Previously…
– Tim located Sonja in Arizona and finally met his son, TJ. He convinced Sonja to return to King’s Bay with him.
– Zane and Tori planned to travel away from King’s Bay to elope.
– Tori slipped out of the apartment to mend fences with Landon but was greeted by something unexpected and upsetting when he opened his door.

Morning sunlight spills into the main living area of the apartment that Zane Tanaka shares with Tori Gray. Zane, clad in gym shorts and a gray KBAY t-shirt, leans over the kitchen counter. His elbows press into the scuffed laminate surface as he stares at his phone, rage boiling with him. After waking up to find Tori already gone, with a note informing him that she’d gone to run some errands, Zane couldn’t help but open the app connected to the tracker that he placed on her car months ago. Sure enough, the blinking blue dot tells him that Tori is precisely where he wishes she weren’t.

“What is it about that loser Landon?” Zane mutters. 

He slams a fist down on the counter and stands up straight. He is still groggy from working the late shift, but adrenaline is coursing through his body, making him itchy to do something about this discovery.

“We’re supposed to be leaving to get married today,” he says, unable to stop watching that blue dot, which keeps blinking in place as if to taunt him. “If Landon does anything to get in the way of that… I’m gonna finish what I started when I caught him outside our door.”

—–

Tori Gray stands in the hallway outside Landon Esco‘s apartment. A bedraggled Landon, wearing a Celine Dion t-shirt and boxer shorts, his hair ruffled and sticking up in random directions, leans against the doorframe. 

“Can I come in?” she asks.

“Uh, yeah. Let me… uh…”

As soon as he steps to the side, however, Tori freezes. She cannot make sense of the sight before her. 

Landon screws up his face in confusion. “You coming in or no?”

“What the hell, Landon?!” she shrieks.

With his head still spinning from the many, many shots he imbibed last night, Landon feels a little queasy as he turns around to see what has caused this sudden shift in Tori’s demeanor. And then it hits him. The voice he remembers speaking to him last night — it wasn’t Samantha‘s…

“Oh god,” he says. His stomach drops as he sees the woman with the towel wrapped around her still-wet body. 

Fee C. smirks and wags her fingers in a playful wave. “Morning, Tori.”

“You slept with her?” Tori asks.

“I…” Landon looks at Fee, her short blond hair pushed back after her shower. So that was the background noise he heard as he was waking up, still drunk from last night: the shower. “It, uh, it certainly appears that way. But I don’t…”

“I can’t believe you!” Tori points her index finger at him and then at Fee. “Or you! Actually, I can. How did you know?”

“Know what?” Fee asks, still grinning.

All Tori can offer in response is a squeal of horror. 

“Hate to burst your bubble, Tori,” Fee says, “but not everything’s about you. Last night… that was about… Landon over here and me.” She traces a red fingernail down Landon’s bare arm.

“I find that hard to believe,” Tori fires back.

“Because you think the entire world revolves around you!” Fee says.

Tori’s eyes flare with rage. But instead of snapping back at Fee, she directs her focus toward Landon.

“I came here to apologize,” she says. “Because I was a bitch to you last night. You acted all concerned–“

“I was concerned!” Landon tells her. “And you told me to fuck off and stay out of your life. So I guess I–“

“What?” Tori snarls. “Twelve hours ago, you were telling me how you have feelings for me, and then you went and stuck your dick in Fee C’s–“

“Whoa, whoa,” Fee says. “We didn’t do all that.”

Both Landon and Tori swing their heads toward her.

“We didn’t?” Landon asks.

Fee shakes her head. Small droplets of water fly in all directions as she does so.

“I mean, we had some fun,” she says. “But then I realized how drunk you were, homeboy. So no, we didn’t go all the way. But…” She winks at Tori. “…I still got to enjoy myself. And I’m pretty sure Landon did, too. Better than I expected for a dork, I’ve gotta say.”

“I’m not a dork!” he says. “But thanks?”

“I don’t want details,” Tori says. “I definitely don’t need details. Look, Landon, I don’t know if you did this to get back at me–“

“It’s not about you, Tori!” Fee yells. “But for someone engaged, you sure do look jealous.”

