Previously…
– Tim asked Sonja to go on a real date with him.
– Jimmy impulsively proposed to Kathleen, who was shocked but then accepted.
– Desperate to get Tori away from Zane, Sarah revealed that Zane had blackmailed her for $100,000 and was only using Tori to manipulate her.
– Matt was furious after learning about Sarah’s deception and told her that he was going to stay with his brother for a while.

Soft orchestral music lilts on the air as Tim Fisher holds out a chair for Sonja Kahale. Once his date is seated, Tim moves around the table and takes his own chair across from her. The waiter leaves two menus on their table and departs.

“It’s so busy tonight,” Sonja observes as she glances around Windmills. “Are you sure I’m dressed all right?”

He smiles, looking at her simple but elegant black dress, accented with a silver necklace. “You look terrific.”

“Thanks. I don’t come to places this fancy very often.”

“Well, you fit right in.”

Tim feels a nervous current humming through his entire body. He has become so accustomed to spending time with Sonja that he didn’t expect going on a real date would feel like this — but it has been approximately a thousand years since he did this, so he supposes he shouldn’t be too surprised. Something about the act of putting on a blazer and coming to the upscale restaurant has made him acutely aware of what a big step this is.

“It’s nice to be out,” he says. “And for it to be just the two of us.”

Sonja smiles shyly. “Yeah. It is.”

A busser comes up to the table and fills their water glasses. They sit quietly until she has gone again. Tim feels as if he is going to explode if he doesn’t say something to break through the discomfort.

“This is a little weird, isn’t it?” he says. “Not weird, but–”

“No, it is.” Sonja lets out a heavy exhale, and a more natural smile appears on her face. “A little unnatural, at least.”

“Yeah. It’s just… we’ve been so involved in each other’s day-to-day minutiae, and you usually don’t do that before a first date.”

“I know. Why don’t we try and forget that it’s a date, then? Let’s act the way we always do.”

“I like that idea.” Tim sips his water to aid his dry mouth. “I guess you’ll be moved out soon, anyway, so we should get used to catching up over meals like regular people starting to date.”

Her eye twinkles as she says, “Yeah, but I will miss when you get home from work and fill me in on your day.”

“I do like coming home and knowing you’ll be there. For so long, my house was empty. Having you, Spencer, and Sam there has been amazing.”

He sees Sonja part her lips, which are dressed in a subtle pink lipstick, and then close them without speaking. A sudden cloudiness in her gaze adds to the sense that she is hesitating.

“What is it?” he asks.

“Oh, nothing.” Yet she lingers over the statement, and he can tell that she has something more to say.

“I guess this goes along with the fact that we’ve gotten to know each other so much before going on an actual date,” she explains slowly, “but there’s something I’ve been wondering about.”

“What’s that?”

“I know Samantha has been having problems with her mother.”

Tim’s gut tightens. “She has. Yeah.”

“It’s none of my business, to some degree,” Sonja says, “but I also realized how close she and Spencer are in age. I know that you and Claire were married when Spencer was born, but it also sounds like you and Diane dated, and if the kids are that close–” She stops abruptly and shakes her head. “Sorry, I sound crazy, now that I hear it out loud.”

“It isn’t crazy.” He cracks his knuckles as he contemplates his next words. “It’s a really complicated situation. I was married to Claire when Samantha was conceived.”

Sonja sits up straighter. “So you and Diane…?”

His nerves tingling, Tim sighs and then says, “There’s something I need to tell you.”

“Why didn’t you two tell me you were coming?”

Travis Fisher calls out the query when he is still several feet away from the table, and both heads pivot to find him. Kathleen Bundy and Jimmy Trask grin as the younger man, wearing his apron, navigates through the busy dining crowd at Bill’s on the Pier.

“That’s my fault,” Jimmy says. “I wanted to surprise my fiancée here.”

“Back to the scene of the crime?” Travis asks.

“Yep, but we did it up a little nicer this time.” Kathleen holds out her hand, and Travis sees the modest but lovely ring sparkling on her finger. “No more high school ring.”

“I mean, that was pretty classy, but I could see this being an upgrade,” Travis teases his biological mother. “No, it’s really pretty. Congrats, you guys. How’s the wedding planning coming?”

Kathleen and Jimmy’s eyes meet over the table, each pair searching for some kind of clarity in the other.

“Frankly, we’re still sorting out what we wanna do,” Jimmy responds.

“Lots of logistics and stuff,” Kathleen adds, a bit stiffly.

