Previously…
– Alex was furious after learning that Trevor told Finn not to worry about the half of the rent that he couldn’t cover. 
– The KBPD arranged for Sonja and her son, TJ, to stay in a safehouse. 
– With Spencer’s help, Elly traveled to California and got information from her former lover, Anatoli, that would neutralize Loretta’s blackmail over her.

“It’s hot as hell,” Jason Fisher says as he walks side-by-side with his best friend down a quiet, tree-lined street only a few minutes’ stroll from Edge of Winter Arena.

“I told you, you should’ve gone for iced,” Alex Marshall replies, holding up his perspiring plastic cup of iced coffee.

Grinning, Jason shakes his head. “I’m a hot coffee guy. It’s just how it is.”

“That’s because you’re straight. Iced coffee is like… gay fuel.”

Jason laughs. “Want to turn back?”

“Yeah,” Alex agrees, as he quickly swipes his forearm across his slightly sweaty forehead. “It is hot.”

The friends change direction and begin heading back toward the arena.

“Nothing makes you appreciate working in an ice arena like a miserable summer day,” Jason says.

“Sorry to drag you out into the heat,” Alex says, “but I needed a good venting session. So, thank you.”

“You know I’m happy to listen.”

Alex lets out a sigh. “I hate fighting with Trevor. It’s weird — someone can go from feeling like your safest place in the whole universe to a total stranger in seconds.”

“Trevor is not a stranger.”

“No, but this whole situation with Finn and the rent… it just makes me think, ‘Who am I married to?’ I really thought we were on the same page.”

“I’m with you,” Jason says. “He shouldn’t have agreed to cover half the rent without talking to you. But…”

Alex cuts a sideways look at his friend as they walk. “But what?”

“I don’t think this is just about the rent. You guys can afford to take that hit.”

“He still should’ve asked me first,” Alex responds.

“I’m not disagreeing with you.” Jason stops walking and squares his shoulders toward Alex. “But what is this really about? Are you worried that something is going on between Trevor and Finn?”

—–

Paula Fisher holds up the gift bag, which has layers of light blue tissue paper sticking out from its top, as she glides into the small, white-walled apartment that has been serving as a safehouse. Tim Fisher checks the lock on the door before joining his mother.

“Look what Grandma brought you!” she announces cheerily.

TJ stares up at her and claps his hands together, but the toddler says nothing.

“Your grandma brought you a gift,” Sonja Kahele tells her young son. “Isn’t that nice?”

The little boy nods. 

“Here, darling,” Paula says, handing him the bag. She looks at Sonja. “I hope it’s okay I brought a gift.”

“Of course it is. Any bit of excitement we can give him is a good thing,” Sonja says wistfully.

Tim kneels down to help his son rifle through the paper until he finds a box with a plastic dog inside. 

“What’s that?” Tim says to TJ. “A dog?”

“Ruff,” TJ says, eliciting a laugh from the three adults.

“Here, let’s get this open for you,” Tim tells him, as his fingers work at the box. “What do you say to Grandma?”

TJ looks up at Paula and says shyly, “Tank you.”

“You’re very welcome,” Paula says. “Do you want to see how it works?”

The little boy waits a beat and then shouts, “Yeah!”

Paula guides her youngest grandchild over to the sofa, a generic brown piece of office furniture. Tim and Sonja stand to the side, watching them.

“She gets so excited to see him,” Tim says.

“I know. And we appreciate the visits,” Sonja replies. “I’d be lying if I said we weren’t going a little crazy here.”

She folds her arms and glances around the nondescript apartment where she and her son have been living for many weeks. There are a few pieces of generic, hotel-type framed landscapes on the walls, and some neat, utilitarian furniture. The large window that faces out toward the street is covered by plastic, horizontal blinds, which are currently angled to allow some light in without providing a clear view into the apartment.

“This has to be tough for both of you,” Tim says. “I understand completely. But we don’t have much choice. What’s important is that you and TJ are safe.”

Sonja’s jaw tightens. “This is not how I intended to raise my son. He only gets to go outside every few days, and we have to go down to the garage, then leave in some SUV with tinted windows so we can drive to a park an hour away–“

“It’s for your safety. Both of you. Loretta cannot have any idea that you and TJ are in town.”

“For how long?” Sonja asks, her voice reduced to a harsh whisper. 

Tim hesitates.

