Previously…
– Elly admitted to Spencer that Loretta had blackmailed her into setting up Jason to lose custody of Peter.
– When the board of Objection Designs suspended Molly from the company, Tori also lost her job as Molly’s assistant. She asked Landon for advice on being an Uber driver.
– Zane nearly lost his cool after he used the tracker he’d placed on Tori’s car to determine that she was at Landon’s apartment.

Four wheels glide over the wet asphalt as the SUV travels through King’s Bay. Under the glow of street lamps and the probing beams of headlights, the pavement shines, providing a bold contrast with the already-dark sky above.

“So where are we going?” Tori Gray asks from the passenger seat of the vehicle.

“You’ll find out! Chill,” Zane Tanaka says as he turns the wheel, hooking them right around a corner. “I thought you could use a surprise. And both of us could use a change of pace.”

“You’re not wrong there.”

Tori stares out the window, watching as a woman in a red North Face coat who is walking a Labrador passes by in a blur. The past few days have felt torturous and long, as she attempts to figure out what to do with her life since being abruptly placed on suspension from her job at Objection Designs. She has felt jumpy and uneasy, almost as if she is itching on the inside and needs to crawl out of her own skin; after Landon gave her tips for starting to drive for Uber, she went ahead and submitted the necessary information to apply, but she is still waiting for everything to be approved and therefore has been sitting around the apartment and trying her best to stay busy.

“What’s wrong?” Zane asks, glancing over toward her as he presses the brake and slows the SUV to a stop in front of a yellow light that then turns red.

Tori’s head snaps toward him. “Nothing. Just thinking.”

“What about?”

“Like, what I’m going to do with my life. It felt like I was finally getting a career going… and then Aunt Molly gets voted out by the board, and I don’t know if I’ll ever have a job to go back to at Objection, and just… ugh.”

“It’s all gonna work out,” Zane reassures her. “I told you already — I’ve got a job. We’re good for a while. I don’t want you to worry.”

The light turns green, and Zane rolls into the intersection, waits for an oncoming car to pass, and turns left.

“Downtown is straight ahead,” Tori says with confusion.

A grin flashes over his face as he accelerates down the dark road. “I know.”

Tori feels her breath catch in her throat. “Zane — where are you taking me?”

—–

Spencer Ragan pulls his black Tesla into the driveway and opens the driver’s side door, relieved that the seemingly never-ending Pacific Northwest rain has actually stopped for the time being. He grabs his leather work bag from the passenger seat and heads toward the large house, with its white brick facade.

In the foyer, he removes his shoes and coat, and then he moves down the short hallway toward the state-of-the-art kitchen. There, he finds his mother leaning over the granite-topped island, tapping away at her iPhone.

“Oh, hello, dear!” Loretta chirps as she looks up. “How was your day?”

Spencer regards her with the general wariness that he has come to feel toward her ever since she arrived in King’s Bay and installed herself in his home. 

“It was fine. Busy,” he says.

“Publishing is such a dying industry,” Loretta says. “I really do wish you would come work for me.”

“Doing what?”

“Managing my investment properties, for one. I have a lot of irons in the fire, dear.”

“I can only imagine,” he says, doing what he can to conceal his exasperation. “Where’s Peter?”

Loretta’s eyes roll back in her head. “That wife of yours has him upstairs. She’s cleaning him up after soccer practice.”

“Great. I’m going to order something to be delivered for dinner. Do you have any preferences? Thai? Indian?”

She shakes her head, and her wavy red hair bounces lightly with the movement. “I actually have plans, so I’ll be leaving in a few minutes. But thank you, dear. As a matter of fact, I need to go find some decent shoes to go with this outfit.”

Spencer simply nods as Loretta saunters out of the room, her phone clutched in her hand. He moves to the household iPad, which is propped up on a stand on the opposite counter, and begins to scour local menus for dinner possibilities. He is still doing that when he hears a sharp ding ring out. Instinctively he pulls his own phone from his pants pocket, but he knows that is not one of his notification sounds, and sure enough, the sound did not come from his own phone. 

