Previously…
– Diane and Natalie’s parents, Henry and Claudia Bishop, showed up in King’s Bay to celebrate Christmas. Samantha was surprised to be reunited with her grandparents.
– Danielle received an unexpected phone call and told Jimmy and Kathleen that she had exciting news.
– Sarah reported her findings back to Travis: that Rosie’s father was said to have been killed during a home robbery gone wrong.

 

Cups of eggnog and mugs of coffee clutter the table in Paula Fisher’s living room. Wads of festive wrapping paper lie all over the floor, their contents — clothing and gadgets and toys — now freed for their recipients’ enjoyment. The Christmas tree’s colorful lights shine over the room.

“Do you like everything that Santa brought you?” Paula asks Billy, who cannot keep his attention on any single one of his new toys for more than sixty seconds.

“Yeah, but I wanted to see the deer in the sky last night!” the boy declares.

Sarah Fisher Gray, sitting cross-legged on the floor nearby, chuckles. “You mean Santa’s reindeer?”

Billy scrunches up his face. “I thought they were deers.”

“Reindeer,” Matt Gray tells his stepson.

“What’s the difference?”

Sarah and Matt exchange a perplexed look.

“Let’s ask Wikipedia,” Tori Gray says as she pulls out her phone.

Before she can get into her research, however, another phone chirps determinedly.

“I think that’s me,” Matt says as he reaches for his phone, which has been sitting on the table. “Oh, it’s your uncle and aunt.” He presses a button and holds up the phone; a moment later, Jake Gray’s face appears on the screen.

“Merry Christmas!” Jake says.

“Merry Christmas!” everyone in the Fisher living room responds, as Matt swivels the screen to show everyone to the camera briefly.

Mia Davich Gray joins her husband onscreen. “Thank you guys for the gifts. They were really thoughtful. Have you opened presents yet?”

“We just finished,” Sarah says as she nuzzles up behind Matt.

Paula rises from the sofa. “I’m going to go start preparing things in the kitchen. That way we can hit the ground running when Travis gets here to help.”

After she excuses herself, Sarah, Matt, and the kids turn their attention back to the phone.

“Thank you guys for everything,” Sarah says. “That sweater you got me feels so comfortable.”

“And I love the lip kit,” Tori adds. “I’ve been looking to mix it up. I’m guessing I have you to thank you for that, Aunt Mia?”

“Hey!” Jake exclaims. “What makes you think I didn’t pick that out?”

They all share a laugh. As it fades out, Jake clears his throat.

“So,” he says, “there’s one more thing.”

“What do you mean?” Matt asks.

“We have one more present for you guys,” Mia tells them, “but it isn’t something we could ship.”

Tasteful bouquets of seasonal reds and greens rest atop each white-cloth-covered table in the dining room of Windmills. Piano renditions of classic holiday tunes drift merrily through the air. When Diane Bishop arrives at the entrance, she scans the sea of diners enjoying Christmas morning brunch. Upon spotting her targets, she allows herself one deep breath to steady her nerves. With that done, she marches toward the table.

“Good of  you to join us,” Claudia Bishop says with a pointed glance at her diamond-encrusted wristwatch.

Diane checks the time on her own watch. “It’s one minute before our reservation time.”

“Yes, well, we’ve been here for quite a few minutes already.”

“Hello, Diane,” Henry Bishop says as he stands to greet his daughter with a polite hug.

“Merry Christmas,” Diane says, and then she stoops down to give her mother’s cheek an air kiss.

“Merry Christmas to you, too,” Claudia says.

Diane slips into one of the chairs opposite them at the round table. The waiter stops by to take her drink order, and she asks him for a Bloody Mary and a coffee, both of which she actually needed about 20 minutes ago.

“Where are you staying?” she asks once the waiter has gone.

“At the Metropolitan Inn,” Henry says. “Natalie invited us to stay with them, but…”

“They have such a full house already,” Claudia adds. “And that Sophie is a bit of a handful! Jason is a wonderful man, though. Your sister has done well for herself.”

“I won’t argue with you on that,” Diane says.

Claudia runs her immaculately manicured fingers over her pearls. “We had dinner with Samantha.”

Diane is all too familiar with her mother’s tone; Claudia has long had a way of voicing things so that they come across less as statements and more as admonishments. Beneath the simple declaration that the Bishops shared a meal with their granddaughter are all kinds of accusations and implications.

“How is she?” Diane asks as her coffee arrives in front of her. “I sent presents over to Tim’s, but I’m trying to give her the space she needs.”

“That’s wise of you,” Claudia says. “The poor girl is still very upset.”

“She’s well, though,” Henry asserts. “Her job sounds as if it’s proving to be a good challenge for her.”

Diane stirs some sweetener into her steaming black coffee. “That girl can do anything if she puts her mind to it. I’m not even sure if she’s aware of how capable she is.”

“She does seem to have a good head on her shoulders.” Claudia pauses to purse her lips. “I’m not entirely sure how that happened.”

