Previously…
– Tim asked Claire to move in with him.
– Sienna, the mysterious woman who had been observing Tempest and Samantha, staged a run-in in order to meet Tempest, who suggested that she apply for a newly open barista position at Thaw.
– Molly, newly reinstated at Objection Designs, offered Tori her job at the company back.
– Finn spitefully revealed to Alex that he and Trevor had kissed.

“Thanks, Tammy. Sounds like it’s going to be a nasty one out there, folks. Get your umbrellas ready and be careful out on the roads…”

Diane Bishop’s voice emanates from the Bluetooth speaker synced to the iPad positioned on the kitchen counter. Trevor Brooks sits at the round table tucked away by the bay window, a cup of coffee in front of him as he stares out at the rainstorm that is already pummeling King’s Bay. A thick, endless sheet of precipitation falls from the ominous gray sky, pounding the house, the wooden fence and small patch of grass in the backyard, and everything else.

Trevor takes another sip of his coffee, though it does little to offset his weariness. His head is foggy and his eyes feel sunken, a result of the tossing and turning that he experienced all night in bed. He and Alex barely spoke ten words to one another after Alex finally got home with Chase last night – having taken their son for dinner while Trevor remained at home, stewing – and crawling into their shared bed felt like the least restful thing to do. But he hoped that lying together, so intimate and in such close proximity, might bridge the gap between them somehow. All it did was suffocate Trevor with tension, and he awoke before the sunrise, showered, and made coffee.

He stiffens when he hears footsteps approaching. Their rhythm announces that it is Chase before Trevor even looks up.

“Dad!” the little boy says. “I thought you went to work already.”

“No, I’m still here, waking up,” Trevor says, pushing a smile across his face. “Want some breakfast? I can make pancakes–”

“I’m going to take him for breakfast on the way to school,” Alex declares as he enters the kitchen, already dressed in dark jeans and a patchwork-printed fleece pullover. He doesn’t even make eye contact with Trevor.

Trevor rises from his seat. “You don’t have to do that.”

“It’ll be a nice treat,” Alex says, with all the warmth of an exhausted DMV employee at the end of their shift. “I have some errands to run anyway.”

“We’ll have the traffic report for you right after this commercial break,” Diane’s voice announces.

Alex turns and regards the iPad with surprise.

“I thought it would be nice to put on Diane’s morning show,” Trevor explains. “Like we used to do.”

For a fleeting moment, Trevor thinks that Alex is about to crack, to give him something, but then the wall goes up again.

“Do you have your lunch?” Alex asks Chase instead.

“I’ll get it,” Trevor says, and he pulls open the refrigerator and takes out the small bag. “Here you go, Chase.”

“Thanks, Dad.”

“Can I have a hug before you go?”

Trevor stoops down, and Chase throws his arms around Trevor’s neck. Trevor breathes in, savoring the moment of affection; it almost makes things feel normal around here again.

“Have a good day at school,” he tells their son. “I love you.”

“Love you, too!” Chase shouts as he bolts from the room in search of his shoes.

“Can we please talk?” Trevor asks Alex once they are alone in the kitchen.

“Not now,” Alex says coolly.

“Then when? This is our marriage, Alex.”

“You should’ve kept that in mind before you made out with Finn and kept it from me for months.” The whispered statement jabs at Trevor like a rusty knife to the abdomen. “And I don’t know what else there is to say. I have to get Chase to school. Have a good day at work.”

Without even saying goodbye, Alex turns and exits the kitchen. Trevor stands there, listening to the rain assault their home, and wonders if anything will ever be the same.

The hum of the small space heater fills the second-floor office inside Edge of Winter Arena. Despite all the upgrades Jason has made to the building since purchasing and renovating it, the ice’s chill persists throughout, and especially up here. Tempest Banks sits behind her desk, inputting figures into a budgeting spreadsheet as she savors the dry heat from the compact unit beneath her desk.

The sound of a soft knock on the open door draws her attention, and she looks up to see Sienna Ridley poking her head around the corner.

“The Zamboni driver told me I could find you up here,” Sienna says.

Tempest stands. “What are you doing here?”

“I wanted to thank you.” Sienna steps into the office and pulls something from behind her back: an ice-blue apron. “For this.”

“You got the job?” Tempest asks with genuine excitement as she steps out from behind the desk.

“I did. All because of your recommendation. So thank you. I owe you big time.”

“Nah. You got the job yourself. I just pointed you in the right direction.”

Sienna smiles. “Well, I’m very thankful. Your coffee is on me whenever you want.”

“I won’t say no to a free coffee,” Tempest replies. “When do you start?”

“Tomorrow,” Sienna says. “I have to get my childcare situation worked out. My neighbor is watching Noelle right now, but… this single mom thing is hard.”

“Having a job must be a big weight off your shoulders.”

“It definitely is. I just want to do right by her, you know?”

Tempest nods, overcome by a sudden bittersweet sensation. If only her own mother had taken the same approach to life.

“This is that new start you were talking about wanting for you and your daughter,” Tempest says. “I hope you get everything you want out of life.”

“I hope so, too,” Sienna replies. “I’m going to make that happen – one way or another.”

Claire Fisher leans over the nurses’ stand outside the emergency unit of King’s Bay Memorial Hospital, studying a patient chart, or at least attempting to make sense of it. Her thoughts keep straying to her home life, however. When she hears someone speaking her name, she looks up with a start.

