Previously…
– During an emergency vote by the Objection Designs board, Molly was reinstated as Chief Creative Officer, thereby ousting Gia and Finn from the company.
– A spiteful Finn, upset that Trevor tipped off Molly about the board vote, revealed to Alex that he and Trevor had kissed.
– Molly asked Travis if he and Rosie would be willing to help her and Brent ease Gabrielle’s transition into their household.

In the entry of Bill’s on the Pier, Molly Taylor and her nephew stand against one wall, maintaining some distance from the host’s stand as they engage in a private conversation. The restaurant is not especially busy at this midday hour, but the steady buzz of diners’ chatter provides some reassuring background buzz. 

“She’s going to see you eventually, at family events,” Molly tells Travis, who stands with arms folded in his white chef’s coat, having been at work in the kitchen when his aunt arrived. “So it’s not like we have any intention of pretending that you never existed. Some time with both of you, in her new house, might help her make the adjustment.”

“I get what you’re saying,” Travis replies, sounding nevertheless reluctant.

“Then what do you say?” Molly asks. “Will you and Rosie do this? For Gabrielle?”

Travis lets out a labored sigh. Molly watches anxiously for any sign of a coming response, but just as his mouth twitches, she hears the eatery’s front door opening. She swivels her head to see a middle-aged couple entering. They approach the host’s stand, and both Travis and Molly settle into a tense, quiet pause, waiting until the hostess has led the couple away to a table before they resume their conversation.

“Travis,” she prompts, but then he cuts her off:

“Do you have any idea how– how rough this already is for us?” he asks. “Adjusting to life without Gabrielle has been so unbelievably painful. Rosie and I are like zombies half the time.”

“I’m sure. I don’t mean to be insensitive. I’m thinking about Gabrielle and what a confusing time she’s having.”

“Yeah, and it breaks my heart to think about that. Of course I want to see her. I want to tell her that everything’s gonna be all right, that we’ll always be there for her however she needs us to be…”

“Then come tell her that,” Molly says. “We can make this work. I’d do anything to help that sweet little baby settle in.”

“I would, too,” he admits, dropping his arms to his sides. Molly cannot help but see it as an outward sign of him letting his defenses down.

“Then you’ll do it?” she says. “You’ll talk to Rosie about coming to see Gabrielle?”

—–

After Finn Campbell leaves, Alex Marshall stands shellshocked near the front door of the bungalow for a long while. Finn’s revelation that he and Alex’s husband kissed – or “made out,” as Finn put it – and Trevor never said anything to Alex rings through his head, over and over. Alex cycles through every possible reaction, or at least that’s how it feels, as he processes the news.

I’m going to call him out right now. He takes his phone from the pocket of his jeans, unlocks it, and then freezes. Not over text. And he’s at work.

Maybe it isn’t that big a deal. Maybe it isn’t. A kiss is just a kiss. And if more had happened, Finn would’ve thrown that in Alex’s face without hesitation.

But he lied. Trevor never said anything. So he lied by omission, and that’s much worse than the kiss itself. He’s been lying to me for weeks or months since it happened.

That’s what really makes him go cold. A chill moves through his body, freezing him to the very core, as he thinks about how many conversations he and Trevor have had, how many kisses they have shared, without Trevor ever betraying that he was hiding something. Then the cold is replaced by something searing, something white-hot, inside Alex. He’s been lying to me.

He tries to return to his writing nook at the back of the house, but the cursor, left dangling in mid-sentence, flashes on the screen in a way that looks like it is taunting him. He re-reads the sentence that he left unfinished when Finn interrupted him, but he cannot find his way back into the flow of writing at all, as much as he tries to force it. Then he switches to an article that he bookmarked a few days and attempts to read it, but his mind will not allow him the focus to escape his current situation and enjoy the article. 

When he hears the sound of a key in the front door, Alex startles. He double-checks the time on his computer screen and then stands up, a sense of dread overtaking him as he realizes that he has to face this now. 

