Previously…
– Years after their divorce, Tim and Claire officially reunited and began slowly sharing the news with their loved ones.
– Natalie approached Sonja at a park and, wanting Sonja out of the way to save her own hide, lied that Loretta was coming after Sonja and TJ.
– Christian saw Robbie, who’d been ghosting him, chatting with Sabrina on campus. When Christian approached him, Robbie roundly rejected him and implied that he might have something going on with Sabrina.

Splotches of pink creep up and over the horizon, lighting the sky as it turns from night to day. Despite the early hour, Christian Taylor is already crossing the parking lot outside Edge of Winter Arena; he spent a restless night tossing and turning in his dorm room bed, consumed with thoughts of Robbie‘s rejection, before he decided to get up and do something, anything, to clear his head. Normally, he would stop in at Thaw Coffee & Tea for some caffeine, but when he glances through the shop’s front window, he sees that Sabrina Gage is already stationed behind the counter. Considering that she appears to be the object of Robbie’s affections now, he has no interest in facing her, so he goes to the rink’s main entrance instead.

The cold air assaults him as the heavy door slams closed behind him. Its sound, however, is obscured by the music playing over the arena’s sound system: Taylor Swift and Ice Spice’s “Karma.” Christian listens to the familiar tune for a few seconds as he scans the assorted skaters out on the ice, until he sees Bree, a blonde blur as she skates by in the midst of a lesson with Jason.

Christian goes to the bleachers and sits down. As he watches Bree practice, he wonders if he made a mistake coming here. In his agitated, sleepless state, lying in the dark, he decided it might be time to confide in someone about what has been going on between him and Robbie, and no one made more sense than his best friend. Now that he is here, however, and has to face the prospect of waiting for her to finish her lesson so that they can talk, that all-too-recognizable uneasiness causes his stomach to flip and flop.

He is still sitting there, watching Bree tackle a challenging combination spin with dizzying speed, when he senses someone stepping up onto the bleachers to join him. Instinctively he turns to look, and he is surprised to see his younger cousin coming down the bench toward him.

“What are you doing here?” Christian asks.

“Waiting for my dad to take me to school because my carpool can’t get me today,” Sophie says. “What are you doing here?”

“Nothing. Waiting for Bree to be done, I guess.”

Sophie lifts an eyebrow. “It’s not even 6:30 in the morning.”

“I need to talk to her. Or not. I dunno.”

“Why? What’s wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong,” he says with a healthy dose of defensiveness.

“Please. You looked miserable when I walked up here. And you’re sitting in a freezing cold ice rink you don’t need to be at at the butt-crack of dawn.” Sophie pulls the sleeves of her black denim jacket down over her hands. “Are you okay?”

He drops his chin to his chest. “I don’t know. Not really.”

“Christian, I’m not a little kid,” Sophie says. “If something’s really wrong, you can tell me.”

—–

“I can’t! I have to get up,” Claire Fisher says, nevertheless emitting a small giggle as Tim Fisher kisses her neck.

“You don’t have to,” Tim tells her. The pair lie in Tim’s bed, with morning light falling through the curtains.

“Unfortunately, I don’t think my supervisor or my patients would accept ‘I was fooling around with my ex-husband’ as a good reason for missing my shift.”

“Who said anything about fooling around? I have bigger plans than that.” Tim plants another kiss on her lips and then rolls onto his back. “But fine, be responsible and go to work. I suppose I’ll do the same.”

“Believe me, I’d rather stay here.” Claire runs a fingernail over his chest and, after lingering for a long moment, pulls herself out of the bed. “Besides, I need to get out of here before Samantha wakes up.”

Tim pulls himself up on his elbows as he watches Claire get dressed in the clothes she was wearing when she came over late last night.

“I suppose it’s time we ripped off the band-aid and told everyone,” he says. “Considering Tempest and my mom already know…”

“I know. You’re right. It just feels so… weird to gather everyone to spout good news while Travis and Rosie are going through something so difficult.”

Tim sighs at the mention of their son and daughter-in-law’s ongoing custody battle. “Yeah. That’s why I’ve felt so hesitant about it, too.”

Claire buttons her jeans and slips her lightweight cashmere sweater over her head. She shakes her long, brown hair and then says, “But maybe it is time. Even if it kind of fun to sneak around like teenagers again.”

“Right. And we never got to do that when we were younger!”

He swings his legs off the bed and pulls on the plaid pajama pants pooled on the floor nearby. Then he stands and grabs a Seahawks t-shirt from the armchair in the corner, which he quickly pulls on.

“Ready?” he asks Claire. She nods, and he opens the door and peeks out into the hallway. Seeing that the coast is clear, Tim tiptoes out of the room, and Claire follows him down the hall and then the stairs.

“Have a good shift,” he says quietly as he eases the front door open to keep it from creaking or otherwise waking up Samantha. “I’ll miss you.”

“I’ll miss you, too.” Claire leans forward and gives him one final kiss. “I’ll check in later. Maybe we can have dinner.”

“I’d love that.”

Claire slides through the open door, and once she is headed down the short path to the driveway, Tim eases the door closed. He turns, intending to move to the kitchen to brew some coffee, but stops when he sees his daughter standing at the end of the downstairs hallway.

“You two can probably stop sneaking around already,” Samantha says with an amused grin.

—–

“So yeah. He went from needing to be with me so badly to wanting nothing to do with me,” Christian finishes telling Sophie. The two are now outside in back of the arena, leaning against the building as the emerging sun warms them.

“He sounds super-sus,” Sophie says, shaking her head. “You’re better off without him.”

Christian’s shoulders slump. “It doesn’t feel like it.”

“He sucks. You’re gonna find a way better guy. I swear.”

