Previously…
- Sarah and Matt ran into one another on Pier 22, where the Fisherman’s Pier restaurant once stood. They realized they were both thinking about the baby they lost. Graham, who was on the next pier consulting on a project, spotted them together.
- On New Year’s Eve, Molly and Philip slept together for the first time.
- Lauren confronted Josh, who admitted that he was hiding something: he’d received a job offer from a movie studio in Los Angeles. He proposed to Lauren and asked her to move to L.A. with him. She agreed.

JOSH TAYLOR’S HOUSE

Lauren Brooks opens her eyes to morning sunlight pouring through the blinds. She squints against the light as her vision adjusts. The house is cold, since Josh hates sleeping with the heat on, so she pulls the blankets tighter around her body. She lies there for a few minutes, slowly waking up, before she feels an arm reach across her body.

“Morning,” Josh says, his voice raspy from sleep.

She turns to face him. “Good morning.”

“What time is it?” he says with a groan. He reaches for his phone and the nightstand and frowns at the time. “I don’t want to get up and pack.”

“I don’t really want you to get up and pack, either,” she says, “but it seems kind of important, no?”

“I guess.” He presses in closer to her. “You sure you don’t want to play hooky and come to L.A. with me?”

The thought has occurred to her, but she knows there is plenty to do in King’s Bay while Josh gets started on his new job in Hollywood--things like finishing up her work at Willis Advertising and planning their wedding. “I’ll be down there before we know it,” she says, trying to convince herself as much as him. “And this wedding is not going to plan itself.” Yeah, maybe I’m not that upset about missing that.” He flashes her a smirk and then, in a rush of energy, shoots out of bed. “I’m gonna jump in the shower. I don’t want to be playing that whole ‘Am I gonna miss my flight?’ game.”

“Good.” Lauren sits up and rubs her eyes. She watches as Josh, in just a pair of boxers, ducks into the bathroom. As she listens to the shower running, she pulls the blankets around her bare arms and tries to absorb that this is all really happening. She and Josh are getting married and moving to Los Angeles. Her whole life is about to change. And she couldn’t be more excited.

COLVILLE HOME

With his morning tea in hand, Graham Colville enters the living room to find his wife curled up on the window seat, staring out into the January morning. He watches her silently for a moment.

“Is something the matter?” he asks at last.

Sarah turns with a start, clearly not having been aware of his presence until he spoke. “No. Just… thinking.”

“That sort of thinking implies that something is troubling you.” He offers a compassionate smile.

“It’s nothing.”

She continues to stare out the window while Graham sits down in one of the antique accent chairs.

“I’ve never told you much about the baby I lost,” she says out of the blue, turning back to him.

“I wasn’t sure that it was my place to press for details.”

“It was a boy. Tori wanted to name him Scooter--which we probably wouldn’t have let her do, but maybe it could’ve been a nickname. And now it seems like that’s his name.”

“Then that’s his name,” Graham says as he sips his tea.

She picks up something that has been resting beside her, and Graham realizes that it is a sonogram.

“I’ve kept this all these years,” she says, almost apologetically. “Being pregnant again has stirred up so much of this stuff that I thought was in the past.”

“You’re never going to forget about it. Nor should you.”

Her eyes fixed on the sonogram, Sarah pushes a piece of blond hair out of her face. “I didn’t even really want to have another baby at the time. But Matt wanted Tori to have a brother or sister, and we fought about it. A lot. And then I got pregnant and I figured… it was meant to happen.”

Graham waits for her to go on. He can almost see the words perched on her lips, ready to take flight, but she seems to be questioning them.

“Sometimes I think it happened because I didn’t really want to have the baby,” she finally says. “Like it was a punishment for not being grateful enough, or for being more worried about my career than the child I was carrying.”

“That’s not true,” he says, setting his tea on the table and standing to move toward her. “It was a tragedy. From the sounds of it, Nick Moriani was an absolute madman. He was the reason you lost your baby.”

“I know that, on a logical level, but…” She shakes her head. “I ran into Matt a few days ago. We were talking about that day, and I guess it just dredged up all this stuff.”

The mention of her ex-husband’s name causes Graham’s blood pressure to spike. He reminds himself that he should be glad that she is telling him about her encounter with Matt. When he saw them together on the pier, he feared it was some kind of secret meeting--but if Sarah is opening up to him about it, that should mean that she has nothing to hide… he thinks.

