Previously…
– Jaq was distressed to witness a kiss between Samantha and Tempest.
– Tim gently told Molly about the baby who was abandoned outside the police station and who is now being fostered by Travis and Rosie.
– Claire was shocked when she overheard Loretta invoking Sonja’s name as a threat to Natalie.

The moment Tim Fisher opens his front door, his ex-wife bursts into the house. 

“Good to see you, too,” Tim says as he evaluates Claire for any insight into her behavior. Between the urgency of her phone call and the head of steam she has clearly built up, something has to be going on.

“Sorry. Hi,” she says. She wears a cranberry-hued wool coat, worn open over a light sweater and jeans, with a pair of high-heeled black boots. “I really need to talk to you.”

“I can tell. Is everything all right?”

“Yeah. I think so. They might be very all right, actually.”

Tim’s head tips to one side. “What does that mean?”

“It’s about Sonja,” Claire says. “I need you to tell me everything you know.”

“What? Why? I’ve done my best to put that whole thing behind me–“

“I know, and I’m sorry to dredge it all up again. But I think Sonja might be the key to dealing with Loretta, once and for all.”

A confused pause ensues before Tim simply says, “I don’t follow.”

“I was dropping Peter off at home after I took him to story time at the hospital,” she explains as she sets down her purse and wriggles out of her coat, “and I caught Loretta and Natalie talking. Or arguing, really. Loretta said something to Natalie about ‘your friend Sonja.'”

“What?”

“Exactly. As far as you know, did Sonja even know Natalie?”

“No. I don’t think so.” He closes the door and flips the deadbolt to lock it. “Not beyond meeting her through Jason, I mean. And she was at the wedding…”

“…where she read those DNA results after Loretta had them delivered.”

“She said that was because Loretta had threatened her mother,” Tim says, his mind now spinning as it pulls in old memories and conversations, desperate to turn them into something cohesive. 

“But why Sonja? She had nothing to do with any of that.”

“She was Spencer‘s nurse. Sonja said that Loretta had contacted her and wanted her to pass along updates on Spencer’s recovery. She refused — that’s why Loretta targeted her with the DNA results. It was some kind of perverse revenge for Sonja not doing what Loretta wanted.”

“We all know Loretta has a flair for the dramatic,” Claire says. “But even someone who likes to do things with a certain amount of fanfare didn’t need to go to all that trouble to get someone to read the DNA results.”

“‘Your friend Sonja,'” Tim says quietly. “I don’t know what she could’ve meant by that.”

“It means there’s more to this than we know,” Claire replies. “The way Loretta said it, it was unmistakably a threat. Tim, if there’s even a chance that Sonja and Natalie are connected, and Loretta has been using that to have leverage over Natalie — this could be exactly what we need to get Loretta Ragan away from our family, once and for all.”

—–

Brent Taylor parks his Subaru in the horseshoe-shaped driveway and steps out of the vehicle. Despite the afternoon hour, the air is shockingly cold, and he flinches as it hits his exposed face and hands. Quickly he grabs an item from the backseat and hurries up to the front door.

Once there, however, he hesitates to push the doorbell. The cold seems to fade away as he stands before the house where he lived for so many years with Molly — although she has now lived there, without him, for an even greater number of  years. Not too long ago, he believed that he might be on the verge of calling this place home once again… but then his and Molly’s son died shortly after birth, and communication between them sputtered back to a polite-but-uncomfortable, never-certain-where-they-stand place. 

Maybe today will change that, he thinks, steeling himself for the conversation that he hopes to have as he finally rings the bell.

As soon as Molly opens the door, Brent holds up the folder that he took from the car.

“Christian‘s sheet music, safe and sound,” he announces. 

“Thanks. He isn’t home yet, but I’ll give it to him,” Molly says, but there is a flat affect to her voice, one that Brent recognizes all too well.

“What’s wrong?” he asks.

She stares back at him, her eyes slightly pinched, for a moment before saying, “Why didn’t you tell me about the baby?”

“What? What about the baby? Molly–“

“The baby who was left outside the police station.”

Caught off-guard, he draws in a sharp breath. “What? There was no reason to…”

“Tim told me,” she says as she takes several steps back from the door and folds her arms. “How are my nephew and his girlfriend — who works for you! — fostering a baby who happens to be the same age as ours and no one even told me until now?”

