Previously…
– Tori and Zane announced their engagement to her family. Sarah and Matt did their best to take the news graciously, but in private, they wondered how to separate the couple before they get married.
– Tim asked Sarah to track down Sonja and the little boy she had with her in Hawaii, TJ. 
– Following Jaq’s arrest for framing Tempest for leaving the threatening letters, Samantha broke up with Jaq. Tempest assured Samantha that she doesn’t blame her for Jaq’s actions.

The old clock in Paula Fisher‘s dining room ticks away the seconds. Somehow, it sounds louder to Sarah Fisher Gray than it ever has before — at least since she was in high school, sitting at this table awaiting whatever scolding her parents were about to give her. Although she is now a grown woman with two children, one of whom is an adult herself, she feels the same sense of dread, and the accompanying lack of control of the situation, that she did way back then.

“Okay, you’re killing me,” Sarah says. “What’s going on?”

She and her husband sit at the wooden table, which is covered in the nicks and scratches that come with decades of use by a large family, across from their daughter. Each of the three has an untouched cup of coffee in front of them. 

“You got us worried when you texted,” Matt says. “Did something happen with Zane?”

“Yeah, where is he?” Sarah asks.

“Nothing happened. Everything’s cool,” Tori says, but she still drums her fingernails along the sides of her coffee cup. 

“You seem nervous,” her mother says.

Tori’s eyelids flicker. “I am nervous.”

“I’m not following,” Matt says. “Tori, what’s up?”

The young woman runs one hand through her dark blonde hair. “I wanted to talk to you guys about… about the wedding. About how we’re gonna…”

“Ohhhhh,” Sarah says, sitting back in her chair. “You want to talk wedding budget with us.”

Tori exhales loudly. “Yeah.”

Sarah and Matt exchange a concerned look. In his eyes, Sarah can see that he, too, recalls the conversations they’ve had about this topic already, and she takes his subtle nod as the go-ahead.

“To be honest, things are a little tight right now,” she begins. “We have money tied up in the restaurant, and if we want to send Billy to private high school, let alone college… I’m not sure we can offer you guys much.”

“I knew it,” Tori says with a groan. 

“Finances are finances,” Matt says.

“That’s bullshit, and you both know it,” Tori counters. “You both have jobs. And you haven’t paid rent in years!”

“Hey!” Sarah says, smacking a hand down on the table. “You don’t get to dictate what we do and don’t have to give you–“

“But I bet you’d be a little looser with the purse strings if I were marrying anyone but Zane, wouldn’t you?” Tori shakes her head and then pushes out her chair. It scrapes against the floor noisily. “I knew you were gonna do this.”

“No one’s entitled to a big, fancy wedding,” Matt says.

“But you guys got two!” Tori says as she shoots to her feet. “And Mom, you’ve had, what? Like two other ones? Who paid for those? Maybe I should just ask Grandma–“

“You are so out of line!” Sarah says sharply as she, too, stands.

“You know what? Forget I asked.” Tori fires one last look of disgust at them and then rushes out of the house.

“Anyway, it feels pretty weird at work these days,” Samantha Fisher says as she uses a fork to spear another piece of buffalo cauliflower from the plate in the center of the table. “I feel like a traitor.”

“You’re not a traitor for going to your job,” Tempest Banks replies. She sits across from Samantha in a booth inside 322 Bar & Grill. The casual eatery is abuzz with the movement and conversation of the lunch hour; “Shivers” by Ed Sheeran plays over the sound system.

“That’s what Trevor says. And even Aunt Molly. But it still feels… icky.”

Samantha dips the cauliflower into the zesty ranch dressing. 

“I bet you Molly’s gonna be back working there in a hot minute,” Tempest says. 

“I hope so. Even seeing that lady Gia going in and out of my aunt’s office makes me upset.” Samantha falls quiet as she chews the flavorful cauliflower. “Thanks for making time to meet and talk. I’ve wanted to…”

“Girl, you were the one who needed to make time!” Tempest teases. “We’ve been talking about doing this since before Christmas.”

“I know, but everything got busy. And…”

Tempest, whose fork is on its way to the plate of cauliflower, stops mid-movement. “What?”

“I feel horrible. Still. About what Jaq did.”

“And I told you — that wasn’t your fault,” Tempest says before snagging a piece of cauliflower herself and popping it into her mouth. 

“I feel like such an idiot for not noticing that something was off,” Samantha says. “I was living with them and didn’t figure it out!”