Then the ding sounds again. Spencer spots Loretta’s large Gucci tote, in the classic brown print, sitting on one of the tall chairs at the island. The notification noise is coming from inside it — but he knows that he saw his mother leave the room with her phone only moments ago.

Unable to suppress his curiosity, he moves swiftly over to the island and peers into the open top of the tote. Inside, he sees the glow of a phone’s screen, still lit up from the incoming messages.

He casts another look toward the kitchen entrance and then stuffs his hand into the bag to grab the device. 

“Of course you have a second phone,” he mutters, but the intrigue of that fact fades away as soon as he sees the notification text on the screen.

It reads: Elly Vanderbilt – 2 New Messages.

—–

When Zane hesitates in responding, his silence seems to stretch on forever, even as an ad for a local mattress store plays on the radio. Tori’s heart rate quickens as the SUV continues down the tree-lined road, seemingly away from downtown King’s Bay.

“Zane,” she says, hating the quiver in her voice. “Where are we going?”

“Don’t worry. I promise,” he says, but all she can do is worry.

Tori’s mind runs wild as she tries to process the reality of what is happening — but then she sees an illuminated sign up ahead.

“Oh my god,” she says as the words Wandering Soul Winery come into view. A heavy exhale leaves her chest and exits through her mouth.

“Why didn’t you just tell me we were coming here?” she asks.

“I wanted to surprise you!” He turns his head to look at her as he drives. “What, were you really freaked out? Tori…”

“Sorry. I just– I didn’t realize.”

Moments later, they pull into a large, mostly empty parking lot. Zane drives right up to the front row, which borders the main lawn of the winery. Tori can see the lights of the various buildings in front of them. 

“Sorry if I scared you,” he says as he turns off the engine. “I thought it would be fun to take you somewhere special.”

She looks out at the property, shrouded in darkness. 

“Isn’t this where we first met? Technically?” she says.

“Bingo.” Zane hops out of the SUV and hurries around to the passenger side. He pulls open her door. “I wanted to do something meaningful. The restaurant here is supposed to be really good.”

She steps out of the car, taking Zane’s unnecessarily proffered hand as she does so. 

“I don’t think I’ve even been here since that chili cook-off,” Tori says. 

“That was the first time I ever laid eyes on you. The day my life changed forever.” 

She tips her head to one side. “We only met because you were here blackmailing my mom.”

“Tomato, to-mah-to,” Zane says. “It’s where we met. And that means something to me.”

Still holding her hand, Zane begins to lead the way toward the main building that houses the on-site restaurant — but an apron-clad waiter holding a tray emerges in front of them.

“Wine?” the waiter offers, displaying two glasses of white before them. “This is our 2017 pinot grigio.”

Zane hands Tori a glass and then takes the other for himself. With a wink, he tells Tori, “They don’t do champagne here.”

“Wait,” she says. “You planned this?”

“I did. Come on.” After thanking the waiter, he again he takes hold of her free hand and leads her out toward the expanse of lawn. “Beautiful out here, isn’t it?”

“Yeah.” Tori gazes up at the sky. “It feels like we’re a lot further away from downtown than we are.”

“I know. Look at all the stars.”

Necks tilted backward, they continue over the grass, which is damp from the recent rainfall but thankfully not soggy. 

“And I know that day we met wasn’t exactly ideal,” Zane tells her. “But that was the beginning of our story. Of us. And I think it’s important to remember where you’ve been in order to appreciate how far you’ve come.”

He stops walking and turns toward her. He holds up his glass.

“Cheers. To us,” he says.

Tori clinks her glass against his. “Cheers.”

They both take sips of the wine, and then something happens that Tori can hardly comprehend: Zane lowers himself down onto one knee.

“Victoria Gray,” he says as he uses his unoccupied hand to fish something out of his jacket pocket, “I want to write the next part of our story together. Will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?”

