“Footprints”
Episode #499
Previously…
- Courtney spilled the beans to Josh about Lauren’s cancer scare. Josh confronted Lauren and decried her lack of faith in him as the final straw for their already-broken relationship.
- When Molly berated Sarah for not telling the family about Ryan’s book sooner, Sarah spitefully revealed that she saw Danielle having dinner with Ryan.
- Seth pressured Alex to give him a chance after Trevor left town, but Alex was reluctant to move on so quickly.
EDGE OF WINTER ARENA
After searching the entire arena for Lauren Brooks, Courtney Chase finds her friend outside, in front of the arena. She is relieved that Lauren didn’t jump in her car and drive off after what appeared to be a heated argument with Josh, but having found her brings a whole new problem: namely, how to approach Lauren.
Courtney decides not to prolong this any further. “I owe you an apology,” she says, staring toward Lauren.
Lauren turns, startled at the intrusion, but there is none of the hostility that Courtney expected.
“Please. I should’ve told you he didn’t know if I expected you not to mention it,” Lauren says. “Or I should’ve just told him in the first place.”
Stunned by Lauren’s calm reaction, Courtney hesitates a moment before settling next to her friend. The two women stand quietly, savoring the moderate evening breeze.
“Why didn’t you tell him?” Courtney finally asks.
Lauren shakes her head. “I freaked. I don’t know. I assumed he wouldn’t be able to handle it.”
“That’s not such a ridiculous assumption. He is Josh.”
“Yeah, but he’s also a good guy, deep down. How could I have expected him to be trustworthy when I couldn’t give him the same respect?”
“Maybe he’ll be better once the shock wears off,” Courtney offers encouragingly.
Lauren seems hesitant even to entertain the thought.
“This is quite the night for us, huh?” Courtney asks. “Screwing things up left and right.”
“I can’t think of anyone else I’d rather mess up my whole life with,” Lauren says, forcing a smile.
***
“Did you see the gym?” Sarah Gray asks her father. “It’s amazing. Almost makes me want to take up working out on a regular basis.”
“The whole place is incredible,” Bill agrees, marveling at the renovated arena around them.
Sarah’s stomach flips when she sees Danielle Taylor approaching. Normally, she would be thrilled to see her former sister-in-law, but considering their last encounter--when Sarah spotted Danielle dining with Ryan at Windmills--Sarah has a bad feeling about this.
Danielle sidles up to them and exchanges pleasantries with Bill before asking, “Sarah, could I have a word with you?”
“Of course.”
Bill excuses himself. Danielle stands before Sarah, her arms folded.
“I have to say, I’m a little disappointed,” Danielle says after a too-long spell of quiet. “I thought you, of all people, would’ve had some respect for keeping other people’s private lives private.”
“I didn’t run to Molly to rat you out,” Sarah says. “She was giving me hell for having known about Ryan’s book, and it just… slipped out.”
“Meanwhile, you’re running around with the woman who talked him into publishing that book.”
“Believe me, I’ve gotten my share of grief from my family over this whole thing. I’m well aware of my shortcomings, don’t worry.”
“So you felt you had to bring someone down with you?”
Sarah has never seen Danielle this angry. She feared what Molly would do with the information that Danielle was spending time with Ryan; she only mentioned it to make Molly see that anyone could be caught in the position that Sarah found herself in.
“Molly loves you,” Sarah says. “She’ll get over it.”
“This isn’t about Molly, or Ryan, or anyone else. It’s about you and me, Sarah. I thought we were friends.”
Sarah doesn’t know how to respond to that. The words are innocuous enough, but Danielle’s tone carries an implication… that she is fully innocent, that Sarah is completely to blame.
“I really need to get going. I have to be up early for a meeting tomorrow,” Sarah says. “One thing, though: are you sure you’re not just taking out your guilt on me?”
Without waiting for a response, Sarah turns to leave. Danielle makes no move to stop her. Without even bothering to say goodbye to her family, Sarah leaves the arena.
***
Sandy James wipes a layer of slush and snow from her skate blade. Jason Fisher watches happily as his longtime coach slips plastic guards over her blades. She has been on and off the ice all night, talking with guests and basking in the wonderful new arena at which she will serve as Skating Director. After all the years of hard work that Sandy put into his career, as well as the careers of countless other skaters, Jason is glad to provide her with such a terrific new space in which to work.