Tempest finishes chewing. “You know, there was something I wanted to ask you.”

“What’s that?”

“At Thanksgiving, before Isaac came in, you said something,” Tempest tells her, “about how you weren’t being honest or something.”

Across the table, Samantha visibly tenses.

“So what’s up?” Tempest asks.

Samantha hesitates, but before she can even begin to stumble over her words, she sees something — or someone — totally unexpected at the restaurant’s entrance.

“Oh no,” Samantha mutters. Instead of asking what it is, Tempest swivels her head… and sees Jaq Pearson standing there, staring straight at them.

—–

Sarah and Matt listen to the slamming of the front door reverberating through the house.

“Well. That went even worse than I thought that conversation would go,” Sarah says.

“Yeah,” Matt says glumly.

“I should go after her.”

“Sarah. Wait.” Matt pops up from his chair. “Lemme do it.”

“I’ve got it,” she protests.

“With how hot things got between the two of you just now? I’m not so sure.” He places a hand on her arm. “Gimme a sec.”

He can almost feel the antsy energy vibrating off Sarah’s body, but she remains in the dining table as he walks through the living room and to the entry of the house. He finds Tori out by the curb, pulling open the driver’s side door of her car. 

“Tor. Hang on,” he says as he hurries down the front steps to catch up with his daughter. He is only wearing a navy t-shirt and jeans, and the January air stings his bare skin.

She swings back around, leaning against the car’s open door. “Did you and Mom change your minds in the last 30 seconds?”

“No.”

“Then I’m going.” 

She climbs into the driver’s seat. Matt rushes forward in time to stop her from closing the door.

“Dad!” she huffs.

“I’m talking to you,” he says, in a sterner tone than he normally employs. It does the trick: Tori sits up, her back against the seat, her hand falling from the door handle to her knee.

“I get why you’re mad. I do,” he continues. “You’re frustrated–“

“Because you guys are being unfair.”

“Are we? Really?”

“Yes! I’m your daughter. I’m getting married. Mom has talked about my wedding before. Now there’s, like, no money to help out?”

Words run wildly through Matt’s head. He pauses, taking a moment to be sure that he doesn’t say the wrong thing.

“I wanna tell you a story,” he tells her at last.

“What? Why?”

“Because it’s important,” Matt says. “Do you remember what happened around the time your brother was born?”

—–

Samantha feels every muscle fiber in her body stiffen as she looks at Jaq across the restaurant. She clenches her eyes and hopes that she will open them and find that Jaq has rushed out. Unfortunately, that is not the case.

“I have a few things I need to say to Jaq over there,” Tempest says as she starts to pull herself out of the booth.

“No!” Samantha exclaims, a little loudly, and she sees a few heads nearby turn toward her. Her cheeks grown warm with embarrassment.

“Tempest, don’t do anything stupid,” she says more quietly. 

“Standing up for myself’s not stupid.”

“No, but Jaq is already facing charges. You were cleared. Let the courts handle it.”

Tempest rolls her eyes. “‘Cuz we know how fair the courts are.”

“Just stay here,” Samantha says, holding out a hand as she slides out of the booth and briskly walks to the front of the restaurant. Alarm registers on Jaq’s face as Samantha approaches. 

“I don’t want to have a scene here,” Samantha tells them.

“I’m not making a scene,” Jaq counters. “I’m getting lunch before my shift at work.”

“Then get it to go.”

“You don’t get to dictate where and when I eat. This is a public place.” They screw up their face with revulsion. “So you two are back together?”

“What? No, we’re not–“

“I knew it was only a matter of time,” Jaq says disdainfully. “I regret what I did, I really do, but you two are shameless. I knew that kiss I saw wasn’t a one-time thing–“

“It was,” Samantha says in a husky whisper, all too aware that the restaurant’s host is now mere feet away.

“Keep lying to yourself about that, the same way you lied to me the entire time we were together. You know what? I’ll eat somewhere else.”

Samantha knows there is no point calling after them. The bells on the door jingle as Jaq exits onto the downtown sidewalk.

With a sigh, Samantha returns to the booth and slides back in.

“I probably shouldn’t have gotten up,” she says ruefully.

Outside, Jaq stomps several yards down the sidewalk before stopping. They feel rage pulsing through their body, unable to believe the nerve of Samantha and Tempest. Finally, they pull out their phone and hammer out a text message with their thumbs:

I might want to take you up on your offer after all

With the press of a button, they send the message to Zane and then continue down the block to find someplace else to eat.