“That’s what I thought,” she says. “I’m not doing this anymore, Tim. I can’t do this to my son. I want out of this place — today.”

—–

The new Beyoncé album plays through the small Bluetooth speaker that sits beside the flatscreen TV in Elly Vanderbilt‘s apartment above The Wild Lady. Elly stands over the sofa, folding laundry, when there is an urgent pounding at the door. Hurriedly she folds the pair of leggings in her hands before hurrying to the door.

“One second,” she announces, and then she is unlocking the door to reveal Loretta Ragan on the landing. The older redhead wears a flowing caftan in a blue-and-gold paisley print, her image contrasting wildly with the worn brick wall of the building across the alley. 

“We have a problem,” Loretta says, and then storms into the apartment, bumping her shoulder into Elly as she does so.

Elly turns around but remains by the open door. She has known a moment like this was coming for some time, but having imagined it many times over does not make Loretta’s physical presence — and the threats that it implies — any less bone-chilling. 

She swallows the lump that has formed in her throat. “What kind of problem?”

“I presumed you’d heard from your uncle,” Loretta says, “but that cowardly doctor left some kind of posthumous note that has him and Molly up in arms.”

“I did hear,” Elly says flatly. “He said their daughter survived.”

“Daughter?” Loretta shakes her head. “That’s nonsense. The man was clearly out of his head.”

Elly shrugs her shoulders. “What makes you so sure of that?”

Loretta scoffs. “It’s ridiculous! How do we know that Molly didn’t write that letter herself in some deranged effort to steal someone else’s child?”

“Okay, that’s a reach,” Elly says. 

“What’s a reach is that Molly and Brent pursued this absurd lawsuit in the first place,” Loretta says. “And that’s where you come in, young lady. I believe it’s time for you to uphold your end of our bargain and discourage your uncle and his dreadful ex-wife from pursuing this sham of a ‘lead’ any further.”

Elly draws a deep breath before declaring, “No.”

Loretta narrows her eyes. “Excuse me?”

“I said no,” Elly tells her. “I’m not doing your bidding any longer, Loretta.”

—–

Alex exhales loudly as he contemplates his response. Finally, almost reluctantly, he turns toward Jason.

“I don’t know,” he admits. “I feel crazy even saying that, but…”

Jason folds his arms, holding his coffee by the lid. “Do you really think Trevor is cheating on you? This is Trevor we’re talking about.”

Alex’s mouth flaps open and closed as he searches for a response. 

“It sounds crazy,” he says at last. “I know that. But I caught him in a lie, sort of.”

“Sort of?”

“It wasn’t a flat-out lie, I guess. But he stayed late at work one night and didn’t mention that he stayed to help Finn out with something.”

“That’s not exactly damning.”

“No, but the way it played out… it seemed weird, that’s all. And now he went ahead and told Finn we’d spot him the other half of the rent. I don’t know. I just get a… a vibe.”

“I understand that,” Jason says. “I really do. But Trevor loves you, and what you’re describing isn’t exactly a smoking gun…”

“Maybe not. But it’s happened before.”

“What?”

“Not with us, but — yeah, with us. Trevor cheated on Liam with me. What if I’m on the other side of that now?”

“That was different,” Jason says fervently. “You and Trevor were meant to be together. He didn’t even know who Liam really was as a person.”

“That doesn’t make it all right,” Alex counters. “We made a big mistake. No matter how much we try to justify it, it was wrong of him. What if he’s doing it again?”

“Alex!” Jason places his free hand on his friend’s shoulder. “Look at me. You’re psyching yourself out. You’re building this narrative in your head.”

Alex allows a moment to pass as he gazes out at the trees around them.

“Maybe I am, yeah,” he says. “But I just worry… I don’t know. That we have a kid, and our days revolve around taking care of him, and we are in such a routine–“

“So you’re worried Trevor has gotten bored?”

“I guess I am.”

“Are you bored?”

“No,” Alex says. “But you know how it is. Things become commonplace. The house you bought and were so excited to decorate and make your own becomes a normal backdrop to your life. You eat pasta three nights in a row because it’s all your kid will eat without screaming and you don’t have the willpower.”

“That’s called life,” Jason says.

“I know that. And I love my life. But I’m feeling insecure that Trevor doesn’t.”

“So this is about you and Trevor more than it is about Finn.”