Tori shakes her head insistently. “I’m not jealous. I’m disgusted.” Now she looks to Landon. “You’re supposed to be my friend.”

“I’ve tried to be your friend,” he says.

“By hooking up with her?! You know what she’s done to me–“

“You’re about to run off and marry some dude who tried to kill me!”

“I came here to apologize!” Tori replies. “And I did. So now I’m gonna go. You guys have fun doing–” She cuts herself off with a disgusted shudder.

“Don’t let me keep you,” Landon says. “I know what a burden it’s been being my friend. So you can just let that one go, okay?”

She casts one more horrified look past him, at Fee in her towel, and then spins on her heels and storms back down the hallway.

—–

“Welcome home,” Samantha Fisher says as she holds open the front door of her father‘s home. 

“Hey, Sam,” Tim says quietly. Pulling a rolling suitcase with one hand, he slips inside the house and then indicates the woman — and the sleeping toddler in her arms — behind him.

“Hey, Dad.” Samantha gives her father a hug, but she is already focused on Sonja Kahele, who has TJ’s small head resting on her shoulder.

“Samantha. Hi,” Sonja says, her discomfort apparent.

“Hi. Is this…?”

“Your brother,” Tim says as Sonja carries TJ inside the house. Tim quickly closes and locks the door. 

“He’s so small. And so cute,” Samantha says as she marvels at the sleeping little boy.

“That early flight wore him out,” Sonja explains in a half-whisper. “Is there someplace I can…?”

“You can take him to your– to the guest room you used to stay in,” Tim says. “There are clean sheets on the bed.”

“Thanks,” the dark-haired woman says before carrying her son up the stairs. They creak slightly as she ascends, but TJ does not stir. Tim and Samantha wait until Sonja is upstairs before speaking again.

“He’s really yours, then,” Samantha says as she gazes at the now-empty staircase.

“Sonja admitted it,” Tim tells her. “I knew — or, I pretty much knew — but it’s still mind-blowing to think I have another child. Especially one so young…”

“He’s here now. That’s what matters. And Sonja came back with you. That’s a good sign, isn’t it?”

“I think so. Travis, Rosie, and I took shifts staying awake through the night to make sure she didn’t run, and we caught the first flight out of Arizona this morning.” Still wearing his navy blue overcoat, Tim folds his arms. “She’s nervous. And I don’t blame her.”

“Because of Loretta?”

“She’s terrified of that woman. Rosie is arranging for Sonja and TJ to be placed in a safehouse while we work things out. Loretta won’t have any idea they’re in town.”

“I have the feeling there isn’t much that lady misses,” Samantha says.

“I know. That’s why they need to be in a secure place while we work all this out.”

Samantha casts another wary look toward the stairs before asking, “Do you really think Sonja’s going to help with Loretta?”

“I don’t think she has much of a choice,” Tim says. “Not if she wants to stop living her life on the run.”

“What’s important right now is that TJ is here,” Samantha says, “and so are both of his parents.”

“Are you ready to have a toddler around the house?”

“Are you?” she teases, and then she gives Tim a hug. “I’m happy this is all working out, Dad. It must be a big relief.”

He pulls her close, but a troubled expression lingers on Tim’s face.

“It’s a start,” he says. “But I’ll only really be relieved when Loretta Ragan is behind bars and can’t hurt any of us ever again.”

—–

When Tori climbs back into her car, she tosses the keys into the center cup holder but makes no move to press the ignition button. Her entire body trembles with rage and frustration and embarrassment, and she does her best to breathe deeply to calm her nerves. 

“Disgusting garbage person,” she says to the empty car, but the venom in her voice is as poisonous as if Fee were right in front of her.

When her phone, placed on the passenger seat, begins to vibrate wildly, it nearly causes her to jump out of her skin. And that anxiety only intensifies when she sees who is calling. 

She considers ignoring the call but determines that will only make things worse. After taking a second to suck in another deep breath, she reaches out a shaky hand to answer the phone.

“Hey,” she says, hoping she sounds calmer than she feels. “What’s up?”

“Where’d you get off to?” Zane asks. She recognizes the tone of his voice well: it is the one he adopts when he is trying hard to sound casual but has something serious, something intense, on his mind.