—–

In the dining room, Sarah paces back and forth, wondering what could be going on outside and whether Matt has been able to get through to Tori. They have been on this Zane rollercoaster for so long that it’s difficult to imagine really, truly being free of him — but she spends so much time each day imagining it, anyway.

That damn clock continues ticking, even louder and more annoying than before.

She wonders if she should go outside and see what’s going on. Matt does have a softer touch with their kids, which can be useful at times, but in certain situations, Tori and Billy can steamroll him far too easily.

“I should go out there,” she says under her breath, but just as she reaches for her iPhone, which is resting on the dining table, it bursts to life. The device vibrates against the wood surface, and its screen lights — but it is the name on that screen that really causes her to dive for the phone.

“Frank,” she answers. “Do you have something for me?”

She listens intently as her contact rattles off the information in his usual understated manner.

“You’re sure?” she asks, clutching the phone to her ear. “You really found Sonja Kahele?”

—–

Tori, still sitting inside her car, stares back at her father in confusion.

“Yeah, I remember what happened when Billy was born,” she says. “Graham, like, freaked out that Mom was having an affair with you and had an aneurysm and died.”

He nods somberly, holding his lips in a tight line. After a moment, he says, “But that wasn’t all.”

She furrows her brow with confusion.

“I don’t know how much of this you knew was going on,” he says, “but you remember how I was in the hospital right before that?”

“Yeah…”

“Graham did that to me. He made me think your mom was asking to meet me in secret, and he lured me down to this building that was set to be demolished and set it up to look like I’d overdosed.”

“But Mom and Brent stopped him in time,” Tori says, remembering the long-ago events that she managed to piece together no matter how hard her parents tried to shield her from the details. “And then Graham died, and it all worked out.”

“Wasn’t exactly that easy,” he says. “But yeah, we’re lucky things worked out. My point is — you see any similarities between that story and what’s going on now?”

“No?” She scrunches up her face as she thinks, but then releases it in horror. “Are you saying you hope Zane drops dead like Graham did?”

“No. That’s now what I’m saying. But you can’t just forget how Zane beat the crap out of Landon–“

“Because he caught him at our apartment door and thought he was trying to break in,” Tori says. Matt swears that he can see her conflicted feelings over the incident still swimming in her eyes. Quickly she wags her head, as if trying to rid herself of the thoughts. “Besides, Zane apologized, and Landon accepted. It’s all worked out.”

“You sure about that?”

“Yes! Landon said it’s fine–“

“Good for Landon.” Matt folds his arms against the cold. “But I wanna ask you something.”

She waits wordlessly, a heavy skepticism weighing down her features. 

“Say it was a total misunderstanding,” Matt says. “Zane still beat the crap out of him. You think your mom and I want you to marry someone with — with violent tendencies like that?”

“I didn’t say he was perfect.”

“No one’s perfect. But you’ve gotta see why that concerns us. Especially since he also blackmailed your mom and your aunt, and hid footage from the cops during a murder trial, and–“

“That’s all ancient history, Dad.”

“Maybe. But it’s still who he is.” He watches her opening her mouth to respond and continues talking over her: “I know we can’t tell you what to do or make decisions for you. Mom and I both made mistakes trying to steer your life this or that way. And we’re sorry–“

“–and I forgave you, same as I’ve forgiven Zane for his mistakes.”

Matt grits his teeth, frustrated by her obstinance. A family van rumbles down the street, and he watches it disappear around the corner.

“Look,” he says after another pause, “all I’m asking is for you to think about what I’m saying. Really think about it. We can, y’know, respect whatever decision you make, but we don’t have to fund it. If you’re enough of an adult to decide who to marry, you’re enough of an adult to accept that.”

She glares at him for a long moment, and again he sees that doubt in her face, that doubt that he knows has to be about this lifelong commitment she’s facing. For a split-second, he even thinks she might agree with him. Instead, she starts the car’s engine.

“Okay,” she simply says, and then she pulls the door closed. Matt takes a step back and waves as she drives off, hoping beyond hope that his gambit will pay off before this wedding takes place.

END OF EPISODE 1114

Did Matt take the right approach with Tori?
What will Jaq and Zane do to Samantha and Tempest?
Does Sarah’s contact really have Sonja?
Talk about all this and more in the comments below!

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