Alex shrugs. “Maybe it is. But Finn’s younger, and he’s obviously hot, and there’s obviously some kind of connection between him and Trevor…”

“First of all, none of this is adding up to ‘affair’ for me, okay?”

Nodding slowly, Alex takes a sip of the remains of his iced coffee through the straw.

“But it makes sense that you’d worry,” Jason continues. “Tell Trevor that this isn’t about the rent, but something bigger. And then, you know, do what you can to make your marriage exciting. That stuff takes work.”

“You’re right,” Alex says. “You’re right. I shouldn’t have blown up at him. This is all kind of in my head.”

“See? It’s all gonna be cool.” 

The men resume walking.

“You know, this is kind of a relief,” Jason says.

“What is? That I’m freaking out?”

“That your life isn’t perfect.” Jason laughs. “Makes me feel a little less bad about not having my shit together.”

“You do have your shit together!” Alex says. 

“I don’t know about that…”

“You do! But if it makes you feel better, I’ll be a mess every now and again just to level the playing field.”

Jason looks over at Alex. “Thank you. You have no idea how much that means.”

“That’s what friends are for,” Alex says with a wink.

—–

Stung by Sonja’s tone, Tim glances over toward his mother and son. Paula is helping TJ test out the buttons on the mechanical dog.

“You can’t just leave,” he says. “It isn’t safe.”

“I can’t raise my son like this,” Sonja responds defiantly. “I won’t.”

Careful to keep his voice quiet, despite his escalating panic, Tim tells her, “You can’t raise him on the run, either. That’s no life for a child.”

“Our life was fine. It was normal. It was only once you and Claire came after us–“

“TJ is my son,” he says firmly. “I’m not letting you take him away.”

They remain locked in a staredown for several seconds.

“This can’t go on forever,” Sonja says at last. 

“It won’t. We might have something on Loretta.”

“Really?”

“My sister, Molly, has had some things happen recently — things that point right to Loretta. It’s being sorted out soon, and if all goes well…”

“She’ll go back to jail?” Sonja asks hopefully.

“Mm-hmm. We’re close, Sonja. Please, just be patient. It’ll be worth it when you and TJ can live normal lives without looking over your shoulder every two minutes.”

“Yeah. That does sound nice.” She bobs her head, as if talking herself into the idea. “Okay. But please, Tim. I can’t do this much longer, and I don’t want TJ to, either.”

“I understand. I really do,” he says. “Let’s just hope that we finally have our smoking gun on Loretta, and it won’t be much longer before she’s locked back up and we can all breathe easy again.”

—–

As Beyoncé continues to play in the background, Loretta glares furiously at Elly. 

“I don’t believe you’re the one with the power in this situation,” Loretta says.

“And that’s where you’re wrong.” Elly can’t help but smirk as she speaks; a sense of relief floods her body, even as she fears what Loretta might try next. “I went and talked to Anatoli. And I have proof that my bar exam results were never tampered with. I passed on my own. So whatever leverage you thought you had over me — it’s gone. It doesn’t exist.”

Loretta’s facial features seem to tighten and sharpen, her rage zeroing in even more directly upon Elly.

“You’ve still been working against your clients,” she spits. “That’s enough to have you disbarred–“

“I told Uncle Brent and Aunt Molly what you were doing. They understand. They would never go along with something like that. And I’m still representing them now.”

Loretta simply stares back at her. Elly isn’t sure whether the woman is going to burst into flames or shoot deadly lasers out of her own eyes. Elly takes advantage of the pause to gesture at the open door.

“You can go, Mrs. Ragan,” she says.

With a huff, Loretta goes back to the door.

“This is not over,” she tells Elly. “Mark my words.”

“Consider them marked.”

As soon as Loretta crosses the threshold, Elly closes and locks the door. In spite of the lingering threat of Loretta’s final words — and she knows that is something she’ll have to deal with soon enough — she allows herself a moment of full relief, of joy, at finally having gotten out from under the older woman’s thumb.

—–

Out on the landing, Loretta gazes at the closed door, her anger mounting.

“We’ll see how useful you are to your dear uncle and aunt once I’m through with that DNA test,” she sneers under her breath. “There’s more than one way to skin a cat, dear — and if you won’t tamper with those results, I’ll find someone who will.”

END OF EPISODE 1138

What will Loretta’s next move be?
Can Tim trust Sonja to stay put?
Did Jason give Alex good advice?
Talk about it all in the comments below!

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