“I’d say everything is going great,” Sandy says, “aside from that little road bump with the health inspector.”
“Thank God for Sabrina dealing with that,” Jason says. Just then, he spots Courtney re-entering the arena’s front doors. “Speaking of which, I need to tie up a loose end from that situation.”
He leaves Sandy and makes his way over to Courtney, who appears genuinely flustered when he appears in front of her.
“I know I overreacted before,” he says. “You have permission to be pissed at me. I’m sorry.”
She takes a moment to gather herself. “No more of anyone being mad at anyone tonight, okay? I’ve had my fill.”
Jason’s entire body relaxes. “That was easier than I expected.”
“You caught me in a weak moment,” she teases. “Besides, I’ve done my fair share of screwing up tonight, too.”
“Don’t beat yourself up over the paperwork. Accidents happen, and it’s dealt with--”
“I did fax that stuff over,” she says, suddenly much more serious. “I saw the confirmation page.”
Jason doesn’t know what to make of that. “Maybe there was a problem on their end, then,” he reasons, though the situation continues to trouble him.
“Can we just, like, have fun now? We’ve worked too hard not to enjoy this night.”
“I’m so in,” he says, taking her arm. They make their way over to one of the buffet tables before something occurs to him. “Wait, what else did you screw up tonight?”
“You’d better ask Lauren,” Courtney says. “I’ve done my fill of blabbing for one night.”
***
Alex Marshall sees Lauren step back through the front doors. He has wanted to approach her all night. They have so much to discuss, in light of Trevor’s recent departure, but he doesn’t know if Lauren blames him for that. And now she looks upset about something else entirely. Perhaps this is a bad time.
He is still considering whether to approach her when a hand grabs him roughly by the sleeve. He turns his head and sees that it is Seth Ashby.
“What are you doing?” Alex asks.
Seth doesn’t answer. Instead he moves Alex forcefully through a door and into the back hallway that leads to the locker rooms.
“Seriously, what do you think you’re doing?” he asks again, as Seth releases his grip on Alex’s shirt. “I told you--”
“Shut up,” Seth says, and before Alex can say anything else, Seth moves in and presses his mouth against Alex’s.
Alex tells himself to resist, but his body is slow in responding to his brain’s orders. He feels Seth’s tongue move into his mouth… and when the kiss ends, however many seconds or minutes later, Alex realizes that he might have been kissing back.
“Seth, I don’t--”
“I told you to shut up,” Seth says, grinning. “Just think about that, okay?”
He heads back out to the party, leaving Alex alone in the back hallway. Somehow, he doesn’t think Seth’s instruction will be too difficult to follow.
***
SARAH GRAY’S APARTMENT
Even after weeks of living here, Sarah still doesn’t regard this place as home. The apartment is fine; under different circumstances, she would probably consider it nice. The way things stand, however, it feels like a punishment.
She bypasses the elevator and takes the stairs up to her floor. Something about the possibility of being trapped in a small space with strangers, even for just a few seconds, makes her terribly uncomfortable right now. All she wants is to get inside her apartment and be alone.
She exits the stairs on her floor. As she moves closer to her apartment, she spots something on the door. A flyer?
When she reaches the door, she realizes that it is a note, folded closed and taped to the door. She hurriedly pulls it down and reads:
Sarah,
I found myself in King’s Bay suddenly for business, and after our little adventure in the mountains, I felt compelled to contact you. My apologies for the lack of advance notice. If you are so inclined, please contact me at the number below.
Graham Colville
She eyes the phone number. Would she be crazy enough to call it? She isn’t sure whether she should be flattered or disturbed by this man’s note--or by the fact that he managed to locate her in the first place.
She is still staring at the note when she hears the ding of the elevator. She looks just in time to see Graham himself stepping onto the floor.
“Oh,” he says, startled by the sight of her. “I was leaving and thought perhaps the note was an ill-advised move. I see I’m too late, though.”
He stands there, awaiting Sarah’s response.
END OF EPISODE #499
What does Graham want from Sarah?
Is Seth going to win Alex over?
Will Lauren find a way to move on from Josh?
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