“Whatever you do, I’m sure it’ll be great.” Travis scoots closer to their table as a waitress with an armload of plates passes behind him. “Started with the oysters, huh? What did you order for your entrees?”

“Halibut for me,” Jimmy says.

“I went with the chili. It’s such chili weather out!” Kathleen answers.

“Good choices,” Travis says.

“When are you done working? Do you wanna join us?” Kathleen asks.

“I only have about half-an-hour left,” he tells them, “but Rosie and I are going over to my grandma’s to make dinner and hang out with her.”

“Oh, that’s great!” Kathleen says. “How’s she holding up?”

“She’s okay. She’s putting on a brave front. But I can tell she’s ready for this house arrest thing to be over. Only a few more days.”

“She’s lucky she’s got all you guys,” Jimmy says.

Travis lifts one shoulder in a shrug and picks up their finished oyster plate. “I should get back in there, but I wanted to come say hi. Have a good dinner, okay? Let’s all catch up more soon.”

“Sounds good to me,” Kathleen says, and they both watch her son head back toward the kitchen. An awkward quiet falls between the couple with all the subtlety of a dropped brick.

“So, uh, that wedding thing,” Jimmy finally chances. “Guess it’s time we talk about the tough stuff, eh?”

—–

Containers of takeout Thai food are spread over the coffee table in Diane Bishop’s condominium, along with plates, utensils, and two glasses of white wine. Billy Fisher sits on the carpet, watching a cartoon on an iPad as he munches on a steamed dumpling.

“I needed this tonight,” Sarah Fisher Gray says to her friend. “Good call.”

“You and me both. We’ve overdue,” Diane Bishop agrees. She reaches for her wine and takes a drink of the crisp sauvignon blanc.

Sarah picks up her own glass and clinks it against Diane’s. “Here’s to both making messes of our lives at the same time.”

“At least yours isn’t your fault.”

After casting a glance at her son, who has his headphones firmly planted around his ears, Sarah says, “Try telling Tori and Matt that.”

“They’ll come around. People get weird when they feel dumb for not realizing something when they should have.”

“I guess. I just…” Sarah stares at the reality show playing on TV as she thinks. “I don’t know what the hell else I was supposed to do. Zane had me over a barrel.”

“You outsmarted him, and when he found a way to turn that around on him, you paid him to get him to go away. That’s exactly what you should’ve done. It’s what I would’ve done. Although, given my track record…”

“I could kill him,” Sarah says, her teeth clenching.

“You should. Maybe not the best idea since you just got off probation, but you know.”

Sarah lets out a groan.

“I don’t blame Tori for feeling like a fool,” Diane says. “She’s lashing out at you because you’re there. She will come around.”

“That’s what I’ve thought all along. It’s how I got myself to tell the truth in the first place. I figured, you know what, she’ll take some of it out on me, but it’ll be worth it in the long run. But Matt…”

“He was blindsided. He probably feels powerless, too. He sat back and took Zane for some great guy and let his daughter get hurt in the process. That’s got to be a blow to his ego.”

“I know, but he moved out.”

“He didn’t move out. He went to crash at his brother’s.”

“But it’s been days. We’ve barely even communicated.”

“Look at me,” Diane says, setting down her glass and making deliberate eye contact with her friend. “You guys are going to be fine. Matt loves you.”

“I know he does,” Sarah says, her shoulders slumping, “but he’s put up with a lot. Between covering for Molly, and hiding the Zane stuff from him, and using that money — I’m worried this will be the last straw.”

“It won’t be.”

“You don’t know that.” Sarah throws back some more of the sauvignon blanc. “No more progress with Samantha?”

“Nope. And I blame that damn Tempest. I fully own what I did and why Sam is angry at me to begin with, but we were getting somewhere. I could feel it.”

“You’ve tried reaching out again?”

“Yeah. She’s back to cold-shouldering me.” Diane thinks it over for a moment and then gestures wildly as she says, “I can’t change the past. I can’t take back what I did over two decades ago. If that’s the only way I’m going to get my daughter back–”

“It isn’t.”

Diane sinks back into the plush sofa. “What the hell are we going to do?”

“Polish off this wine and wake up tomorrow with some miraculous new resolve and optimism, I hope.”

“Deal,” Diane says as she grabs her glass again.

—–

Matt Gray tightens the final cam and sets down his screwdriver.

“That should do it,” he says. “Let’s get this thing up.”

His brother squats down to join him, and together they lift the bookcase upright and then scoot it backward so that it is flush against the wall of the garage.

