Written by MichaelJuly 27, 2020August 3, 2020

Episode 1029

Previously…
– Molly, who has to cut back on work for the duration of her pregnancy, offered Tori a job at Objection Designs as her second assistant.
– Zane was upset about Tori continuing to reconnect with her family, especially when he secretly tailed her to her job interview and realized it was at Molly’s company.
– Samantha and Jaq arrived in Sun Valley and were disheartened to find that Claudia had emptied out the late Henry’s study — but they later found his safe stashed in the garage.

The screening room would be entirely dark if not for the glow coming from the large projector screen and bathing the space in its secondhand light. Samantha Fisher and Jaq Pearson sit side-by-side in large recliners in Samantha’s grandparents’ luxurious home in Sun Valley, Idaho; Claudia Bishop is perched in an identical chair not far to their right, with a houndstooth cashmere throw over her legs.

“Isn’t this such a nice movie?” Claudia asks as The Green Book plays onscreen. “If only everyone could take some notes from it, I’m sure race relations wouldn’t be that difficult to solve.”

Jaq tosses Samantha a sideways look in the darkness, widening their eyes in absolute disbelief. All Samantha can do is fight a giggle.

“It’s good,” she says with as much enthusiasm as she can muster. Even if her favorite movie in the world were playing right now, however, she doesn’t think she would be especially engaged. She is too distracted by the thought of her late grandfather’s safe, sitting out in the garage, with who-knows-what hidden inside it.

She slyly checks the time on her cell phone. The movie must have at least an hour to go, she reasons, and she decides that, with her grandmother this absorbed in it, this is her perfect opportunity.

“I’m going to use the bathroom and then get some more water,” she says, lifting her glass from the cupholder on the chair’s arm. “Can I get anyone anything?”

“I’m great, but thank you,” Claudia says, breaking her gaze from the screen for only a split-second.

“I’m fine, too.” Jaq meets Samantha’s eyes, and a look passes between them that tells Sam that Jaq knows exactly what’s going on. “Good luck.”

Claudia laughs. “I’m sure Samantha can manage to use the ladies’ room and get herself some water.”

“Let’s hope so,” Samantha says, before climbing the stairs that connect the basement-level screening room to the rest of the house. When she emerges onto the main floor, it takes her eyes a brief moment to adjust to the brighter lighting. She sets her water glass on a nearby credenza and starts for the front of the house. Her heartbeat quickens its pace, and she feels her fingers getting a little shaky at the thought of being on such a covert mission.

She’s not going to come looking for you, she tells herself as she exits to the garage, careful to ease the door closed behind herself just in case.

There it is: the small, sturdy safe, sitting upon a metal shelf against the wall.

Samantha finds herself frozen in place, staring at it, knowing that there could be something in there that she won’t be able to un-see once she looks at it — or that there could be nothing at all. She isn’t sure which option is preferable. But she has come this far, and her mother has been consumed by whatever Henry Bishop’s connection to Therese DeLuca was; Samantha feels that her mother deserves to know whatever has been hidden for so long, if it really is something significant.

So, with still-shaky hands, she takes the silver locket from her pocket, pops it open, and digs out the small piece of paper from within. On its back side she finds the now-familiar combination. She inputs the combination, sliding the individual wheels to line up the numbers and letters in proper sequence.

But the lock doesn’t open.

Samantha’s stomach sinks. She checks the paper again. And this time, when she inputs the combination, she hears the lock pop.

She draws in a deep breath through her nose as she opens the safe and sees what is inside.

“I can’t believe you let her go alone,” Sarah Fisher Gray says.

“She isn’t alone,” Diane Bishop replies from across the copper-topped table. “Jaq went with her.”

The two women sit in the main dining room of Bill’s on the Pier, where the large windows offer a view of the final vestiges of the sunset over the bay. Half-consumed salads and glasses of white wine sit upon the table.

“You know what I mean,” Sarah tells her friend. “This is the kind of thing that the Diane I know would usually be up to her elbows in.”

“I would’ve gone with her, if I didn’t have to work this event for the station all weekend. Samantha was determined to go out there and put this thing to bed once and for all.”

Diane works her fork through her salad but doesn’t actually eat any of it.

“Plus,” she says at last, “I’m not super-eager to subject myself to more of my mother unless it’s absolutely necessary.”

“There it is,” Sarah says with an understanding grin.

“She was such a… a harridan when I even mentioned Therese DeLuca’s name. I can only imagine how she’ll act if she figures out what Sam is up to.”

