Previously…
– While Samantha was in a coma, Diane arranged for Jaq to receive a job offer in Portland, in hopes of getting Jaq away from Samantha for good. Jaq accepted the offer and left town. After awakening and beginning to recover, Samantha wondered to Tempest why Jaq hadn’t tried to visit her.
– Diane and Brian had it out over his secret elopement with Kelsey and Diane’s attempts to go through his phone.
– Molly was heartened when Brent’s family arrived from California to visit him in the hospital — but she received a shock when she returned to Brent’s room and found it empty.

Molly Taylor cannot process what she is seeing. It was not long ago at all that her ex-husband was lying in his hospital bed — the very bed that she is staring at now — unconscious and hooked up to oxygen. She went to use the restroom, make some phone calls, and get herself a coffee, and it was while she was down in the lobby that she saw Brent’s family arrive to see him. By the time they made it back up to the Intensive Care Unit, they discovered Brent’s bed empty. A chill rolls through Molly’s body as the implications of that unoccupied bed become clear.

“Brent?!” she asks in terror, lifting a hand to her mouth.

“I don’t understand,” Bob Taylor says from behind Molly. She spins around to face Brent’s father and siblings, who all appear as shell-shocked as Molly feels. 

“Did that psycho Loretta Ragan get in here somehow?” Josh Taylor asks. “I’m gonna find her–“

Lauren Brooks Taylor grabs her husband’s arm and places a hand on his chest. “Josh, hang on. Don’t go flying off the handle–“

“Someone did something to my brother!” Josh barks. “He wouldn’t even be in here if it weren’t for that woman.”

“Josh,” Danielle Taylor says, in a more somber tone. “I’m worried that…” She can’t even bring herself to finish the statement.

Molly tries to speak again, but a sob chokes her, and she feels hot tears filling her eyes. “He can’t be… Brent…” She shakes her head in disbelief. “We already lost out on so much time — I need him, and the boys need him, and now Gabrielle…”

Just as Bob places an arm around her, however, Molly hears another voice, hoarse and weary but unmistakable:

“No one told me you were all here.”

They all look to see Brent, seated in a wheelchair, at the entrance to the room. A nurse in blue scrubs stands behind him, holding the chair’s handles.

“Sorry if we gave you a scare,” the nurse says as she pushes the chair back into the room. “Commander Taylor woke up about 45 minutes ago. We had to take him for a scan.”

“Oh my god. Brent.” Molly rushes forward and stoops down to throw her arms around him. “You’re okay. You’re really okay.”

“I’ve been better,” he says, resting his head against her shoulder. “But damn, am I happy to see all of you.”

Although she doesn’t want to let go of him for even a second, she forces herself to step back. The rest of the Taylors instantly crowd around Brent, showering him with love.

—–

“So Jaq took a job in Portland and moved away,” Samantha Fisher says, scrunching up her forehead. “What’s all the secrecy about?”

She sits up, her legs folded in front of her, on the large sectional sofa in her father‘s living room. Tempest Banks is perched at the other end of the couch, having just finished explaining what became of Samantha’s ex while Sam was in a coma recently.

Tempest bites her lower lip as she searches for the correct words. Then she explains, “The rest of it — it’s not mine to tell you.”

“What? What does that even mean?”

Before Tempest can produce another response, however, the doorbell rings. Tempest immediately springs to her feet.

“This is gonna answer your question. I swear,” she says before darting to the entryway, where she pulls open the front door. Diane Bishop stands outside the house, with a man Tempest doesn’t recognize right behind her.

“Thanks for coming,” Tempest says to Diane. “I didn’t know what to tell her — I didn’t wanna get all up in your mess.”

Diane frowns. “It’s not a mess. I don’t think. At least, I hope Samantha doesn’t see it that way.” 

She shuffles inside the house, and the man follows.

“This is my old friend, Brian,” Diane tells Tempest.

Brian sticks out his hand for a shake. “You must be Tempest. It’s nice to meet you.”

“Hey,” she says as they shake. 

“Tempest, who is it?” Samantha calls from the living room. After sharing a brief look of concern, Tempest and Diane move further into the house, with Brian following a bit cautiously. 

“Mom? What are you doing here?” Samantha asks. “Hi, Brian.”

He raises his right hand in a wave. “Hey, Sam. You’re looking better.”

“I’m feeling better,” she says. “But I’ll feel a lot better once someone explains what’s going on here.”

Tempest looks to Brian. “Maybe we should, uh…”

“Good idea,” he finishes the thought for her, and they disappear through the dining room and into the kitchen.

Samantha leans forward. “Mom, why is everyone being so weird? Tempest was telling me how Jaq took a job in Portland, but it’s like there’s something she wasn’t saying.”