“Thanks, man,” Jake says as they step back and admire the new addition. “It’s nice having you around while we’re getting the house together.”

“I bet Marcus doesn’t mind getting to be off-duty, either,” Matt comments with a grin.

“Yeah, I’m guessing this earns you a lot of uncle points.”

Matt lets out a sigh and picks up his nearby bottle of water. “It’s good to be busy. It’s keeping my mind off stuff.”

“You didn’t talk to Sarah today?” Jake asks, folding his arms.

“Nah. Just a quick text about picking up Billy. I know it can’t stay like this forever, but…”

“But you don’t know what to say? Or are you scared of what you want to say?”

“Not sure.” Matt screws the cap of the water bottle off and then back on, continuing to fiddle as he finds his words. “Don’t know what to say, I guess. It’s who she is. I get why she did what she did. But am I signed up for a lifetime of having stuff kept from me? These aren’t small secrets.”

“No. They’re not.”

“Look, what matters is that Tori’s okay,” Matt says.

Jake pulls out his phone and checks the time. “When are you meeting her?”

“In like an hour. I just wanna check in with her, make sure she knows I’m here for her. Her head must be a total mess right now.”

“I bet. It’s a pretty nutso situation.”

“You’re telling me. I hate feeling like I never know what’s really going on, or like I can’t believe what my own wife tells me.”

“On the other hand,” Jake says, “everything she’s done has been for her family’s good. It isn’t like she’s telling lies so she can run around with some other guy—”

Jake catches himself, but it is too late. The sound has made its way out. The brothers freeze, catching one another’s gaze and then quickly diverting. An uneasy quiet hums between them.

Jake starts again: “I didn’t mean—”

“No, I get it,” Matt hastens to say. “You’re right. I’ve got no reason to doubt her on that, and it could be a lot worse. I shouldn’t complain about this to you. Not after what I did.”

“Matt…”

“What I put you through,” Matt says, “what Nicole and I put you through — you know I’m never gonna fully forgive myself for that, right?”

“It’s been a long time.”

“Time doesn’t magically erase stuff. Especially stuff like that.” Matt’s face heats up with the shame of recalling his long-ago affair with his sister-in-law. He was young and stupid, and he was able to justify his behavior by rationalizing that Jake and Nicole weren’t happy together, that they’d made a mistake by rushing into marriage in the first place. It is so painful to think about that he tries to avoid doing so altogether, but there are times when it is impossible to do anything but think of it — and this is one of those instances.

“No, it doesn’t,” Jake admits. “But I had to make a choice a long time ago to either let it go or to hold onto my anger for the rest of my life. If I had… I don’t think I would’ve been able to start over with Mia. I wouldn’t have Marcus. I had to let go of Nicole, and of all my anger toward you, to get on with my life.”

“The fact that you even could do that…”

“I had to. And you’re my brother. Nicole had a lot of issues—”

“She wasn’t the only one to blame.”

“No. But there was a lot going on there, aside from her affair with you. She didn’t—” He stumbles over his thoughts, resting a hand on the newly constructed bookshelf as he gathers himself. “She didn’t take her own life only because of you, or me, or anything.”

“Just know that if I could go back in time and change what I did, I’d do it in a flash,” Matt says. “That isn’t who I am, or who I want to be.”

“I know. We all make mistakes.”

“Big mistakes. Really bad mistakes.”

“Yep. But people learn, and they change. I know you have.”

“Thanks,” Matt says, still uncomfortable, as he takes a sip from the water bottle.

“But think about Sarah,” Jake says. “She lied, yeah. She covered things up. But she did it for a very clear reason — a good reason, you could even say. Maybe she didn’t handle things perfectly, and it sucks that she would ever lie to you, but I think we both can understand exactly why she did what she did.”

Matt finds himself nodding. “Yeah. I guess you’re right.”

——

Kathleen looks back at Jimmy uncertainly.

“You know I don’t really care what we do for the wedding,” she says. “What matters is the fact that I’m marrying you.”

“Same.” He beams at her. “Getting to spend the rest of my life with you — that’s the prize.”

She shifts in her seat as she steels herself to speak up. “But you’re right. We’ve got to talk about how this is gonna work. If I’m being honest, I’ve kinda been avoiding all that.”

“Me, too.”

The waitress arrives with their entrees, and the couple pauses. They thank her, and Kathleen waits until she has left the table before going on.

“We’ve been making this long-distance thing work okay,” she says, “but I guess we need to pick here or Tacoma once we’re married.”

“I don’t have a lot keeping me in King’s Bay.”

“You own a house here.”