Sarah takes another bite of her own dinner before asking, “What do you think it is? I keep turning the whole thing over in my mind.”

“It’s pretty clear that something went on between my father and Therese. And we know that his father paid off Therese — to go away? So that my dad would marry my mom instead?”

“That’s about what I’ve pieced together, too. But what the hell is in that safe? More lockets?”

Diane snickers and reaches for her wine glass. “Who knows? More mementos of their great love?”

“Maybe.” Sarah shrugs. “With any luck, you’ll have answers soon enough.”

“And with any luck,” Diane says, “Samantha will get those answers without suffering my mother’s wrath.”

—–

Tori Gray strikes the match against the side of the box. An orange flame leaps up. Using a cupped hand to shield it, she directs the small flame toward the wick of the pillar candle sitting in the center of the kitchen table. The candle lights, slowly at first, then with increasing confidence. Tori blows out the match, quickly runs it under the kitchen faucet, and then throws it into the trash.

She takes a step back and appraises the table’s setup. She has lowered the lights in her and Zane Tanaka’s small apartment, allowing the candlelight to create a more intimate ambiance. They don’t own formal servingwear or fine china, but she is proud of the job she has done in setting up this romantic dinner for the two of them.

I just hope it makes Zane happy, she thinks as she scoops food from the takeout containers onto their plates. She fusses with it until the stuffed chicken breasts, mashed sweet potatoes, and roasted asparagus look just right on the plates — then begins to worry that she plated it all too early and that it might go cold before Zane arrives home.

Luckily, just as she is determining how to microwave the food without turning it soggy, she hears a key in the front door and looks up to see Zane entering.

“Hey,” she says, standing right over the table. “How was work?”

“It was good.” Zane’s gaze sweeps over the setup. “What’s all this for?”

“I wanted to do something special.”

He drops his backpack by the door and comes over to give her a kiss. “You’re the best.”

She picks up one of the wine glasses filled with crisp, sparkling prosecco and hands it to him.

“Actually,” she says, then lifting her own glass, “we have something to toast to.”

Zane draws back, tensing with anticipation. “What’s that?”

“I have some news.” She lifts her glass and puts a smile on her face, hoping that it will inspire Zane to feel the same way. “I got a job.”

“You did?”

She waits for something else out of him, but it as if he has been frozen.

“Yeah,” she says, again raising her glass toward his. “Isn’t that great news?”

—–

“That certainly took long enough,” Claudia proclaims when Samantha descends the stairs into the screening room several minutes later.

“I, um… My contacts were bothering me,” Samantha says, her heart is still thudding. “I had to go upstairs and put eye drops in.”

“I told your mother, you should have had LASIK years ago.” Claudia clucks her tongue judgmentally. “But she never did listen to me.”

“It’s fine now,” Samantha says as she slides right back into the recliner.

“You’re sure that everything’s okay?” Jaq asks. The question is accompanied by a pointed look.

“Yes. All taken care of,” Samantha tells them, with an equally pointed expression.

Just as Samantha is refocusing on the movie, Claudia asks, “Where’s your water?”

Samantha grips the arms of her chair guiltily. Her mind races.

“Oh, shoot. I put it down before I went to the bathroom, and then my contacts were giving me trouble, and I just…” She trails off, hoping that her grandmother will just forget about it.

“I’ll be fine,” she adds, but Claudia already seems to have turned her attention back to the movie, and Samantha finally allows herself a loud exhale of relief.

“Did you get it?” Jaq mouths, their face half-illuminated by the screen.

All Samantha can do is nod, but the thought of that old, yellowed paper — and the things printed on it — continue sending chills down her spine.

—–

The waiter stacks Sarah and Diane’s empty plates on his arm and leaves a black folder containing the check. As soon as he departs, Diane makes a move for the check, but Sarah grabs it first.

“This one’s on me,” Sarah says.

“You don’t have to do that.”

“You know I don’t do things unless I want to.”

“You’ve got me there,” Diane says, sitting back in her chair. “Well, thanks for dinner.”

“My pleasure.” Sarah slips a credit card into the bill holder. “I needed some girl talk with someone sane, anyway. This whole situation with Molly and Tori really has me off-balance.”

Diane smirks. “You mean that Molly actually made herself useful and came through for Tori?”

“Yeah. I had my whole speech to tell her off ready to go, and then I show up there and she’s offering my daughter a job.”

“I guess even a broken clock is right twice a day,” Diane says.

“Something like that.” Sarah pauses to smile at the waiter as he returns to take the bill away. “I’m really hoping that having something outside of Zane will be good for Tori.”