Diane takes a deep breath before saying, “That’s because there is something she wasn’t saying — because I’m the one who needs to tell you what really happened.”

—-

Molly looks on, overcome with emotion, as Brent reunites with his family. 

“He’s really okay?” she asks the nurse, who waits patiently behind Brent’s wheelchair.

“We don’t have the results of his scan yet, and we’ll need to run more tests before we release him, but once he regained consciousness, he started breathing on his own,” the nurse explains. “That’s a very positive sign.”

As Danielle stands up straight, pulling out of an embrace with her brother, Molly can see a certain light in Brent’s eyes — the endless curiosity, the determination, that makes him such an effective law enforcement official.

“You said Gabrielle needs me,” he says, turning toward Molly. “That means she’s all right? She and Rosie?”

“They got out of the house safely,” Molly informs him with a nod. “Rosie and Travis — they took Gabrielle home last night. I was so worried about you — I didn’t have it in me to fight with them–“

“You don’t have to apologize,” Brent says. “As long as our daughter is safe… we can figure out the rest soon enough.”

“The first order of business is to get you a clean bill of health and bring you home,” Molly says.

“What about Loretta?” Brent asks. “Did they find her in the house? Was she…?”

“She wasn’t in the house, as far as I know,” Molly replies. 

He grips the arms of the wheelchair, looking as if he might propel himself out of the chair at any moment. Instinctively Molly steps forward to make sure he doesn’t do that.

“What about Eric Westin?” he asks with urgency. “He was down in that basement–“

“Eric Westin?” Lauren interjects. “That shady lawyer who was working with Helen Chase back in the day?”

“Yes, he was,” Molly says. “But–“

“I need to go question him,” Brent says. “If we can get him to flip on Loretta–“

“That’s the problem,” Molly cuts in. “Eric Westin didn’t survive. He died last night, not long after he was brought to the hospital.”

Brent gazes back at her in disbelief. “Shit.”

“This is absolutely insane,” Danielle says. “It was Ryan‘s old house. Loretta was the one connected to the Morianis — not Eric. And she’s had this sick vendetta against your whole family, Molly.”

“Someone has to stop her,” Molly agrees, setting her jaw. “This has gone on for too long. Something has to be done before Loretta hurts anybody else.”

—–

Once she and Brian step into the kitchen, Tempest closes the pocket door that separates the kitchen and dining room. With the door closed, she is acutely aware of how strange it is to be in a room — in someone else’s house — with a complete stranger. She goes to the refrigerator, figuring that Samantha offered her a drink earlier, anyway. 

“Diane told me all about this Jaq situation on the drive over,” Brian comments. 

“She tell you what Jaq did to me?” Tempest asks as she scans the contents of the fridge.

“The fake stalking letters? Yeah. It’s horrifying. I’m sorry you had to go through that.”

One hand on top of the open refrigerator door, Tempest turns back toward him. “Thanks. Kinda can’t believe that Diane was the one to come to my rescue.” She sees Brian’s shrug and adds, “Not sure if you know everything else that’s happened…”

“I do,” he says, holding up a palm to spare her from having to recount it all. “A lot of, uh, complicated stuff. Don’t interpret this as me taking sides, but Diane can be, uh, a tough person to get on the same page as.”

The refrigerator begins to beep, so Tempest closes it.

“I thought you were her best friend or something,” she says.

“We’re good friends. Old friends. But things still come up in friendships. We just had a bit of an incident, you could say.”

“What kinda incident?”

Brian’s eyes cut over toward the closed pocket door. Tempest can tell, from the way his mouth opens and shuts and opens again, that he is debating whether he should tell her something. 

“You two aren’t…?” she asks, hoping that she won’t regret the venture.

“What? No! Diane and me? No way. The argument we had was actually because she just found out I’m married.”

“You’re supposed to be good friends and she didn’t even know you were married?”

“I got back together with my ex a while ago, but we were keeping it quiet because — I don’t know. We weren’t sure what it was. And then we were in Miami, and Kelsey told me that she’s pregnant, so we eloped.”

Tempest cocks her head. “And what, Diane’s mad she didn’t get to throw you a big wedding? Or does she hate your wife?”

“Not really either? I don’t think,” Brian says. “But the week we got married was the same week that Diane and Samantha were in the car accident. I let her call go to voicemail and didn’t listen to it for a few days. And by the time I heard it–“

“You felt like an ass.”

“Right. Yeah.” He wipes a hand across his eyes. “It wasn’t like I could call her and be all, ‘Sorry your daughter’s in a coma and you both could’ve died! We’re registered at Crate & Barrel!'”

