Previously…
– Zane was upset to hear from Jaq that Tori was having drinks with Landon when she was supposed to be at home.
– Jason and Sabrina agreed to give their first date a do-over.
– Loretta warned Natalie to end her sexual relationship with Spencer — or else.

With her path illuminated only by the glow of the nightlight plugged into the wall, Natalie Bishop places the picture book back on the shelf and slips out of her young son’s room. She moves slowly and softly so as not to wake Peter, who finally fell asleep after their third book of the night. As she leaves his room, she eases the door closed, careful to leave it open a crack, as always, so that she can more easily hear him if he wakes up and calls for her.

She moves down the hallway. From downstairs, she can hear the faint drone of the TV playing whatever true-crime documentary Loretta is watching in the family room. It isn’t particularly late, but Natalie has no desire to face her mother-in-law right now, so she goes to her own bedroom, closes the door, and begins getting ready to watch TV in bed.

Just as she is unbuttoning her silk blouse, the door opens. She quickly pulls the shirt closed.

“Don’t be so modest,” Spencer Ragan says as he slips inside her room and shuts the door.

Natalie folds her arms over her chest, covering her exposed bra. “What do you want?”

“The same thing I want every day. Sometimes twice.” He licks his lips. “We haven’t had any time lately. And Peter’s asleep, right?”

“Yeah, and your mother is downstairs.”

“So? She’s watching some murder documentary. You know how wrapped up in those she gets.”

“And that makes you want to risk her catching us?” Natalie shudders as she recalls the way Loretta confronted her on Thanksgiving after seeing Spencer leaving Natalie’s room that morning…

“I will not have him being caught in your web the way poor, stupid Jason Fisher was,” Loretta says.

“Spencer and I are adults,” Natalie tells her. “I promise–“

With her lipstick still clutched in her hand, Natalie stares back at Loretta, unable to find the right words to fire back.

“I don’t need you to promise me anything other than that it will not happen again. And I know you’ll keep that promise, because you don’t have much of a choice, do you?”

“I think I’ve been rather generous in not sharing with anyone how you hired Sonja Kahele to brainwash Spencer into not remembering his fall down the stairs,” Loretta says. “But if it were to become necessary to do so…”

“Don’t worry about that. I can be quiet,” Spencer says as he starts to peel off his t-shirt.

“Spencer, I said no.” Natalie reaches out and tugs his shirt back down to cover his toned stomach, as much as she hates to do so.

Spencer screws up his face in confusion. “What is up with you?”

“Nothing’s up. I just don’t think it’s a good idea.”

“Why not?” he asks, his intense gaze boring into her. “We just figured out how to make this sham of a marriage a lot more satisfying for both of us. So why are you suddenly shutting me down?”

—–

Nat King Cole’s “The Christmas Song” plays on the radio as Jason Fisher pulls his car up to the curb. Although he switches off his headlights, the colorful strands of holiday lights hung on the exterior of the small apartment building continue to brighten the night with their cheerful glow.

He turns off the ignition and undoes his seatbelt.

“I can just hop out,” Sabrina Gage tells him from the passenger seat.

“I’m a gentleman. I’ll walk you to the door,” Jason says, and before she can protest, he hops out of the car and rounds it so that he can open her door and help her out.

She smiles as she steps out of the car. “Thank you. This has been a really great night, Jason.”

“I think so, too.” He stuffs his hands in his coat pockets as they walk toward Sabrina’s apartment. “I’d say we finally got that first date thing down, didn’t we?”

“I agree,” she says, punctuating the statement with a little laugh. “And it only took us how many times?”

Now it is Jason’s turn to laugh. “Too many.”

He lets her walk in front of him as they ascend the narrow outdoor staircase that leads up to her unit.

“So now that we figured out how to do a first date,” he says as they stop in front of her apartment door, “how would you feel about going on a second? I know you’re going back to Iowa for Christmas, but…”

“Time is going to be a little tight, between work and my final for my photography class and traveling home,” Sabrina tells him, “but I have an idea.”

“What’s that?”

“Why don’t we just call this the third date? Or fourth. Whichever one we’re at.”