“Claudia,” Henry says sternly.

Diane waves a hand dismissively, even as she feels the fury scorching inside herself. “It’s fine, Dad. I came expecting that my Christmas gift would be a full-frontal assault on my life decisions, my judgment, my parenting ability…”

“You can hardly blame me for being upset,” Claudia hisses, leaning forward. “What you did doesn’t only affect you, Diane. Look at what Samantha is going through. And people will look at your father and me and think that we raised a child who would do… that…”

“I have raked myself over the coals plenty for all of us.” The Bloody Mary is placed in front of Diane, and she wastes no time in scooping it up and downing a hearty sip. “I’ve made my peace with Tim, as much as I possibly can. I’m desperate to fix things with Samantha. What do you want me to do? Nail myself to a cross in the town square?”

Claudia lets out a groan. “Don’t be melodramatic — though that has always been your forte.”

“Oh, that’s rich,” Diane says with a sneer. “I’m the melodramatic one?”

“Keep it down. Both of you,” Henry insists.

The two women glare at each other over the table.

“You know what?” Diane sucks down another gulp of her drink and then pushes her chair away from the table. “I’m not doing this.”

“Diane,” Henry says.

But she stands and pulls a 20-dollar bill from wallet. “I’m not putting myself through this today.”

“Just sit. Please,” Henry says.

“Sorry, Dad. I can’t.” Diane slaps the bill down on the table. “And don’t think that I’m going to give her the ammo to spend the next 20 years calling me out for having you buy me two drinks and then letting them go to waste. Merry Christmas, both of you.”

She grabs her purse and beats a hasty retreat out of the dining room.

At the table, Claudia glances around uneasily as she fiddles with her pearls. “That girl has always been too hotheaded for her own good.”

“It would have been nice to have a civilized meal with her,” Henry says.

“She makes it impossible. I’m sorry.”

Outside the restaurant, the cold winter air blasts Diane, but she stops to suck it in, as if she hasn’t breathed in days. She knows that she probably should have sat there and endured the meal, simply to avoid giving her mother yet another reason to paint her as impulsive or moody or unhinged, but she couldn’t do it today. Not after everything that has happened this year.

She lingers just a moment, wondering if her father will run out after her to try and bring her back to the table. But he doesn’t, and she sets out for her Mercedes, needing to get away from here at once.

—–

Despite the brightness of the December sun, a chilly breeze moves the air with enough force that it causes Travis Fisher to shiver as he waits outside the apartment door. He steels himself and then — after acknowledging that the only thing left to do is face this — he shifts the wrapped box in his hands onto one arm so that he can knock on the door.

Thanks to his Uncle Brent, he knows that Rosie Jimenez is not working today. He has no way of knowing whether she is actually at home, but he strongly suspects that calling or texting ahead of time would not have helped his chances of actually getting to see her.

His body stiffens as he hears movement on the other side of the door. As the seconds tick by, he realizes that Rosie must be looking through the peephole and deciding what to do.

Relief floods his system when the next sound to hit his ears is that of locks being undone.

“Merry Christmas,” he says as soon as she appears before him. “I wanted to bring you this.”

Her brown eyes shift around. “Merry Christmas. And thanks.”

“Can I come in? Just for a minute?”

She hesitates for a split-second. “Sure.”

Travis steps inside the small apartment. A strand of white Christmas lights hangs from the wall, but otherwise, there is no sign of the holiday. He sets the gift on her glass-topped coffee table.

“I couldn’t let today go by without seeing you.” He has rehearsed this speech so many times in his own mind, but now every version of it runs together in his head. “I know the past few weeks have been weird, and– I guess I’m not even sure where we are now, but I needed to tell you how sorry I am for the way things went down.”

“You had your friend follow me,” she says. “That’s, like– that’s a huge violation.”

“I didn’t ask him to follow you. I didn’t know he was following you until he told me later. But yeah, it is a violation. So I’m sorry that it came across like something I’d done behind your back.”

“There are just some things that need to be private,” she says. “Being in a relationship doesn’t mean you get, like, immediate access to every single thing about someone’s life.”

“No. Of course not. But,” Travis says, “you have to have some idea how that came off to me. Two times, you said you had to work and then weren’t working. And I didn’t go snooping to find that out.”

Rosie folds her arms and averts her eyes.

“Don’t you get how that seems like you were hiding stuff specifically from me? And then the thing with that busboy — Jesse — the whole thing comes off like you have this secret life you don’t want me knowing about.”

She exhales heavily. “Yeah. I do get that. So I’m sorry. I’m not…” She trails off as she searches for words. “I don’t know how else to say this besides this isn’t about you. I wasn’t cheating on you. It was never anything like that.”

“Then what was it? What is it?” He positions himself directly in front of her so that she cannot evade or ignore the question. “This isn’t me being nosy. I like you. A lot. If something is giving you this much stress, or upsetting you, or whatever… I want to know because I want to help you deal with it.”

