Previously…
– Zane caught Landon at his and Tori’s apartment door, and a physical altercation occurred. Helen arrived just in time to save Landon by whacking Zane over the head.
– At the hospital, Zane was diagnosed with a concussion, and he swore to Tori that he was stopping Landon from breaking into their apartment. 
– Not wanting to reveal that he’d been on a mission for Sarah and Matt, Landon told Tori that he had come to see her to confess his feelings for her. Tori was thrown by his admission.
– Landon gave Sarah and Matt the flash drive, but it didn’t seem to contain any evidence that he had hacked Objection Designs to frame Tori for an error at work.

“Thank you for driving,” Molly Taylor says from the passenger seat of the compact Mazda sedan, as she closes her laptop computer. “I needed that time to catch up on my inbox. It’s like it never ends.”

“Believe me, I know,” Tori Gray replies from the driver’s seat as she puts on her blinker and then makes a right turn. “I see your work inbox every day. It’s insane.”

Molly sighs and tucks the laptop back into the large tote at her feet. “Any opportunity to make a dent is a plus. And after this showcase today, things might calm down for a few weeks.”

Tori cuts a skeptical look over at her aunt. “I’ve heard you say that before. It never really does.”

“Well, it will take a little while for the next thing to ramp up,” Molly says. The moment of silence that ensues is surprisingly weighted, and when Molly breaks it, her tone is more serious. “And you’re sure you’re okay to be working right now?”

“Why wouldn’t I be?” Tori asks, attempting as much nonchalance as she can manage.

“Because of what happened the other night. Is Zane okay?”

“He seems fine now, yeah. He slept a ton and felt better.”

“That’s good.” Molly purses her lips as she contemplates her next statement. “And how is Landon?”

“I haven’t talked to him. But he seemed okay when I saw him at the hospital. My mom made him get checked out.”

“Still…”

“I know Zane completely overreacted,” Tori says. “And don’t think I’m not mad at him for it. It’s just… I understand how it happened.”

“He saw a friend at your door and decided to beat him senseless?”

“He really did think Landon was trying to break in. Landon even admitted how it must’ve looked. It was a– a misunderstanding.”

Before Molly can respond, Tori pulls into the parking lot of their destination. They both react with surprise at the sight of a cluster of people — many of whom they recognize as fellow Objection Designs employees — gathered outside the brick-walled industrial space where today’s showcase is being held.

“There you are!” Gia Vincent, the VP of Design, shouts as soon as Molly steps out of Tori’s car.

“What’s going on?” Molly asks with concern.

“You tell us,” Gia says.

Molly scans the group of restless people lingering behind Gia.

“I don’t understand,” she finally says.

“The showcase isn’t happening today,” Gia declares. “Apparently someone booked the venue for the wrong day!”

At 322 Bar & Grill, Landon Esco sits in a booth across from his best friend and that friend’s soon-to-be-wife. Landon juts out his chin to show off the purple bruise stretching across his right cheek up toward his eye.

“That’s a hell of a shiner,” Travis Fisher comments across the table.

Rosie Jimenez laughs. “Why do you sound like someone out of an old-timey movie?”

Travis turns to her and frowns. “What do you mean?”

“‘That’s a doozy of a shiner! Someone gave you a real knuckle sandwich!'” Amused by herself, Rosie continues laughing and looks toward Landon, who joins her.

“Okay, fine,” Travis says in mock defeat. He adds, in a very flat tone, “It appears you’ve received a severe bruise from your altercation.”

Landon and Rosie share another chuckle as Travis reaches for his beer. 

“You’re sure you’re gonna be okay for the wedding?” he asks. “If you aren’t feeling up to it…”

“Feeling up to it? I’m living for your wedding right now,” Landon replies. “What else do you think is keeping my spirits up?”

“We’ll see what we can do with makeup to cover that thing up,” Rosie says. “My cousin Camila is doing mine. She’s great. I bet she can work wonders with that face of yours.”

“She’s not a magician,” Travis teases. He takes a sip of the beer. “Hey, maybe Mrs. Chase can come to your rescue again. Didn’t she do her husband‘s makeup when he filled in for that drag queen at Pride?”

“When what now?!” Rosie asks.

“Long story,” Travis says.

“I’m serious, you guys,” Landon tells them. “I wouldn’t miss your wedding for the world. Makeup, a paper bag over my head — whatever it takes to stand up there with you, I’ll do it.”

“We appreciate it, Landon,” Rosie says as she picks up a thick-cut French fry from the basket in the center of the table. “But what are we gonna do about Zane?”

Travis nods. “We’re gonna tell Tori he isn’t welcome at the wedding. Not after what he did to you.”

“What?!” Landon says. “No. Don’t do that.”

“Why not?” Travis asks, screwing up his face. “I sure as hell don’t want him there.”

“It’s just…” Landon idly eats a French fry as he considers his next words. “It doesn’t matter. Tori already made her choice.”

Rosie and Travis exchange a look.

“What do you mean?” Rosie asks. “What choice?”

—–

Sarah Fisher Gray closes the sliding glass door that leads from her mother‘s kitchen out to the back deck. There, she finds her husband, leaning against the railing as he checks something on his iPhone.

“Well, it’s official,” Sarah says with annoyance. 

Matt turns. “What is?”

“I had my guy double-check the files that were on the flash drive,” she explains. “There’s nothing there.”

Matt lets out a loud, frustrated sigh. “Nothing?”