“I’m sorry I slipped out before you woke up,” she says. “I wanted to let you rest since you worked so late.”

“Thanks. What was so important you had to take off before I got out of bed?”

“It was nothing big. I needed some stuff before we take off. Toiletries.”

“You got toiletries?”

“Yeah…”

“You’re sure that’s all?”

“I’m sure,” she says, as she stares out the window at the traffic passing by. “Are you all ready to go?”

“You still want to elope?” he asks, sounding oddly surprised.

“Totally.” The image of Fee in her towel, standing right behind Landon, flashes across her mind. “I can’t wait.”

“Awesome. Are you packed yet?”

“I laid out some things on the chair in the bedroom. All I need to do is put those in a suitcase and get my curling iron–“

“I’ll do it for you,” Zane says, now much brighter-sounding. “How long ’til you’re home?”

“Give me 20 minutes,” she says, as she realizes that she will need to make a quick stop along the way to buy a few travel toiletries. “But I need to pack makeup and stuff, too.”

“I’ll do what I can. And hurry up, okay? I can’t wait to finally make you Mrs. Tanaka.”

“I can’t wait, either. See you soon.”

“I love you, Tori.”

Her voice catches in her throat, but she thinks again about Landon’s harsh words, about the possibility of him and Fee C., of all people, writhing around–

“I love you, too,” she says, as she uses her index finger to stab the button that fires up the car. “I’ll be home soon.”

—–

Samantha moves to the sectional sofa in her father’s living room and perches on the shorter chaise side of the U-shaped piece of furniture. 

“Do you really think Sonja can help you with Loretta?” she asks. 

“I don’t know,” he admits as he picks up the remote control and flips on the TV.  A commercial for a mattress store comes to life on the screen. “But I hope so. The way Loretta threatened her — she forced her to go on the run, for God’s sake. There has to be something there.”

Samantha cocks her head. “So you think there’s something Sonja hasn’t told you yet?”

Tim lets out a sigh. “I don’t know what to believe. We only went looking for her in the first place because Claire overheard something…”

“What did she overhear?”

“She was dropping off Peter and heard Loretta talking to Natalie,” he explains. “She made some kind of threat to Natalie — something about ‘your friend Sonja.'”

“Wait. Do Aunt Natalie and Sonja even know each other?”

“That’s what I haven’t been able to figure out,” Tim says. “There’s the Spencer connection, but… yeah, I don’t know.”

“Well, now that she’s here, maybe you can put it all together.”

On the staircase, Sonja stands frozen, having heard Tim and Samantha’s voices. 

Natalie? she wonders, as a strange prickling sensation overtakes her body. What does Natalie have to do with any of this?

“I really hope so,” Tim says to his daughter.

Sonja takes another step down the stairs, making a point to press her foot hard enough so that the step creaks. She turns into the living room.

“Did he go down all right?” Tim asks her.

“He barely even woke up at all,” Sonja says as she forces a pleasant smile. “All the excitement has worn him out.”

Tim sets the remote down on the coffee table and walks toward her. “It’s good that he’s resting. The last thing I want is to overwhelm him.”

“TJ will be fine,” she says, doing her best not to let on that she overheard his strange exchange with Samantha. “I’ll make sure of it.”

—–

Still in his t-shirt and boxers, Landon sits on one of the stools at the kitchen counter, a cup of coffee held between his palms. All he can do is stare down into the steaming brown inside the mug. His head is pounding and his heart is racing; he can’t ascertain how much of the nausea is from last night’s drinking and how much is from what just happened with Tori.

“She’s not worth it,” Fee’s raspy voice says as she steps out of the bathroom, once again dressed in her now-rumpled clothes from last night. Her short, peroxide blonde hair has been combed into place but is still wet.

With a groan, Landon looks up. “What?”

“Tori. I’m not an idiot, Landon. I heard what she said about you having feelings for her–“

“That doesn’t matter now.”

“No, it does. ‘Cuz you’re all bummed out and beating yourself up over her.”

Unsure how to respond, he takes a sip of the coffee. Finding it almost scalding hot, he quickly swallows what he can and thrusts the mug onto the counter.