“No one wanted to upset you.”

“It upsets me to be treated like a child who can’t handle reality.”

“Molly. Of course we wanted to protect you. Travis and Rosie did, too. They felt like throwing it in your face would be cruel. When I found out how old she was–” He shakes his head in despair. “I had a moment when I thought…”

This time he trails off, unable to speak the words, although they both know very clearly what he means. He lingers in the doorway.

“But she’s a girl, right?” Molly presses. “Our baby was a boy. It can’t be.”

“I went through the same thoughts. It seemed too weird, a baby who was just the right age being left anonymously. But our son — that baby isn’t our baby. She can’t be.”

“We don’t know that, Brent.”

“We had a son–“

“We never even held him!” she exclaims. “Maybe there was a mistake.”

“You can’t go down this road.”

“Why not? We lost a child, Brent. If there’s even a chance–“

“There isn’t!”

Before Molly can respond, another voice cuts in, drawing both of their attention out to the front steps:

“Great. You guys are fighting again,” Caleb Taylor says as he stands in front of the house, a flat-billed cap pulled over his forehead.

“We’re not fighting,” Brent says.

“Yeah, right,” Caleb says dryly as he pushes past Brent and into the house.

In the break room of the KBAY offices, Jaq Pearson stoops down to press the red tab on the water dispenser. A stream of hot liquid fills their mug, from which the purple-hued tag of a teabag hangs. Once the mug is filled, Jaq stands and closes their eyes as they breathe in the aroma of the tea.

“What did I tell you about huffing hot water on the job?” Diane Bishop teases as she enters the break room.

“It’s this new lavender tea I picked up. It’s supposed to be great for calming the nerves,” Jaq explains. “I have a whole box at my desk, if you want some.”

“That’s okay. Good old coffee for me. But thanks,” Diane says as she moves to the coffee pot and fills her own cup. As she places the pot back on its burner, she turns to Jaq. “You okay?”

“Uh, yeah. I’m fine.”

“Okay.” Diane shrugs one shoulder and then goes about stirring sweetener into her coffee. “You seemed a little stressed when I walked in, that’s all. And Samantha mentioned that you bailed on going to Travis‘s at the last minute.”

“Oh. That.”

Jaq’s mind shoots back to the place where it has spent far too much time lately: outside Rosie‘s apartment, where they were shocked to see Samantha and Tempest kissing. They have replayed the moment over and over, wondering if they should have interrupted and made their presence known. Instead, they hurried home and texted Samantha an excuse.

“I got too busy with work, that’s all,” Jaq says. 

“Did they keep you here after your shift was over? That’s no fair. If I need to talk to someone–“

“No, it’s fine. Really.” Jaq gulps down the lump that has formed in their throat. “It was my fault. I left a paper at home, and I had to go get it and then scan it — anyway, it wasn’t a big deal. Sam isn’t mad that I couldn’t go, is she?”

“Not that I know of. She just mentioned it.” Diane takes a careful sip of the coffee and then turns fully toward Jaq, resting one hip against the counter’s edge. “Are you sure everything’s okay, though?”

Jaq stares at their girlfriend’s mother, again wondering if they’re making the right decision about how to handle that kiss. They know that Diane is no fan of Tempest, let alone the idea of Samantha reuniting with Tempest — but they also don’t want to rock a boat that might tip over if provoked.

“Everything’s great, yeah,” Jaq says, slapping on a deliberately cheery grin. “Aside from needing a good night of sleep.”

“I’m with you there,” Diane replies. “Don’t work too hard, okay?”

Jaq lets out a small laugh. “Okay.” 

They watch as Diane exits the break room, and as they inhale another soothing breath of the lavender tea, they hope that they’re handling that kiss in the right way.

—–

Tim and Claire move into the family room of his house, where an oversized sectional sofa sits in front of a white-brick fireplace. A local news broadcast plays quietly on the wall-mounted flatscreen TV.

“Sonja told me the entire story,” Tim says as he takes a seat on the extended chaise portion of the sofa. “Loretta wanted her to keep tabs on Spencer and report back to her. Sonja refused. That’s why Loretta forced her to read those test results to everyone at the wedding. Maybe that’s all Loretta meant: that she’d do something similar to get back at Natalie again, if she had to.”