Jason lifts an eyebrow as he asks her, “And what does that do?”

“Well, there’s something I’d really like to do, but it isn’t something I would normally do on a first date.”  Without awaiting a response, she plants a kiss on his lips. It quickly goes from sweet to passionate, all the longing of the prior months coming out in this single gesture.

When they do part, Jason’s expression is slightly dazed. “And what wouldn’t you do on a first date?”

“Why don’t you come inside and find out?” Sabrina says with a wink.

A Christmas tree, outfitted in crisp white lights, glittering glass ornaments, and a slew of festive gold bows, outfits Molly Taylor‘s office inside Objection Designs with holiday cheer. The rest of the office reflects something else common to the season: chaos, as sketches and squares of fabric are spread across the floor. Molly paces around the office, evaluating each of the setups, while her niece and assistant sits cross-legged on the floor.

“We’re getting close,” Molly says. “We’ll have this stuff out of here tonight, I think.”

Tori brushes a lock of her brown hair out of her eyes. “You weren’t kidding when you said things were going to be intense around here.”

“I promise, it won’t always be like this. Once we get these off to the manufacturer…”

“We can sleep?” Tori asks with a laugh.

“A little. Yeah. I can’t thank you enough for being in the trenches with me, Tori.”

“It’s my job. And honestly, it’s nice to have someplace to put all my energy.”

A wordless look passes between the women, acknowledging the losses they have in common that would be too painful to speak aloud right now.

The sound of knuckles rapping against the open door grabs both their attention, and both Molly and Tori look over with surprise.

“What are you doing here?” Tori asks, her mouth agape.

—–

Unable to handle the intensity of Spencer’s stare, Natalie looks down at her bare toes, the pink-painted nails sinking into the bedroom carpet.

“Maybe it isn’t as satisfying for both of us as you’d like to think,” she finally spits, with what she hopes is a sufficient amount of attitude to irritate him.

“Oh, come on. I’ve been in the room. You seem pretty damn satisfied,” he responds.

She shrugs as she tries to relax into the challenge of this role. The truth is, sex with Spencer is surprisingly good — and quite a reminder of how Peter came to be in the first place. But it sure isn’t enough to outweigh the very real threats that Loretta is holding over her head.

“Well, I’m not,” she says. “I don’t feel like it, okay?”

He holds up both palms. “If you’re not into it, you’re not into it — but this is one hell of an about-face.”

“I don’t think it’s a good idea, okay?” She starts doing up the buttons of her blouse again. “We need to cool it.”

“Like, for good? You’ve seemed really into this.”

“And now I’m not. Is that good enough for you?”

He narrows his eyes, his dark eyebrows scrunching downward as he studies her, attempting to make sense of her change of heart. Finally he shakes his head and turns for the door.

“I thought we had a good thing going here,” he says, “and I’m pretty sure you thought so, too.”

Natalie scoffs and folds her arms again. “Just be careful leaving.”

“Whatever.” With a final huff, Spencer opens the door and leaves without fully closing it.

As soon as he is gone, Natalie rushes to the door and softly closes it. She presses the button to lock it, as if doing so might seal out all the complicated, painful dynamics running through the household and threatening her sanity.

“You win for now, Loretta,” she says under her breath, “but you’re not going to get away with this forever. I won’t let it happen.”

—–

As soon as Sabrina unlocks the door, she and Jason resume kissing as they push their way inside the dark apartment. Amidst heavy breathing and hands moving excitedly over their winter coats, they pull apart.

“I should light a candle,” she says.

“You don’t have to do that.”

“I want to. It’s romantic.” 

She leaves a grinning Jason to remove his coat as she disappears into the small kitchen. Jason hears rickety drawers being opened and then closed.

“We really don’t need candlelight,” he calls out.

Sabrina doesn’t answer — until she appears again, without her coat but holding a plate and a stout red candle that doesn’t appear to have been burned before.

“Found this,” she says. She sets the plate on the small table by the wall, then places the candle on it and produces a book of matches. Within seconds, the candle is burning. Its flame flickers and dances against the dark walls as Sabrina rejoins Jason and places her hands on his chest.