“I don’t know about that.” He cuts a sideways look at her. “You’re not, like, shocked or anything?”

“That you were hooking up with a guy?” Sophie asks. “No. It’s chill. It’s whatever. Aren’t you Gen Z, too? This stuff is not such a big deal anymore.”

“It feels like a big deal. You’re one of the first people I’ve told, you know.”

“Does Bree know?”

Christian shrugs. “Not officially. I guess she probably does. Caleb and Jasmine do.”

“You told Caleb’s sketchy girlfriend before me?!”

“She found out because I was talking to him and… I don’t know. He’s my twin.”

“Fine. Twin beats cousin. You’ve got me there.”

“Thanks for listening, though,” Christian says as he gazes off into the distance, where a group of birds have gathered around something on the sidewalk. “It does suck. He seemed cool. And mature. And he’s really cute.”

“Hmm… he doesn’t sound that cool if he was hooking up with a college freshman,” Sophie counters. “What is he, like, my dad’s age?!”

“No!” But the mention of his uncle causes Christian to once again see Robbie and Sabrina chatting on campus, and he hears Robbie’s dismissive voice telling him:

“She’s someone I went on a date with. I don’t have to explain that to you… And it didn’t go great, but now I’m thinking there might be another shot, if I play my cards right.”

“There is something that makes it all way sketchier,” Christian says, unable to suppress the hot ball of fury inside himself.

Sophie narrows her eyes at him. “How sketchy?”

“Like, real sketchy.” Christian hesitates. “I shouldn’t– but…”

“Oh, come on,” Sophie says. “Now you have to tell me. What else did this Robbie guy do?”

—–

Tim leans back against the front door as he looks at Samantha standing before him, smiling. It occurs to him how nice it is to see her standing up and being happy, nearly back to her old self after the accident and coma she survived last year. But he quickly snaps back into mild panic mode.

“Claire just came by to…” He trails off, not even knowing what kind of plausible story he could spin here; besides, Samantha’s expression tells him that she’s isn’t horrified or angry.

“It’s okay. I already knew,” Samantha tells him.

“You did?”

“Don’t be mad, but Tempest told me. Only me! She had to tell someone after she caught you two.”

Tim hangs his head in defeat.

“Even if she hadn’t told me, I would’ve put the pieces together,” Samantha continues. “I live with you, and you two haven’t exactly been subtle.”

“We’ve been trying.”

She lets out a small laugh. “I’m happy for you and Claire, Dad. You don’t have to sneak around. You both deserve to be happy.”

“Thanks, Sam. Want some coffee? I was about to make some.”

“That sounds great. For the record, I don’t think Travis or Spencer would be upset, either.”

“I’ve hoped not, but it’s so easy to overthink these things. And I’d rather be cautious than callous about it.” He exhales loudly. “Besides, there’s one other person who knows who wasn’t exactly thrilled. Well, two.”

“Who?”

“One was your grandma,” he explains, “but I think she’ll come around. The other was Sonja, and, well…”

“What right does Sonja have to be upset about you and Claire getting back together?” Samantha says. “She left town without telling you and had your son.”

“You’re telling me. Speaking of which, we should get that coffee, because I’m supposed to go over and see TJ before work today.”

“At least you don’t really have to break the news to him,” Samantha says as they head into the kitchen.

—–

Christian feels his entire body vibrating with rage as he thinks about Robbie’s claims that he not only went on a date with Sabrina, but sees an opportunity for it to happen again.

“It’s not what Robbie did,” he tells Sophie. “Or at least not just what Robbie did.”

“You’re talking in riddles here,” Sophie says.

He takes a deep breath and then blurts out, “It’s Sabrina.”

“Sabrina? My dad’s girlfriend? Or the one who actually killed my mom?”

“Uncle Jason’s girlfriend. She and Robbie have class together, I guess.”

“Does she know about this?” Sophie presses, leaning forward with intrigue. “Do you think she told him to break up with you?”

“No. Or maybe. I don’t know.” Christian’s face crinkles as he processes this possibility. “But he told me they went on a date. And he thinks they’re going to go on another one. Like, I got dumped for Uncle Jason’s girlfriend.”

Sophie gasps. “She’s cheating on him? Oh my god.”

Christian nods gravely. “That’s what Robbie basically told me.”

She covers her mouth with her palm and slowly withdraws it, her face still filled with shock. “I knew something was shady about Sabrina. I knew it!”

—–

The elevator dings, and its doors part to reveal the corridor of a newer-build apartment building. Tim steps out of the car and turns left, moving over the low-pile carpet, with its subtle geometric pattern, until he reaches the familiar unit at the end of one branch of the floor. One of the plainclothes police officers Tim has come to recognize well sits in a chair by the window at the end of the hallway.

“Morning,” Tim says.

The officer looks up from his coffee and waves as Tim unlocks the door and lets himself into the apartment.

As soon as he steps inside, he can tell that something is off. Everything is quiet. Too quiet. And too neat.

“Sonja?” he calls out. When there is no response, he adds, “TJ? It’s Dad.”

But still there is no answer. Tim checks every room of the small, spartan apartment, but he sees no sign of his son or Sonja.

With the door still ajar, he pops his head back out into the hallway and asks the officer, “Did they go out?”

The officer shakes his head. “I only started my shift about 20 minutes ago. I haven’t seen ’em.”

With a huff, Tim ducks back inside the apartment. He returns to TJ’s bedroom and pulls open the closet. Inside, he finds exactly what he feared: almost nothing.

“Oh my god,” he says frantically to the empty apartment. His head spins. “They’re gone.”

END OF EPISODE 1186

Will Tim be able to find Sonja and TJ again?
What will Sophie do with this info about Sabrina?
Talk about this episode in the comments below!

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