“There she is,” Isaac Banks comments with a smirk. “I must’ve said your name five times before you noticed.”

“Sorry.” She sighs and flips the chart closed. “I was lost in thought, I guess.”

“Something wrong?”

“Well… Tim asked me to move in with him.”

Isaac lifts an eyebrow. “That’s a bad thing?”

“No! Not at all. Tim and I moving in together… again… it’s the right next step for us.”

“Then why so distracted? I know you weren’t thinking about redecorating his place.”

She lets out a small laugh. “No. But if I move out–”

“You feel like you’re hanging my sister out to dry,” Isaac finishes the thought for her.

“Yeah. I know Tempest is an adult, but it still feels like, I don’t know, abandoning her somehow.”

“I get that.” He leans against the elevated countertop of the nurses’ station. “But I don’t think Tempest expects you to stay in that apartment with her forever. Hell, she and Samantha are getting pretty serious again.”

“And that makes me really happy,” Claire says. “I’m nervous about breaking the news to her and how she might take it, that’s all. Your sister has been through a lot in her life.”

“She has. And I regret leaving her with my mom and Hank when I took off all those years ago.”

“You were a kid, too. You were doing the best you could.”

Isaac’s gaze remains on the scuffed floor. “I still shouldn’t’ve left her there.”

“We all have regrets,” Claire offers. “Tempest survived, and she found her way here and has a great life. And you’re a part of it now.”

“Yeah,” he says, remorse still coloring the edges of the word. “But if you can tell me all that – then you’ve gotta know you’re okay to make a change in your life, too. Tempest will be okay.”

“It sounds silly when I say it out loud. Because of course she will. She’s one of the strongest people I know. It’s just, I feel this responsibility.”

“You’re still gonna be in her life,” Isaac says. “If I know one thing, it’s that you two have a really special bond. Not quite mother-daughter, not quite best friends, but it makes sense. You have to go live your own life, Claire. Tempest will be okay.”

“Thanks for the reassurance,” Claire tells him. “I hope you’re right.”

—–

The sound of the rain pelting the Fisher house provides an endless track of background noise as Tori Gray stops at the entrance to the kitchen.

“Dad?” 

Matt Gray, who is standing at the open refrigerator, stands upright. “Hey. What’s up?”

“I kinda need to talk to you,” the twentysomething woman says as she holds onto the doorframe. 

“Everything okay?” Matt asks, immediately snapping into concerned-father mode.

“Yeah. I’m fine. Umm…” She exhales loudly. “I had a talk with Aunt Molly yesterday.”

Matt takes the milk from the refrigerator and closes the door without taking his eyes off Tori. “Okay…”

“She kind of offered me my job back,” Tori tells him. “At Objection.”

“Are you kidding?” A broad smile breaks out over Matt’s face. “That’s awesome!”

“Really?”

“Yeah! When do you start?”

“That’s the thing,” she says, still a bit timid. “I didn’t give her an answer yet.”

“Why not?”

“Why not? Because I just started at the restaurant, and I don’t wanna flake on you–”

“Tori. Come on.” He sets the milk on the kitchen table. “Thanks for taking this gig seriously, but you’ve gotta know, I’d never wanna hold you back. You at Objection – that was a good fit.”

She exhales again, but this time, it is as if she is releasing a full day’s worth of pent-up tension. “So you wouldn’t be mad if I took the job?”

“Mad? What? No!” He chuckles. “As happy as it made me to have you at the restaurant, it’s not like I thought you’d be there washing dishes forever.”

“I know, but I just started.”

“Do I have to call your aunt myself and take the job for you?”

Tori giggles. “No. I wanted to see if it was okay, though.”

“It’s more than okay. Like I said, it’s awesome.” Matt moves to the doorway and wraps her in a hug. “I knew you’d find your way back on the right track, kiddo. You’re gonna do great things there.”

“I hope you’re right,” Tori says, finding solace in her father’s strong embrace as she lets herself think about all the excitement and potential of this unexpected path.

—–

Trevor’s windshield wipers seem to work in overdrive as they fight off the torrents of rain. Bright white headlights and gleaming red taillights from other vehicles stand out against the murky gray of the sky as he drives to the office. The moody sound of the xx’s “On Hold” pulsates through the vehicle. Trevor grips the steering wheel harder and harder as he goes, thinking about Alex’s coldness this morning – and how cold it felt in their house, how unlike a home it felt with the icy distance between them.

When it comes time to make the turn onto the local freeway that will lead to downtown King’s Bay, where Winston Tower is located, Trevor puts on his turn signal… then flips it off and drives past the turn.

Soon enough, he finds himself traversing even more familiar streets. He parks his car in the driveway of the house where he grew up, steps out, and hurries through the rain – covering his head with his arm – as he rushes to the front door.

He rings the doorbell and waits an interminable few seconds before it opens.

“I had a feeling I’d hear from you,” Finn Campbell says.

“Yeah,” Trevor says, feeling shaky as he stares down the other man. “We need to talk.”

END OF EPISODE 1216

Was it foolish of Trevor to go see Finn?
Is Isaac correct about Tempest’s response?
What exactly is Sienna up to?
Talk about it all in the comments below!

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