“And you have a life there.”

“Yeah…” She trails off and picks up her spoon, which she uses to take a careful bite of the still-steaming chili. “Oooh, that’s good. You’ve gotta try.”

She scoops up some more and passes the spoon over the table to him. Jimmy’s eyes light up as he tastes it.

“Awesome,” he says. He gives her the spoon back.

“I’ve been thinking,” Kathleen tells him. “I think I might be ready for a change.”

“You’re getting married! That’s a big change.”

She smiles. “Yeah. It is. But I mean… a whole life change.”

“You love working at the school!”

“I do. But I’ve been doing it for a long time. A long time. And I just think, you know, if I’m starting this new phase, maybe it’s time to make some changes.”

“What are you saying?” Jimmy asks, his own fork paused above the halibut. “You wanna move to King’s Bay?”

Her head bobs up and down affirmatively. “I think it could be the right time. I don’t know what I’ll do, but I bet I could get a waitressing job or something.”

“You’d be good at that. Or bartending.”

“Hey, if I could handle second-graders all these years, you bet I could keep a bunch of drunks in line.”

“I have no doubt,” he says as he takes a bite of his dinner.

“Besides,” Kathleen says, “Travis is here, and it’d be nice to be a little closer.”

“Then I think we should do it. King’s Bay it is. We’re gonna find you a great job and everything.”

Kathleen widens her eyes, both excited and nervous. “Here goes nothing.”

—–

“Tim… I don’t know what to say.”

Sonja picks up her glass of the red wine that Tim ordered for them and brings it to her lips, though she takes only the most cursory of sips. He has just finished explaining to her the full story of Samantha’s conception and the recent revelation that tore his daughter and her mother apart.

“You don’t have to say anything,” Tim tells her. “I just thought it was time you knew. It isn’t something I’m going to lie about.”

Sonja contemplates the burgundy liquid in her glass. “I’m sorry you had to go through that,” she finally says, “and that you have to keep dealing with it.”

“Thanks. I’ve made my peace with it, though. I really have. I just hate that it’s causing Samantha so much pain now.”

“I can understand why. That had to be a terrible shock for her.”

“Clearly. I think that’s part of why I never wanted her to know — because I could only imagine how devastating it would be. And she’s had a good relationship with her mother.”

“Well, in that sense, maybe it’s best that she knows the truth.” Sonja shakes her head with disdain. “Now she knows what kind of woman Diane really is.”

Tim sits up straighter, a little alarmed. “I never wanted my daughter to have to deal with this.”

“Of course not. But secrets do have a way of coming out. Maybe now you can stop pretending to be okay with Diane just for Samantha’s sake.”

“I’m not pretending to be okay with Diane. I really have gotten past it.”

“That says a lot about what a good, forgiving man you are,” Sonja says. “Though it doesn’t sound like Diane deserves that kind of treatment.”

“Sonja—”

“I’m sorry, but what she did was absolutely indecent!”

Tim is surprised to hear the unassuming therapist raise her voice. Sonja seems to catch herself and glances around self-consciously.

“Sorry,” she says more quietly. “But I’ve come to care about you, Tim. And Samantha is a really special young woman. Neither of you should have to make accommodations for someone who violated you so blatantly.”

He feels annoyance leaping in his chest like a red-hot flame caught by the wind. “Frankly, I don’t think it’s up to you to decide how I should or shouldn’t feel about what happened. It’s been over twenty years.”

Sonja sits back, placing her wine down on the table. He watches her face for some hint of how she is going to respond. He hates the idea that this could divide them, especially since he has so been looking forward to this night out, but he also won’t stand for being told how to feel or act.

“You’re right,” Sonja says gently. “I shouldn’t be trying to lecture you. I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. I know it’s a really loaded situation.”

“It’s a lot to take in. But you’re right. It’s your life, and if you’ve found a way to come to terms with it, that’s really good.”

Tim nods. “I’ve tried. There were a lot of very strange circumstances that went into getting me to this point.”

“It says a lot about your capacity to forgive and to see the best in people. That’s admirable.”

He shrugs.

“I’m serious, Tim.”

“Thanks.” He picks up his glass of wine. “Now how about we put that aside and try to enjoy our evening? I’ve been looking forward to this for too long to let something from my past screw it up.”

“Deal,” Sonja says, putting on a smile as they toast.

END OF EPISODE 915

Will Matt find a way to get past what Sarah did?
Does Sonja have a right to resent Diane?
Will Kathleen find a place for herself in King’s Bay?
Talk about it all in the comments below!

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