Previously…
– Zane was irritated after Tori had to cut short a romantic evening to deal with a crisis at work.
– Tori reacted poorly when Landon suggested that she might be better off without Zane.
– Travis planned to propose to Rosie over the holidays.

Colorful holiday lights twinkle in storefront windows, glistening against the darkness of night as Tori Gray walks down the street. As she does so, she quickly types a text message with her glove-covered thumbs:

Picking up food now! There’ll be some for you when you get home. xo

She hits send and sticks her phone back into her purse, just as she arrives at the front door of 322 Bar & Grill. A lush green wreath, adorned with a brilliant red bow, is hung upon the door, and Tori smiles at the sight before pulling open the door and stepping into the warmth of the restaurant. The sounds that immediately hit her senses — the heavy din conversation and chatter competing with Brenda Lee’s “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” — tell her that the eatery is busy even before she has a chance to scan the bar and dining room and confirm that the dinner rush is, in fact, in full effect.

She waits until the hostess has seated the party ahead of her and then tells the young woman, “I’m picking up a takeout order. The name is Tori Gray.”

As the hostess goes to find her food, Tori moves aside and leans against the restaurant’s front window. She is fishing her phone out of her purse again when she hears someone say her name.

“Tori. Hey.”

She looks up to see Landon Esco standing there, in a black down jacket with a gray beanie pulled over his dark hair, which curls out from beneath it.

Tori draws in a deep breath, recalling their last encounter, months ago at Cassie’s Coffee House. After Zane took the news of her job offer poorly and stayed out all night with no word, Tori spent a sleepless night tossing and turning in bed before asking Landon to meet the next day. But when they did, he attempted to talk her out of being with Zane altogether instead of offering advice on how to repair the situation. Luckily, Zane came home soon afterward, and cooler heads prevailed. But she has not spoken to Landon since.

“Hi,” she says flatly.

“How, uh, how’ve you been?” Landon asks, in a clear attempt to test the waters. “How’s the new job?”

“The job is good. Thanks for asking.” She turns and looks out for the hostess, who is working her way back to them from the end of the bar. “There’s my food.”

“Tori,” Landon says, but she doesn’t respond.

“Thanks,” Tori says as she accepts the takeout bag from the hostess. “Have a great night.” 

She moves for the door, but Landon steps in front of her.

“Wait,” he says. “Can we talk?”

“About what?”

“I owe you an apology,” Landon says. “Stay a minute and hear me out. Please?”

In the basement of the office building that houses KBAY’s studios, Jaq Pearson is in the small, overly bright staff kitchen, pulling the cart they use for grocery runs from a corner, when Zane Tanaka walks in.

“On the late shift, too?” Zane asks as he moves to pour himself another cup of coffee from the carafe on the counter.

“I’m about to do a huge dinner run for the entire Promo department,” Jaq explains as they pull out the cart’s retractable handle. “Pray for me. If that’s your thing.”

“Not really my thing.”

“I figured. How about you? I’m guessing from the coffee that you aren’t on your way out.”

“They have me uploading a bunch of new interview clips to the website,” he explains as he fills his travel mug. “I’m gonna be here forever.”

Jaq groans. “Did you have a good Thanksgiving?”

“I did. Yeah.” He falls quiet for a long moment before adding, “I know it meant a lot to Tori that we spend it at her grandma‘s, so I sucked it up and went. It was fine.”

“Sam and I wanted to make it over there to say hi, but the timing didn’t work out.”

“You didn’t miss much. Those big family things are always a little…” Zane trails off, but the way he widens his eyes and wobbles his head around tells Jaq exactly what he means.

“It can be a little overwhelming for people like us. Yeah.”

“People like us?”

“I’m gonna go out on a limb and guess you don’t come from a big, happy family like Sam and Tori do.”

“I don’t know if I’d call them happy,” Zane says.

“They all love each other,” Jaq counters, “even when things get messy. That’s more than I can say for my family. Everyone just stews in their own resentment and waits for a blow-up.”

Zane nods along. “I get that. Yeah, it’s never really been my thing. You get everyone’s opinion on every single thing, and everyone has to know everybody else’s business. It’s stifling.”

“I guess that’s one way to look at it,” Jaq says. “Anyway, I need to get going. Good luck with your uploading.”

“Thanks,” Zane says as he watches them roll the cart out of the kitchen.

—–

“Thanks for agreeing to see me,” Travis Fisher says as his fingers curl around the white mug in front of him, curls of steam still climbing off it.

“You had me a little worried when you called,” his host tells him as she takes a seat across from him at the kitchen table, which is covered in a beautiful but aged red brocade tablecloth.

“It’s nothing to be worried about. Well, I hope not.” Travis lets out a nervous chuckle.

“Then what is it?” Juanita Jimenez asks. The short, plump woman scoots her chair closer to the table.