“She’s marrying that Zane guy,” Fee continues. “And you have a hangover to nurse.”

“I already tried aspirin and coffee. I don’t know if there’s any fixing this.”

“No, there is.” Fee steps closer to him. “You know what always helps a hangover?”

“What?”

She reaches down and caresses the front of his boxers. 

“Why don’t we finish what we started last night?” she says. “At least you’re not drunk out of your mind now.”

Landon hates his body for momentarily reacting to her touch, but he jumps up and pushes her hand away.

“I can’t,” he says.

“Um, your body seems to think otherwise.” She points to the tented front of his shorts and giggles. 

“I can’t. I don’t want to. I’m serious, Fee.”

She stares at him for another prolonged moment and then sighs. “Your loss, buddy. You’re not getting another shot at this.”

“I guess not,” he says. “Do you need me to call you an Uber?”

“I can get my own Uber,” she snipes, grabbing her purse and stomping out the door. It slams behind her, reverberating through the apartment and through Landon’s throbbing head. He collapses belly-first onto the couch, burying his face in a pillow to let out a groan of misery.

—–

Tori’s car idles in the driveway as the rusted gate of the apartment building’s garage slowly raises. As soon as it is fully open, she pulls into the garage and navigates to the designated tandem parking spots for her and Zane’s unit, located around a corner from the entrance. She parks behind Zane’s car and opens her door, only to hear his voice.

“Surprise!” he calls out. She looks to see him with a duffel bag over one shoulder and pulling a rolling suitcase with his other hand. “I packed for you.”

“I need my makeup,” she says, annoyed at his seeming impatience.

“Packed it for you.”

“How did you know what I needed?”

“Because I packed, like, all of it. Hence the big-ass suitcase. You ready to roll?”

“Um, sure. Yeah. We can take my car since I’m blocking yours.”

“That works,” Zane says as Tori pops the trunk. He hoists the bags into it, then asks her over the top of the trunk, “Do you want to put those toiletries in here?”

“Good idea.” She opens the door to the backseat and pulls out the small plastic bag from the drugstore, relieved that she can prove to him that she was doing exactly what she told him over the phone… even though it isn’t the entire truth.

I wish I’d never gone to Landon’s in the first place, she thinks. Lost in thought, she fumbles the bag, and it tumbles to the ground.

“Dammit,” she says as she kneels down to gather the travel-sized items, which have spilled all over the dirty concrete floor. She grabs a small tube of toothpaste and is reaching under the car for a bottle of blush pink nail polish — one that she thought might be nice with the simple white dress she picked out for their wedding — when she sees it.

“Here, let me help you,” Zane says as he rounds the back of the car.

Tori’s attention remains fixed on the green light blinking on the underside of the car.

“What is that?” she asks.

Beside her, Zane stops in his tracks.

“What’s what?” he stammers, and something about the way he asks the question instantly betrays that he knows exactly what it is.

“Zane — what is this thing?” she asks, reaching her hand out to grab it. 

“Tori, it might be something important–“

But it pulls off in her hand easily, and she brings it out from underneath the sedan. The green light continues to blink.

“That’s super-weird,” Zane says, making a grab for the item.

She turns it over in her palm and sees the print on its underside. As soon as she sees the words GPS Tracker, she understands exactly what is going on.

“Did you put this here?” she asks in horror.

“What? No–“

“That’s why you sounded so weird on the phone earlier. You were checking where I was?!”

Zane appears ready to respond, then stops himself. A beat passes before he sets his jaw and then asks, “Where were you, huh? Anything you want to tell me?”

“You’ve been tracking me? How long has this been going on?”

“I’m trying to protect you!”

“This isn’t protecting me!” she shouts, and her words echo around the large, hollow space of the garage. “This isn’t cool, Zane.”

“You’re blowing this out of proportion.” He makes another grab for the device, but she puts it behind her back. “Let’s her just get in the car and go–“

“I’m not going anywhere with you,” she says defiantly. 

END OF EPISODE 1120

Has Tori finally seen the light about Zane’s true self?
Did Landon’s drunken mistake ruin any chance of being with Tori?
What will Sonja do now that she overheard Tim?
Discuss all this and more in the comments below!

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