Tempest snickers. “But you came here to visit and you told her. What’s the big deal?”

“The big deal is that Diane, of course, got it in her head that I was keeping something big from her–“

“You kinda were.”

“Fair. I caught her using some USB thing to unlock my phone while I was supposed to be in the shower. And I know what she was doing because it was the kind of thing she used to have me do for her!”

“Hmm.” Tempest yanks open the fridge again. This time she quickly grabs a can of La Croix. “Want one?”

“Uh, sure.” 

She hands Brian a can, as well, and they pop them open. The fizzy hissing fills the pause in conversation.

“Anyway,” he continues, “I was pissed that she’d go behind my back like that, but I didn’t want to leave town before we go to talk, and we were talking when you texted Diane, so here I am.”

Tempest finishes a sip of her water before saying, “Then you wanna get things right with Diane. Yeah?”

“Yeah. Of course. But I also want her to respect my marriage to Kelsey, and — I want to understand why this is such a big deal. I came to town so I could check on Samantha and tell Diane in person. Somehow that isn’t enough.”

“I know what’s going on here,” she says, holding up her index finger for emphasis. 

Brian’s head juts forward. “What?”

“She’s jealous.”

“Jealous? No. Diane and I — we’re only friends. A long time ago, maybe, but she was the one who didn’t want a relationship. I’m with Kelsey now–“

“Not jealous like that. She’s had this– this thing with my brother.”

“Your brother?!”

“They met on a cruise. It was a whole thing. It is a whole thing.”

“This is illuminating,” Brian says, “and yet I have zero idea what any of this has to do with me and Kelsey.”

“Diane keeps pushing Isaac away because — I don’t know, she feels like she doesn’t deserve someone who’s nice and normal and actually likes her,” Tempest says. “If you ask me, she’s got herself all twisted up because you’re letting yourself be happy with someone.”

“I see where you’re going with this.” He nods insistently. “I can see why you and Samantha would make such a good pair.”

“Really?” She catches herself sounding a little too excited and adds, in a much more measured tone, “I mean, that was a long time ago.”

“You sure about that?” Brian asks with one raised eyebrow. 

—–

“Mom, you’re scaring me,” Samantha tells Diane.

Diane walks over to the armchair that faces the sectional. She seems to consider taking a seat in it, but then decides otherwise and instead hovers over it, crossing her arms.

“That job Jaq accepted in Portland,” Diane says. “It’s a job with KBAY’s sister station. I, um…”

Samantha’s mouth opens wide as she puts together the pieces. “You set up a job to get rid of Jaq.”

“I never wanted this to be some big secret. If you’d been awake, I would have told you about my idea upfront. But you weren’t, and Jaq — they kept coming around, and they still seemed to think there was a chance for you two to get back together.”

“So you dangled this job in front of them to get them away from me.”

“I made some calls. There was an opening,” Diane explains. “And I told Jaq exactly what I was doing and why. It was up to them to take the job or not.”

Samantha offers a slow, thoughtful nod in response as she takes this in.

“I couldn’t let them hang around and screw things up for you,” Diane continues. “Not when I knew you’d have a recovery ahead of you — and not when Tempest was doing her best to be there for you, too.” She runs a hand over her highlighted brown hair. “She really cares about you, Samantha.”

“You know, it was one thing when you were bailing Tempest out of jail because you had to turn the tables on Jaq,” Samantha says. “But are you actually…” She lowers her voice, aware that Tempest is only a few rooms away. “…encouraging me to get back together with her?”

“If you want to. Or not. Look, I’m Switzerland. Totally neutral.”

“You have never, ever been Switzerland, Mom.”

“Okay. Fine. What can I say? I’m invested.” Diane finally does take a seat, this time on the sofa right beside her daughter. “I got Jaq that job offer because I wanted them out of your way. And I know how you feel about me interfering in your life — but you’re my only child, Samantha. And I almost lost you in that car accident. You’d better believe I’ll fight like hell to give you the best life possible.”

“Thank you, Mom,” Samantha says, leaning forward to give Diane a hug. “I understand. And I can’t believe I’m saying this, but thank you for finding a way to get Jaq out of the picture without doing anything terrible to them.”

“See? I am learning!”

Samantha laughs. “You are. You really are.”

Diane purses her lips. “So… what about it? Do you think there’s a chance for you and Tempest to work things out, after everything that’s happened?”

Samantha’s eyes cut a sideways glance toward the kitchen, and she is unable to keep a grin from playing upon her lips.

“I really think there might be.”

END OF EPISODE 1158

Will Sam and Tempest finally get their happy ending?
Is Tempest right about what’s going on with Diane?
What should Molly and Brent’s next move be?
Talk about all this and more in the comments below!

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