Travis takes a sip of the still-too-hot coffee, doing his best not to burn his mouth as he glances around the kitchen. The appliances are not high-end — the white stove and oven bear the marks of having been used to create many family meals over the years, and the linoleum floor, though very clean, wears its age quite visibly. As a cook, Travis can tell that it is the sort of kitchen, just like his grandparents’, that has been used with love for many years. He has been in Mrs. Jimenez’s home a few times since Rosie began the road to reconciliation with her mother, but it feels very strange to be here without his girlfriend now. Still, he knows that he has to do this — and Rosie’s mother has always been such a gracious host.

He sets down the mug carefully, aware that his fingers are shaking slightly.

“It’s about Rocio and me,” he says. He almost never calls his girlfriend by her full name, but it seems respectful right now — like a sign that he has no intention of pulling her away from her family or her roots.

Juanita leans forward, her small brown eyes glimmering with sudden understanding.

“Oh?” she asks, her voice jumping slightly as if excited by the prospect of a secret.

“I love her,” Travis says, doing his best to remember what he rehearsed in the car on the way over here. “She’s… she makes me feel safe, and she makes me want to be better all the time. The two of us, we’ve learned so much about what it means to work for a relationship, how you have to be honest above everything else, and communicate even when it’s hard. So I–“

He is interrupted by the sharp ring of the doorbell.

“I’m sure it’s nothing important,” Juanita says.

“Well,” Travis continues, swallowing hard, “what I’m saying is that–“

“Mama!”

The voice, accompanied by a loud knock, coming from the other side of the front door is unmistakable.

“Mama, it’s me,” Rosie calls out. “Open up!”

In the kitchen, both Travis and Juanita freeze.

The sound system at 322 is now playing Dean Martin’s “Let It Snow!” while the muted TV above the bar shows a local newscast. Landon and Tori occupy two of the barstools, each with a drink before them: a glass of sauvignon blanc for Tori and a mudslide for Landon.

“And I get that I overstepped, so I’m sorry for that,” he is in the midst of saying. “I guess I assumed you wanted advice.”

“What I wanted was someone to hear me out without judging me or my life,” Tori responds.

“Totally get that now. So I’m sorry.” He picks up the hurricane glass that holds his drink. “Friends again?”

“Friends.” Tori lifts her own glass and clinks it against his, and they each sip their drinks.

Tori bursts out into laughter as she places her wine back on the bar.

“What?!” Landon asks, noticing the way that her gaze has locked onto him.

“You’ve got a…” She uses her index finger to trace a mustache across her own upper lip. 

Landon grabs a cocktail napkin and wipes the whipped cream from his face. 

“Thanks for pointing that out,” he says. “These things are damn good, but they’re also a damn mess.”

“You are seriously the only guy I know who would order a mudslide at a bar,” Tori says. “Or at all.”

“That’s because I’m too confident in my masculinity to deny how good these are.” He takes another sip of the chocolatey cocktail, this time avoiding the whipped cream. “So: the job. How’s it going? You must be stoked.”

“I am. It’s really tough, I won’t lie about that. But it’s exciting, and it feels good to be a part of something, you know? Like Aunt Molly‘s working so hard to get the spring/summer line into production, and I get to be there for every step of it.”

“That’s awesome,” Landon says, a grin of genuine happiness spreading on his face. “You deserve a job that makes you happy. You deserve to be happy, period.”

“Thanks, Landon.” She toys with the stem of her wine glass for a moment before looking back up at him. “So tell me what’s going on with you. Any crazy Uber passengers lately?”

His eyes flare wide. “You have no idea! Where to begin…”

—–

Jaq brushes their black bangs out of their eyes as they walk quickly down the street, with the empty cart rumbling on the sidewalk behind them. The Christmas decorations all around add a sense of warmth to the cold King’s Bay evening. While Jaq has never been a huge fan of the holidays, as they told Zane — mostly because it meant so much time with family, which inevitably led to nitpicking comments and full-blown arguments — they’re finding this holiday season to be a lot more tolerable. Maybe it’s having a new house and a new roommate, Finn, who seems to understand perfectly the balance of being friendly roommates without trying too hard to force a friendship; maybe it’s the excitement and independence of their job at KBAY. And maybe, Jaq reasons with a secret grin, it’s their relationship with Samantha, which now feels more solid and settled than ever.

When they reach the front door of 322, Jaq looks inside and lets out a sigh. It’s busy, which means picking up and checking a huge dinner order will be even more chaotic than usual. They pull open the door and step into the packed space.

While waiting for the hostess to finish talking to a customer on the phone, Jaq surveys the restaurant. They’re surprised to see Tori perched at the bar, engrossed in conversation with a man whose beanie-covered head Jaq can only see from the back. For a moment, they wonder if Zane knows about this — and how he’d react.