“That’s the thing. My family stuff is– it’s complicated. Okay? There’s nothing you or anyone can do about it. It just is. I need you to respect that.” She lets out a sigh. “Sorry that it came off as anything else.”

“I can accept that. If that’s what it is, then… that’s what it is.” He cracks a grin. “You know what I mean.”

“Yeah. Thank you,” she says. “Hang on a second.”

“Okay…”

She ducks into the bedroom and reappears a few seconds later with a red-and-white gift bag with tissue paper sticking out of the top.

“I got you a present, too,” she says.

Travis can feel the misery of the past several weeks melting away like two-day-old snow. “You did?”

Rosie laughs. “I don’t just keep random gift bags in my closet. So yeah, I did.”

Before he can say anything else, she steps forward and kisses him. A jolt goes through Travis as their lips meet; he hadn’t even realized how badly he missed this. Their mouths open, pressing together urgently.

“Should we open our presents?” Rosie asks.

“In a little bit,” he says, his breaths heavy. “There’s something else I think we need to do first.”

—–

Matt, Sarah, Tori, and even Billy watch the phone’s screen with interest as they wait to understand what Mia and Jake are talking about.

“When we came out for the restaurant opening this fall,” Jake says, “I found out that King’s Bay Academy was looking to replace its athletic director.”

“It happened kinda randomly,” Mia adds. “We got to talking to some lady at the hotel, and one thing led to another…”

“You’re up for a job here?” Tori asks excitedly.

Jake rolls his jaw. “Actually, I didn’t want to say anything, but I’ve been interviewing over the phone and Skype, and…”

“You got the job?!” Matt exclaims, more uninhibited and excited than he almost ever is.

“We’re moving to King’s Bay!” Jake says, nodding his head as cheers on both sides of the call drown him out.

“That’s amazing,” Tori pipes in.

“Wow, talk about a Christmas miracle,” Sarah says. “We can’t wait to have you here.”

“King’s Bay has always seemed like such a nice town,” Mia says, beaming at her husband. “We can’t wait to see what it has in store for us and Marcus.”

—–

Orange flames leap and dance inside the fireplace as Tim Fisher gathers crumpled balls of wrapping paper and discarded bows. He drops them into a large black trash bag in the center of the living room.

“Thank you for all the gifts,” he tells his kids, “and for hanging around for breakfast and presents. This has been such a great Christmas morning.”

“You’re letting both of us crash here,” Spencer Ragan says from his wheelchair, which is parked beside the sectional sofa. “A few gifts are the least we could do.”

Samantha Fisher nods. “Spencer’s right. A few months ago, you had this whole house to yourself. Then both of us moved in.”

Tim looks up from his task. “That’s the thing. I like having you guys here. You’ll understand when you have kids of your own someday.”

“That might be a long way off,” Spencer says, recalling the panic and then relief that he felt when he awoke from his coma and discovered that Natalie had an infant son. “I’ve got to figure out how to take care of myself first.”

Tim pulls the ties on the trash bag tight and knots them together. “You seem like you’re getting around okay without Sonja here.”

“I kind of am, yeah,” Spencer says, “but it’s also making me realize how much I still need help — as much as I hate to admit that.”

“I can help with whatever you need ’til she gets back,” Samantha says. “It’s nice that she was able to take a few days and go spend Christmas with her mom in Hawaii.”

“I know that meant a lot to her,” Tim says.

Spencer backs his wheelchair away from the couch. “Can one of you start reminding me to put on that white noise thing at night? Because I forgot when I went to bed last night, and I kept waking up and couldn’t figure out what was wrong. I might take a nap before we go to Paula’s.”

“Go and lie down,” Tim says as he sets down the trash bag. “I’m going to finish cleaning up, and then I’ll shower.”

“I can take that out to the garbage bin,” Samantha offers, pointing at the bag.

As Spencer wheels off to his first-floor room, Sam grabs the bag and goes to the entryway. She retrieves her Uggs from the hallway closet and slips her feet into them. The December cold blasts her when she steps outside, and she shuffles quickly over the driveway. After placing the bag in the trash bin, she hurries back toward the house — but stops when she notices the car pulling up to the curb.

Her first instinct is to run into the house and fasten the locks behind herself. But she is not quick enough, and she is not even certain if that is what she actually wants. The possibility of an encounter like this has been weighing upon her even more strongly than usual on this holiday.

She freezes in the driveway as the door of the Mercedes opens.

“Merry Christmas, Sam,” Diane says as she steps out of the car.

Samantha gulps as she looks at her mother. “Merry Christmas.”

Diane’s stilettos click against the asphalt as she approaches. “Can we please talk?”

END OF EPISODE 905

Should Samantha give Diane a chance?
Can Travis and Rosie put this behind them?
What will life in King’s Bay be like for Jake, Mia, and Marcus?
Talk about it all in the comments below!

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