He kisses her again before asking, “You’re sure you want to do this?”

“Jason, I was in a coma for years, and then I moved here and got this crush on you, and it’s been years since that started, so yeah, I definitely want this. You have no idea how much.”

“Good.”

Their eyes meet, a bolt of electricity passing between them before they resume kissing. Sabrina directs him toward the bed, which is covered in a floral comforter, and he guides her onto it before lowering himself over her. He runs his hand through her black hair and is tracing is down over her shoulder when something invades his nostrils, and he pulls back.

“Do you smell that?” he asks.

Sabrina’s eyes go wide with horror, but her nose twitches as she attempts to pick up on whatever he has noticed. Within seconds, she does.

“Is that… bacon burning?” she says.

“I think so.”

They stand up, and Jason goes to the window to see if the scent grows any stronger there, but the windows are all closed.

“Oh my gosh,” Sabrina says from her position near the table. “It’s the candle.”

“You have a bacon-scented candle?”

She shrugs. “It must have been a gag gift that I forgot about. It’s…” She crinkles her nose again. “Almost pleasant?”

“Almost.” He comes over and blows out the flame in a single huff. “I told you we didn’t need a candle.”

“Candlelight is romantic!”

“And burning cured meats kind of kill the mood,” he says with a chuckle before kissing her once more. He directs her back toward the bed, and this time, she lies down quickly, her hands fumbling for the buttons on his shirt. 

“I’m really glad we’re doing this,” she says, her breaths now heavy with desire.

“Me, too.” He shrugs off his shirt before pressing his lips to her neck, his arousal the only thing in the world that matters right now as their clothes come off and their bodies melt together in the darkness.

—–

Tori pulls herself up from the floor and stands as she tries to process why Zane Tanaka would be standing at the entrance to Molly’s office, holding a white paper bag in one hand and a tray with two to-go coffee cups in the other.

“I thought I’d bring you both some fuel for your late night at work,” Zane says. “Eggnog lattés and chocolate chip cookies.”

“That was very thoughtful of you,” Molly says, a careful note in her voice.

He shrugs. “It’s the least I could do for the woman I love. Looks like you’re swamped here.”

“You’re so sweet,” Tori says as she greets him with a quick kiss on the cheek. Zane hands her one of the lattés and then holds out the other to Molly.

“Thank you,” Molly says as she accepts it, slightly tentatively. “How did  you get up here?”

“I have my ways.” He steps into the office, evaluating the items spread over the floor. “So what is all this?”

“It’s every item in our spring/summer collection, complete with full specifications for the manufacturer,” Molly explains. “We have to cross every i and dot every t before we send them off.”

“I bet,” Zane says.

“I really appreciate you bringing us this stuff,” Tori tells him. “We both do. But we probably need to keep working…”

“Totally. Don’t let me interrupt. I just wanted to do something to brighten your night a little.”

“Thank you, Zane,” Molly says.

Tori beams at her boyfriend. “You’re the best.”

“I do what I can. I’ll get out of your way now. Good luck.”

Zane raises one hand in a wave and then exits through the anteroom.

Tori takes a sip of the hot latté, savoring the rich taste of the eggnog. “That was such a nice treat.”

“Yeah,” Molly says, still watching the door. “Very sweet of Zane to check up on us.”

—–

In the elevator, Zane breathes a sigh of relief.

“Good girl,” he murmurs, “being exactly where you said you’d be.” Even after checking the tracker he placed on Tori’s car and confirming that she was at the office, just as she told him she would be, he felt this unshakable need to double-check. When Jaq informed him that they’d seen Tori having drinks with Landon the other night — when she said she was simply picking up takeout and going home — he thought of confronting her, but he knew it would make him look crazy.

The best thing he can do for now, he reasons, is to make sure that she’s being honest with him… while he tries to figure out exactly why she never mentioned her meeting with Landon to him.

END OF EPISODE 1055

Can Jason and Sabrina finally be happy together?
Will Spencer figure out why Natalie rejected him?
Was Zane’s visit to Objection purely out of kindness?
Discuss it all in the comments below!

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