends. I told you, I was in the Hamptons, and then out on the Cape…”

Spencer sets the iPad aside. “Good. I’m sure that was fun.”

“Very. Do we really not have any simple, grilled chicken?”

Now intent upon his goal, Spencer swallows his exasperation and tells her, “There’s sliced turkey in the drawer. Oven-roasted.”

He watches as Loretta searches for and finds it.

“I’m glad you’re getting out there and feeling like your old self again,” he says. “That has to be a good feeling.”

“You have no idea.”

Turkey in hand, she closes the refrigerator and returns to the island.

“I’m glad we have a minute alone,” Spencer continues. “I’ve been thinking, and… I really can’t thank you enough for your help with the custody case last year.”

Loretta’s nipped-and-tucked eyes narrow at him. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“It’s okay, Mother. Really.” He offers a warm smile. “Whatever you had to do to get Jason caught in that series of lies… it was worth it.”

She brightens and, leaving the turkey and the salad behind, hurries toward the table. “I’m so glad that you see it that way.”

“Peter’s my son. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do to keep him in my life. That’s why I’m so grateful to you for whatever strings you pulled.”

Loretta beams at him. “You’re very welcome.”

“How’d you get Elly to do it?” he asks without missing a beat. “Not that she’s the most ethical person I know, but she doesn’t strike me as being able to come up with that entire plan herself. Nor did she have any reason to.”

“She was your attorney. She wanted to win,” Loretta says before pursing her lips suggestively.

“She wasn’t even the lead attorney. She didn’t have much stake in it beyond billable hours.”

“Spencer, darling,” she says with a flick of the wrist. “That’s for me to know, and you not to worry about. I did what I had to do to keep that boy under your roof, and as long as you understand that and appreciate it, it need not go any further.”

“Well, thank you again. I don’t know what I’d do without my son.” Spencer stands. “Why don’t I get that salad together for you? It’s the least I can do.”

“Oh, that would be divine. My feet are killing me,” Loretta says as she slips into one of the high-backed wooden chairs.

“Just rest and wait until Peter’s down here. I’ll have your lunch ready in a minute,” Spencer says as he goes to the island, trying not to let even a hint of his satisfaction show. Inside, however, he is jumping up and down; Loretta’s confirmation that she did something to affect the outcome of the custody hearing — and that she forced Elly to participate in it — might be the opening he needs to get her out of this house for good. 

—–

The instant Jaq closes the door to the restroom, Samantha bolts out of the house and toward the curb, where Tempest is climbing out of the Uber.

“Did you get my texts?” Samantha asks frantically.

Tempest looks her ex up and down. “Yeah. You wanna tell me what that’s all about?”

“I have to go alone, that’s all.” Samantha hates lying, even more so because she knows Tempest only wants to help. “It doesn’t feel right bringing someone else into a– a family thing.”

“Is this ‘cuz of what happened with your mom and all that?” Tempest asks as she pulls a canvas weekender bag from the backseat of the car. “You don’t trust me to be around whatever weird shit’s in that safe?”

“No. No! It’s not that at all. I just… I think it’s something I need to do on my own.” Samantha punctuates her words with a pleading stare. “Please, Tempest. Just get back in that car and have the driver take you back home. I’ll let you know how it goes. I promise.”

She can see the pain of this abrupt rejection in Tempest’s face, and it hurts Samantha even more to know that she caused it. Relief sweeps over her as Tempest tosses the weekender back into the car.

“If you say so,” she says. “But you better hit me up as soon as you find out whatever’s hidden in there and let me know. I’m, like, all invested now.”

“I will. I promise.” Samantha glances back at the house, grateful to see Jaq nowhere in sight yet. “I’m actually about to get going, anyway.”

“Okay.” Tempest begins to climb back into the Uber — but then stops cold. “Wait a minute.”

“What?”

Samantha waits, but she cannot tell what has captured Tempest’s attention. Again she looks to the house, but Jaq is not visible either out front or in the entryway.

“Whose car is that?” Tempest asks, and Samantha’s stomach immediately stinks. She takes in the Bernie Sanders bumper sticker on Jaq’s Chevy Volt, knowing that Tempest is processing the exact same thing.

“Guess that explains it,” Tempest says, annoyed and offended within an instant, as if a switch has been flipped. “You’re bringing her instead. Them. Whatever.”

“Tempest, it’s not how it looks.”

“How it looks is you decided you wanted to bring your new girl and you don’t want her to know I was supposed to come. That right?”

Samantha bites her lower lip.

“I thought you were supposed to be the honest one and all that,” Tempest says. “Don’t worry. I’m not gonna ruin your little trip.” She closes the car door and then cracks the window to add, “Good luck.”

“Tempest–”

“I’m not gonna ruin your romantic adventure. Don’t even worry about it.”

With that, Tempest rolls up the window and says something inaudible — at least to Samantha — to the driver. Sam gives yet another look back toward the house, and this time, she sees Jaq strolling back into the entryway. She can feel Tempest staring at her through the car’s window, but Samantha knows that she can’t linger and certainly can’t make eye contact. She hurries back to the house and opens the front door.

“I was just, uh, checking the mail before we go,” she says, holding up her empty hands. “Nothing yet.”

“Yeah. It’s super-early,” Jaq says, sounding a little confused. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

“I’m great. Let’s get your bag from your car and go,” Samantha says. She grabs her own suitcase and checks her pants pocket for her keys. “All set?”

“I guess so.”

Jaq opens the front door, and Samantha does her best not to pay attention to the black sedan pulling off down the street, though the pained feeling in her stomach makes it impossible for her not to think about Tempest, driving away.

END OF EPISODE 1027

Has Samantha ruined her friendship with Tempest?
What will Sam and Jaq discover in Idaho?
Will Spencer’s plan to trick Loretta backfire on him?
Discuss all this and more in the comments below!

Next Episode

77 thoughts on “Episode 1027

  1. Sam is sure in a pickle with Jaq & Tempest. I get why Tempest is upset, it was a last minute cancellation on Sam’s part and they had been working on the mystery together. This will all be so fun when they all learn that Diane has been pulling the strings behind the scenes. Good movement on this triangle; I’m curious to see what they uncover on the trip too.

    With all the drama with Claire\Brent\Molly the last few episodes, I had almost forgotten that Loretta was back. The sparring with her and Natalie is hilarious. Clever way for Spencer to get confirmation that Loretta helped him with the custody case, the tough part will be uncovering all the details now. I also wonder if Loretta will somehow use Molly’s situation to her advantage or use Caleb. So many possibilities!

    Good episode

    1. Thanks for your post, Dallas!

      We’ll delve more into Tempest’s reaction in the upcoming episode, but yeah, it’s a bad situation all around. She feels betrayed and had pinned high hopes on this trip, and I don’t think Sam has been 100% honest with herself about what a tightrope she’s walking between Tempest and Jaq. Plus, as you mention, there’s the angle of Diane working in the background to manipulate the situation. Shockingly, this will continue to get messy!

      I had to kind of hit reset on the Loretta storyline, because there were a few things that were more time-sensitive to get to before this (the Gray family drama and Molly’s pregnancy fallout, mostly). But the fact that she’s been traveling is relevant to the story, too, and I think it’s the only way Natalie and Spencer would’ve put up with her for so long! This story is going to become a major focus as we move through summer and fall now.

      Thanks again!

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