They’re about to wave to Tori when the hostess hangs up the phone.

“Hi! How can I help you?”

“I’m picking up a big order to go,” Jaq explains. “It should be marked for KBAY.”

The hostess spots Jaq’s cart. “Why don’t you come back with me and we’ll load it all up?”

“Great. Thanks.” Jaq rounds the host’s stand, pulling the cart behind them, and gives one final look at the bar. From this new angle, they recognize the guy with Tori as Landon. Realizing that there is nothing out of the ordinary happening, Jaq follows the hostess to the back.

—–

With terror in his eyes, Travis stares at Juanita over the kitchen table.

“She can’t know I’m here,” he whispers. “She’ll know what I’m doing.”

“What are you doing?” Juanita asks him.

“That’s what I came here to talk to you about.”

“Mama, I see your car outside!” Rosie calls from the other side of the door. “Are you okay?”

“¡Coño!! You can go out the back.” Juanita pushes out her chair and stands. “I’m coming, mjia!” 

“Thank god I parked around the corner,” Travis mutters. His heart pounds inside his chest.

Juanita looks to Travis. “We can do this another time.”

“All I wanted to say,” Travis quickly explains, “is that I’m going to ask Rosie to marry me. Soon. And I wanted you to know.”

The older woman’s round face brightens. “Oh, that’s so beautiful. You and Rocio, you’re both so lucky.”

“Thank you, Mrs. Jimenez.”

“Now go before she catches you here!”

Travis stands and goes to the back door, which is located just off the kitchen in a small alcove where the washing machine and dryer sit. He unlatches the door and glances back through the kitchen to see Juanita already at the front door, waiting.

With his heartbeat still thudding, Travis slips out the back door. As soon as he closes it, he can hear Rosie’s voice inside the house.

“What took you so long, Mama?” she asks. “Is someone here?”

“I was just talking to your brother on the FaceTime,” Juanita says. “That boy can’t do anything for himself!”

Travis laughs and then stealthily moves around the side of the house, leaves crunching underneath his tennis shoes, and makes a break for his car.

—–

Tori clutches the takeout bag with one hand as she and Landon step through 322’s front door and out into the cold night.

“This was really great,” he says. “Thanks for hearing me out.”

“Thanks for explaining where you were coming from,” Tori says. “Sorry if I overreacted.”

He shrugs. “It’s cool. As long as we’re cool.”

“We’re cool.”

They stand there wordlessly for a moment, two pairs of eyes scanning one another.

“I should get going,” Tori says abruptly, indicating the takeout bag as if it were a time bomb.

“Totally. Enjoy your dinner. And if I don’t see you — Merry Christmas, Tori.”

“Merry Christmas, Landon,” she says, and with one final smile, she turns to head back to her car.

Landon lingers by the door, a grin spreading over his face as he watches her retreat down the street and disappear from view even as the memory of their conversation burns warm in his stomach.

—–

Jaq is folding up the cart in KBAY’s kitchen when they hear footsteps entering the room.

“Get your dinners all picked up and handed out?” Zane asks.

“Just finished. Now I get to sit down and eat my own,” they say.

“Good for you.” He moves to the coffee maker to pour himself another cup. “Where’d you have to go?”

“Just 322 downtown. It was pretty easy. I actually saw Tori while I was out.”

“Oh, that’s funny. She texted me that she was grabbing dinner on her way home.”

“Yeah, I wanted to say hi, but my order was ready, and I didn’t want to interrupt her conversation, anyway.”

“Conversation?” Zane stops pouring the coffee. “She was with someone?”

“Just Sam’s brother’s roommate.”

“That Landon kid?”

“Yeah. Anyway, I didn’t get a chance to say hi, so I hope they didn’t see me and think I was being weird.”

Zane simply shakes his head and goes back to pouring his coffee. Jaq takes a seat at one of the small tables, ready to dive into the grilled cheese and tomato soup in takeout containers sitting in front of them.

“How’s the uploading going?” they ask.

“It’s fine,” Zane says tersely. “Later.” 

He takes his cup of coffee and leaves the kitchen, leaving Jaq to shake their head at his odd demeanor before turning their attention to dinner.

Seething, Zane returns to his cubicle and sets the hot coffee down on the desk. He pulls out his phone and opens a particular app hidden in a sub-folder. A map appears on the screen, and a small blue dot tells him everything he needs to know: that Tori is still somewhere in downtown King’s Bay, and not at their apartment as she should have been well over an hour ago.

“What the hell is going on with you and that Landon douche?” he says under his breath as he stares at the blue dot and fumes.

END OF EPISODE 1054

Is Landon going to be in Zane’s crosshairs now?
Are you glad that Tori and Landon made up?
Will Travis pull off a romantic proposal to Rosie?
Talk about it all in the comments below!

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