“First of all, that worries me. Why does she need to control Natalie?” Claire says. “Is this her way of doing something sneaky with Peter?”

“It would explain why Natalie’s been okay letting her stay in that house.”

“Yeah.” Claire nods; the bobs of her head grow faster and more insistent the more she thinks about it. “And if Natalie tried to back out of that arrangement–“

“–then Loretta would undoubtedly do whatever she needed to do to stop her. But what else would Loretta even have on Natalie? Peter’s paternity already came out.”

“Maybe she’s trying to push Natalie out of his life completely,” Claire says. “We’ve all expected her to do something crazy to have Peter and Spencer to herself.”

“Then why don’t we ask Natalie?” Tim suggests. “If she’s desperate enough to get out from under Loretta’s thumb…”

“Frankly, I don’t trust her to tell us the truth. Look at how far she went to pretend Peter was Jason’s son. She practically left Spencer lying at the foot of the stairs to die in order to protect her secret.”

“Maybe Diane can help,” Tim says, but before he even finishes the thought, both of them are shaking their heads.

“That’s why we need to talk to Sonja,” Claire says. “If there’s even a chance that she might know something…”

Tim hesitates and then lets out a weighty sigh. “I don’t have a way of getting in touch with her. She must have changed her number or blocked me. Her old cell number was out of service, the one time I tried to reach out to her.”

“Then it’s a good thing you have a private investigator for a sister, isn’t it?”

“You’re right,” he says, clapping his palms against his knees before standing up. “Even if Sonja doesn’t want to be found — this is too important to drop without at least trying.”

“That’s what I was hoping you’d say,” Claire tells him with a smile. “I’m sorry to bring up painful memories. I do know how hurtful it was when Sonja up and left town so abruptly.”

“It was. Yeah.” He feels a familiar pain radiate through his body, burning in his chest and gut, a combination of sadness and shame. “But if this is what it takes to bring down Loretta, then it’s worth opening up that wound again.”

—–

“Caleb. Wait,” Brent says authoritatively. 

His tone is enough to get the teenager to stop in his tracks.

“Your father and I were only having a conversation,” Molly says.

Caleb rolls his eyes. “Sounded a lot like a fight.”

“We were discussing something,” Brent interjects. 

“Whatever,” Caleb says. “You fight, you break up, you get back together, then you’re not talking — and Christian and I just have to go along for the ride. It sucks.”

Brent and Molly’s eyes meet; Brent can see Molly’s guilt plainly, and he is sure that he is reflecting the same back at her.

“Everything is fine,” Molly says. “I was actually about to ask your dad to stay for dinner. Why don’t all four of us sit down and eat together?”

Brent nods. “That sounds great.”

Caleb’s gaze shifts back and forth between his parents from beneath the brim of his hat. 

“I’ve got plans,” he says at last.

“What kind of plans?” Molly asks.

“With friends. Does it matter?”

“Your mom asked you to stay for dinner,” Brent says.

“And I said I’ve got plans,” Caleb shoots back. “Are you gonna tell me to flake on people because you guys decided to get along tonight?”

Neither of his parents answers immediately, and Caleb takes that as his cue to escape up the stairs. Molly and Brent stand frozen in the foyer, surrounded by the heavy air of tension that Caleb has left in his wake.

“He’s like this all the time,” Molly finally says.

“I know. I have him half the–” But Brent stops himself. The last thing they need right now is to keep squabbling.

“I’m gonna go,” he says instead.

“Are you sure? You’re welcome to stay for dinner.”

Brent looks at her, as beautiful as ever, and thinks about how he arrived here with such high hopes for where the future might take them.

“It’s better if I go,” he says. “Have a good night, Molly.”

“You, too. Thanks for bringing Christian’s sheet music.”

“No problem.”

He hustles out the front door and back to his car, feeling the sting of the cold even after he pulls the driver’s door shut. He starts the engine and looks through the windshield as Molly closes the front door of the house. As the car comes to life, thrumming gently all around him, Brent exhales heavily. The house might be the same as it’s always been, but he suddenly has no idea how he will ever manage to make it his home again — or if he should even try.

END OF EPISODE 1069

Can Brent and Molly find a way to work things out?
Will Tim and Claire track down Sonja and learn the truth?
Should Jaq have opened up to Diane?
Discuss it all in the comments below!

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