“You’d think so. With her being at Objection all day and him being busy at the station, maybe they’ll just…” Diane flaps her hands through the air, as if scattering something invisible to the wind.

“And if this works, I can’t believe I’ll have Molly, of all people, to thank for it,” Sarah says. “But whatever helps get Tori away from that creep once and for all is fine by me.”

—–

A tense beat passes as Tori waits for Zane to respond. Suddenly the uncertainty becomes too much for her to bear.

“I’m really excited,” she says. “It’s a great opportunity, and when I was younger, I always wanted to work in fashion somehow.”

“I know. And I support that for you. I really do.”

She can read the but on his face before he even says another word.

“But you know how I feel about you getting sucked back into your family’s web,” he finally continues. “There are other jobs, Tori.”

“Where? I haven’t gotten a bite on my résumé in months. All I do is sit around this apartment, applying for things and never hearing back.”

“You don’t have to stress about finding a job. That’s why I took the job at KBAY. We’re okay for now. The point of that was so you wouldn’t feel like you had to take any old crappy job that came your way–”

“It’s not a crappy job! I’m going to be the executive assistant to the CCO of a successful fashion label,” Tori counters. “That’s a huge step in building a career.”

“It would be. It should be! But you know this is just gonna be another way for your family to have you be indebted to them–”

“They’re my family!”

“And they’re the reason our daughter is dead.”

The statement lands with all the grace of an anvil between them, its thunderous echo pulsing through the apartment.

“No one is completely responsible for that,” Tori says, the very thought of their baby — their Chiyo — ripping at her heart. “My dad made mistakes. My mom made mistakes. But so did I, and so did you–”

“Do you hear yourself? They tried to trick us into giving our baby up for adoption, and those lies are the reason you were in that car that night.” He slams the untouched glass of prosecco down on the table. “I’m trying to protect you, Tori. I’m trying to keep you from getting hurt by them again. And you don’t even care.”

“I didn’t say that.”

“You don’t have to. Your aunt dangles some flashy job in front of you, and you’re right back in with them.” He shakes his head with disgust. “You know what? I’m not very hungry now.”

He turns and whips open the door.

“Zane. Where are you going?”

“I don’t know. To get some air.” He looks back over his shoulder at her. “I can’t sit around and celebrate you giving them this kind of power again. I won’t do it.”

“Zane–”

“Forget it,” he says, and with that, he stomps out of the apartment. The door closes roughly behind him.

Tori stands there in shock, watching the candle flicker. A sob escapes her and she doubles over, horrified by how wrong this all went.

—–

The remainder of the movie passes with excruciating slowness. Samantha periodically steals glances at her grandmother, who seems thankfully unaware of Sam’s covert mid-movie mission. As soon as the credits roll, Samantha hops out of the chair, and Jaq follows suit.

“Wasn’t that excellent?” Claudia asks.

“Really good,” Jaq says. “And this screening room is so nice.”

“It was something Henry and I really enjoyed creating and enjoying together.” Claudia sighs, folding her hands in her lap. “He would love that you’re both here and enjoying it, too.”

Samantha recognizes the sadness in her grandma and feels yet another jolt of guilt about sneaking around behind Claudia’s back.

“I bet he would,” she offers cheerily. “Thanks for everything, Grandma.”

“Yeah. Thank you!” Jaq chimes in. “For dinner and the movie and letting us stay over.”

“Oh, you’re very welcome.”

“That drive really took it out of me,” Samantha says, “so we should turn in for the night.”

“Go right ahead. Goodnight!”

“Goodnight,” Samantha says, though she can barely wait to make a break for the stairs, and it is all she can do not to go running up them and right up to the guest room. She and Jaq walk with a deliberate slowness, as if they aren’t in any kind of rush, but the moment they make it to the guest room, Jaq closes the door and turns to their girlfriend.

“What was in there?” they ask, nearly breathless.

Samantha tries to find the words to explain, but it’s all too complicated, too tangled. Instead, she reaches into the front pocket of her suitcase and pulls out the folded, aged piece of paper. She unfolds it and holds it out for Jaq to see.

“A birth certificate?” Jaq asks. “Who’s Ann Marie DeLuca?”

Samantha swallows hard, fully aware that, now that she’s seen this document, she has no chance of putting this genie back in its bottle.

END OF EPISODE 1029

What secrets does the birth certificate hold?
Is this the end for Tori and Zane?
Talk about all this and more in the comments below!

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