—–

Spencer is still trying to make sense of finding Elly’s name upon Loretta’s phone — Loretta’s secret, second phone, it seems — when he hears footsteps moving toward the kitchen. He scrambles to stuff the phone back into the Gucci tote bag.

“I’m so glad the rain stopped,” Loretta says, her high-heeled boots clacking against the hardwood floors as she returns. “Otherwise I’d have to wear some hideous galoshes!”

“That would be a shame,” Spencer says, still reeling. 

Loretta picks up her bag off the chair. 

“Will you be long?” he asks. “I can order you something for dinner.”

“I’ll be fine. Don’t worry about me.” She waves a hand, accessorized with crimson red nails, through the air. “I’ll be eating while I’m out.”

“So your plans are dinner plans.”

She stops and lifts one sculpted eyebrow as she sizes him up. Then, slowly, she says, “Yes. Dinner plans.”

“Got it. Enjoy.”

After waiting one more curious beat, Loretta turns. “Thank you, dear. I’ll see you later.”

Spencer turns back to the iPad, though the words on its screen are nothing more than a blur to him. He listens as Loretta walks down the hallway and leaves the house. Perplexed thoughts dart through his head as he contemplates what he just discovered. He knows that Loretta blackmailed Elly into helping set up Jason to lose custody of Peter; while Spencer will always be certain that he and Natalie deserved custody of their son, and he believes Elly that she felt she had no choice, he cannot fathom why she would still be communicating with Loretta. Unless…

“What’re you looking at?” Natalie asks as she strolls into the kitchen.

Spencer nearly jumps out of his skin. “What? Nothing.”

“Okay…” She regards him with confusion. “You okay?”

“Um, yeah. I’m fine.”

“What are we doing for dinner? Isn’t it your night to order?”

“I was looking,” he says, his mind ten steps ahead of his mouth. “But I just got an e-mail. From work. Something got screwed up. I have to go–“

“Back to the office? Can’t you just do it on your computer?”

“No. Server stuff. Security. Total pain in the ass.” He moves past her. “I’ll get something on my way. Say goodnight to Peter for me if I don’t make it back before he goes to bed, okay?”

“Okay…” 

Spencer can feel her eyes upon him as he bolts from the kitchen. Within a matter of moments, he is back inside the Tesla, mentally calculating his best bet for catching up to Loretta.

“I have to figure out what you’re up to,” he says as he backs out of the driveway.

—–

Tori gawks down at Zane in disbelief as he flips open a small black box to reveal a glittering emerald, surrounded by smaller diamonds, mounted on a silver band.

“It’s an emerald,” he explains while he kneels in the grass. “Chiyo’s birthstone.”

She draws in a sharp breath and covers her mouth with her hand. “Oh my god. Zane…”

“Do you hate it?” he asks. “I thought– part of our story is our daughter, the baby we lost, and she’s always going to be a part of our story. Memorializing her in your ring–“

“It’s beautiful.”

“I know I’ve made a lot of mistakes,” Zane says, “but I’m learning and I’m growing, and that’s because of you. The one thing that hasn’t changed is how much I love you. And we keep finding our way through the rough patches and supporting each other.”

She stares at the gleaming ring. It is beautiful, and the mere thought of the daughter they never even got to meet causes tears to brim in her eyes. As difficult as things have gotten between her and Zane at times, they have shared so much. And it even seems as though he and her family are able to get along now, something Tori never could have imagined would be possible. 

“Yes,” she says, the word coming out in a gasp full of emotion. “I’ll marry you.”

Zane wastes not a moment longer in sliding the ring onto her finger, and then he leaps to his feet and pulls her toward himself. Their lips meet, and Tori wonders if maybe, finally, everything is going to be okay.

END OF EPISODE 1103

Do Tori and Zane stand a chance at a happy marriage?
Why are Loretta and Elly communicating in secret?
Is Spencer making a mistake by tailing Loretta?
Discuss all this and more in the comments below!

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