“Hey,” Trevor calls out, sounding casual as can be, while he removes his coat and sets down his work bag. 

“What are you doing home so early?” Alex asks as he makes his way toward the front of the bungalow.

“Everything’s up in the air because of Molly taking her position back over. I thought I’d slip out early. I can go get Chase from school in a little while.”

Alex rounds the corner and sees him: his handsome, tall husband, with the perfectly coiffed brown hair that is slowly being overtaken by gray that looks sophisticated and interesting on him, just like almost every piece of clothing or accessory that the former model puts on. All Alex can do is stare at him.

“Alex,” Trevor says, glancing up from untying his leather boot. “What’s up?”

“Nothing.” Alex doesn’t even know why he speaks the word. He just feels a need to fill the silence. 

“Okay…” 

“Someone came by a little while ago,” Alex then blurts out.

“Who?” Trevor asks, as he slips off the boots. 

“Finn.”

Alex says the name and lets it land there, without any further context or explanation. He notices that Trevor’s body tenses just a little, almost imperceptibly – but with what Alex knows, he is able to detect it.

“What? Why? Is something wrong at the house?”

“No,” Alex says. “Something’s wrong at this house.”

Trevor frowns. “Why are you talking in riddles?”

“I’m not,” Alex says. “But I might as well put it out there: Finn was furious that you sold him out to Molly and tipped her off about the board meeting.”

Trevor draws in a sharp breath as he stands up a little straighter. He knows, Alex thinks. He knows that I know.

“He’s getting unhinged over this whole thing,” Trevor says.

“So he was lying, then?”

“What?”

“Finn wanted to tell me something about you and him,” Alex says, his resolve strengthening with each syllable he speaks. “Are you telling me he was lying?”

“Lying about what?” Trevor presses, and he sounds more irritated than he has any right to sound over this, which just makes Alex angrier.

“About you and him. He told me that you and he ‘made out’– ” Alex cannot help but use a pair of derisive air quotes. “–a while back, and you never mentioned it to me. So what’s the truth, Trevor? Was Finn lying or not?”

—–

The phone on the host’s stand lets out its abrupt, jangly ring, and both Travis and Molly reflexively turn at the noise. The hostess answers the call.

“Bill’s on the Pier,” she says cheerily. “How can I help you?”

Travis turns back toward Molly. “I’ll run it by Rosie, yeah.”

“Oh, Travis! That’s all I’m asking.” Molly clasps her hands together tightly in front of her chest. 

“I can’t promise that she’s going to think it’s the best idea,” he warns. “Or that I will, once we talk it through. I have to figure out how to bring this up to begin with.”

“You will,” she says. “Gabrielle needs you both.”

He nods, his lips still drawn together in a tight line. “I have to get back to the kitchen. I’ll give you a call.”

“Thanks, Travis.” She edges forward, a bit awkwardly, and then wraps her arms around him. Travis’s body stiffens against the aunt he has hugged hundreds of times during his life, but he relents and allows her the gesture.

“I’ll talk to you soon,” Molly says before exiting the restaurant. She is filled with a new sense of hope at the mere prospect of easing Gabrielle’s transition. Even the gloom that has settled over the waterfront looks a little less somber, somehow. 

Molly is halfway up the pier, on her way to the parking lot, when she spots another familiar figure coming her way. Tori Gray has her blondish-brown hair pulled into a ponytail and wears a black down winter coat. Molly quickens her steps in order to close the gap between them.

“Aunt Molly,” Tori says with surprise. “What are you doing here?”

“I had to talk to Travis about something.” Molly sees the curious expression on Tori’s face deepen and adds, “But actually, I’m glad I ran into you. I have an important question for you.”

—–

Trevor’s mouth makes a smacking noise as he opens and closes it without producing an actual response. 

“Trevor,” Alex says in a firm tone, unable to wait any longer.