“He doesn’t even think anything was deleted. There’s no trace of it. So we really have nothing on Zane.”

“I can’t believe we did all that and we’ve got nothing,” Matt says. “And that Landon got the crap beat out of him for it.”

“At least he’s okay,” Sarah says with a mournful nod. “And the fact that he covered so Tori wouldn’t know we had anything to do with why he was there — we owe that kid big-time.”

“Yeah. We do.”

Sarah joins him at the railing, and the pair turns to look out at the yard and the soft blue sky. The only clouds in evidence are thin wisps of white stretching out and curling languidly. 

“But if Zane didn’t hack Objection,” Matt says after a long stretch of quiet, “then who did? Tori got blamed for someone’s screw-up.”

“Probably Molly,” Sarah says. “She’s been so frazzled since she lost the baby. I mean, understandably so. But it wouldn’t surprise me if she’d made a bunch of errors without even realizing it.”

“Sounded like that was pretty major, though. It wasn’t a couple typos.”

“Yeah, which is why she was so ready to blame Tori.” 

“It could’ve been someone else, too,” Matt offers.

“Maybe. Yeah. Molly has pissed off a lot of people in her day.” Sarah shakes her head, as if trying to dislodge the thoughts. “But I guess what we need to focus on is Zane.”

“What else can we even do? We were so sure this was it.”

“I wish I had the answer,” Sarah says. “But the fact that she didn’t leave him at that hospital for what he did to Landon speaks volumes. If we don’t figure out something soon, I’m worried we’re never going to pry her away from that monster.”

—–

In the parking lot, Molly struggles to process what she is hearing.

“That can’t be,” she says. “I personally confirmed the date for today.”

“Well, from what we were told, they have us on the books for two weeks from now,” Gia snaps in her usual brash manner. “How do you explain that?”

Her face taut with panic, Tori scrambles to pull her cell phone from her purse. 

“Let me try to find out more,” she tells Molly before moving around the car to place a call. 

“And what do you suggest we do now?” Gia asks Molly. She plants her hands on her hips, which are accentuated by the wide belt she wears over her boldly printed geometric dress. “The buyers are going to be here in a few hours, and we don’t have a space.”

“I’m trying to figure that out,” Molly responds, doing her best to keep her tone in check, even though Gia has a history of getting a reaction out of her like few others can. 

Gia tosses her luxurious blonde hair from one side to the other.

“All I know is that this is the second big disaster in the past few months,” Gia says. “And it seems they’ve both come from your office.”

Her eyes cut over toward Tori, who is speaking on the phone.

“I confirmed this myself,” Molly repeats, her head spinning. She stares at the crew of employees and workers behind Gia, muttering in frustration. Their murmurs seem to grow in volume until they are all she can hear.

Tori hangs up her call and moves back toward them.

“What did they say?” Molly asks with desperation.

“That someone from your office called last night to change the date,” Tori reports, sounding as perplexed as she looks. 

Gia groans. “So what do we do now?”

“I don’t understand,” Molly says. “I didn’t call and change this.”

“Are you sure?” Gia asks.

“Why would I do that?!” Molly replies. “And Tori–“

“I was at dinner with my parents, and then at the hospital with Zane,” Tori says. “It wasn’t me.”

Molly nods emphatically. “And Ashley was with me going through the plans. I have no idea who would’ve changed the date — or why.”

“Somebody must have,” Gia says harshly. 

“What’s important right now is that we figure out how to pull off this showcase,” Molly says, hopeful that if she can sound like she has some control of the situation, she might actually gain some. Raising her voice to address the rest of the group, she announces, “Hold for instructions, everyone! We’re going to get this sorted out. I appreciate your patience.”

Then she takes her niece by the arm and says, more quietly, “Come here. I have some ideas.”

As they move off, Molly can feel Gia’s judgmental gaze boring into her.

—–

For an excruciating moment, Landon feels like a deer in the headlights, caught and fully illuminated. With his hands fumbling as much as his brain, he picks up his own IPA and takes a swig of it.

“All I meant,” he says as he swallows, “is Tori still went home with Zane last night, even though she knows what he did to me. She believed him, or at least took his side.”

“Pressing charges might help with that,” Rosie says with one raised eyebrow.

“No way.” Landon sets down the pint of beer decisively. “Guys, I just– I’ve been up close and personal with that dude. He’s mean.”

“I don’t get why Tori is even with him,” Travis says.

“Because this is what abusers do,” Rosie jumps in. “He’s making her question all her other relationships. He’s isolated her. And he’s made her feel like she owes him something.”

Landon holds up his index finger. “That’s exactly it! And I just think– if we do anything to set him off–“

“It’s gonna get worse,” Travis says. “Okay. I get that. Then what the hell do we do? Should we talk to Aunt Sarah and Uncle Matt?”

Hesitating, Landon chews on his lower lip for a few seconds. “They know. They’re…” He pauses, not wanting to give away too much. “They want to help her, too. But they’re scared of pushing her away.”

“Or pushing her closer to Zane,” Rosie says.

Travis emits a weary grunt. “So we’ve gotta suck it up and have this dickbag at our wedding?”

“Maybe he’ll pull something and I can arrest him on the spot,” Rosie offers.

“Every bride’s dream,” Travis says with a caustic laugh.

END OF EPISODE 1084

Will Zane and Landon cause a ruckus at the wedding?
Can Travis and Rosie have the wedding of their dreams?
What is actually going on at Objection Designs?
Discuss all this and more in the comments below!

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