“It wasn’t like that,” Trevor finally says.

Alex’s expression hardens. “So it didn’t happen?”

“It– Not like that! He kissed me.”

“And you didn’t kiss him back?”

“It was weird,” Trevor says, his voice ragged with exasperation. “I was questioning him about that call from Katherine Fitch, and he kissed me to– I don’t know, throw me off the scent?”

“And you went along with it.”

“I didn’t. It was a few seconds. I won’t pretend I didn’t go with it for a second, just out of, I don’t know, instinct. But Alex, I swear. That was it.” Trevor’s eyes plead to be believed, and Alex can see the sincerity in them. And he does understand that things happen and life isn’t always perfect. However…

“Then why didn’t you tell me?” he asks.

“What would that have accomplished?”

“I don’t know – honesty? Trust?”

“Would you have been believed me if I said Finn kissed me and I broke it off?” Trevor fires back.

This time, Alex is the one to hesitate. 

“I don’t know. I don’t know,” he admits. “But you and Finn have had this weird flirtation going on for a long time. You’re the one who raised the idea of us doing something with him.”

Trevor throws up his hands in frustration. “I really didn’t want this to be a thing.”

“Well, it is a thing now,” Alex says. “You know what? I’m going to step out before I say something I might regret.”

“Like what?”

Alex simply shakes his head in response. “I need to pick up Chase in a little while first. I’ll take him to basketball practice and then maybe out to dinner just to– cool off, I guess.”

“I can pick him up.”

“No. I will. I need some fresh air.”

Alex grabs his keys from the catch-all on the table by the door and pulls open the nearby coat closet to find a jacket. He yanks one from its hanger.

“We’ll be home later,” Alex says.

“Don’t leave like this,” Trevor says.

“We’ll talk later.” Still steaming, Alex opens the door and rushes outside. He finishes pulling on his coat as he speed-walks to his car. 

As he pulls away from the house, he looks in the rearview mirror and sees Trevor standing in the doorway of the yellow bungalow, watching him leave.

—–

Tori and Molly stand on the pier not far from the restaurant, a soft but chilly wind whipping around them.

“I don’t know if you’ve heard,” Molly says, “but I’m returning to my job at Objection. There was a board vote.”

“Grandma mentioned that this morning,” Tori replies. “Congratulations. You must be excited to go back.”

“I am. But I’m going to need a strong team around me. That’s where you come in. Tori, I’d love for you to come back and be my assistant again.”

Tori’s eyes go wide. “Really?”

“Yes. I always thought you had a bright future at Objection, especially without the… the circumstances in your personal life that were interfering with your focus.”

Tori is quiet as she processes this news. 

“I know you have a job here now, but if you’d like, I can talk to your dad about it,” Molly adds. “But only if that would help.”

“I have to think about it,” Tori says. “I mean, I should be the one to talk to my dad, at least. But thank you.”

“You’ll consider it, then.”

“Yeah. Of course I will. I never wanted to leave Objection in the first place.”

“Neither did I. I feel very lucky to be back there. And I’ll feel even luckier knowing that I have you by my side.”

“Thanks, Aunt Molly. I was so excited to work there, and I hated that it got messed up because of…”

“Don’t even say his name,” Molly tells her. “Onward and upward, okay? Let me know as soon as you’ve made your decision.”

“I will,” Tori says, beaming as she gives her aunt a quick hug. “In the meantime, I need to get inside for my shift.”

“Have a good day,” Molly says. “I’ll be waiting for your call.”

Tori nods and hurries inside the restaurant. Molly exhales, pleased at how positive her visit to the restaurant has been, though she knows that she has a long way to go – both personally and professionally – before things are back in the order that she’d like them to be.

END OF EPISODE 1215

Will Tori accept Molly’s job offer?
Should Travis and Rosie help with Gabrielle?
Can Alex and Trevor resolve this rift?
Talk about it all in the comments below!

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