“I’m just scared,” she says. “What if something goes wrong with this baby, too?”

“Don’t say that.” He places his hands on her shoulders. “Don’t even think it.”

“I’m trying,” she says, still focused on the sonogram.

OBJECTION DESIGNS

“Incoming!”

Cameron’s voice jolts Molly Taylor from the photos of accessories that she is looking over. “Who is it?” she calls out to her assistant. Before Cameron can even answer, Philip Ragan blows through the open door of her office. “Just me,” Philip says, his dimples even more pronounced than usual as he grins at her. A split-second later, Cameron appears in the doorway. “Just him.”

“Thanks,” Molly tells the young man as she sets down the photos and rises from her desk chair.

Philip closes the door behind himself. “I was taking care of some business downtown and thought I’d pop in to say hello.”

“I’m glad you did.” Molly crosses the office and plants a kiss on his lips.

Philip surprises her by wrapping his arms around her back and pulling her closer. The kiss turns from a simple affectionate greeting into something more passionate. Since they first slept together on New Year’s Eve, Molly has not been able to stop thinking about him, and she has not stopped wanting to be close to him. She feels herself getting lost in the kiss, pressing her body into his just as he is pressing into her…

And then, suddenly, she pulls back.

“What’s wrong?” Philip asks with a quizzical look.

“Nothing.” She turns back toward her desk, feeling her cheeks flush. She hates feeling like such a prude.

“I’m sorry, that was inappropriate,” he says. “This is your office, and I know we have a prior professional relationship--”

“It isn’t that.” She faces him again and offers a smile that she hopes will take the edge off her abrupt physical actions. “I mean, yes, a bit. But the door is closed, and this is my office, and… I guess I’m just worried about people finding out so soon.”

“You’re worried people will find out that we’re… seeing each other?”

“No.” This is coming out all wrong. She takes a deep breath and goes back to him, taking his hands in hers. “But I’m not ready for my family--especially my sons--to know that I’m seeing someone. It’s… complicated.”

He answers so quickly that she doesn’t even have time to worry about his reaction.

“I understand,” he says. “We can take this at whatever pace you need.”

“Thank you.” She reaches up, places a hand on the back of his neck, and then draws him to her for a kiss. And this time, she doesn’t pull away.

JASON FISHER’S HOUSE

“You guys have fun,” Jason Fisher says as he grabs his messenger bag from one of the chairs at the kitchen table. “Some of us have actual meetings at our actual jobs to get to.”

“Some of us have weddings to plan,” Lauren says as she spreads out all sorts of folders and photographs on the kitchen island.

“And some of us have contracts with publishing companies that are in total disarray,” Alex Marshall chimes in, “and that’s a good excuse to procrastinate and help our friends plan the aforementioned weddings.”

“Like I said, have fun.” Jason starts out of the kitchen, then stops and turns back. “Don’t forget that Sophie needs those ear drops sometime around lunch. I know she says it doesn’t hurt anymore, but--”

Alex holds up both hands. “I’ve got it. I promise. Your child is in safe hands with me while you’re at work.”

Jason lets out a sigh. “Sorry. You guys have a good day.”

“Bye, Jason,” Lauren says, while Alex gives him a parting wave.

The two of them take seats at the island, where Alex’s eyes roam over the abundance of wedding-related materials.

“I can’t believe you’re getting married,” he says. “I mean, I can believe it, but…”

“I know what you mean. It’s weird.”

“I’m just glad that your suspicions about Josh turned out to be totally wrong.”

“Me, too. Although you have to give me that it seemed shady.”

“Totally.” Alex flips open a pamphlet for one of the potential venues, a historic garden. “And you’re feeling okay about everything? It was a lot to decide all at once.”

“Yeah.” The sheer enormity of it all keeps taking her by surprise. “Quitting my job to move to L.A. with Josh is not something I thought I would be doing, but… even when I was so mad at him because I thought he was cheating, I didn’t want to lose him.”

“It’s not like you won’t be able to find a job in advertising in Los Angeles.”

“Exactly. Once I get settled, I’ll start looking. In the meantime…” She gestures over the wedding-planning mess before them.

“So what do you need help with?” Alex asks.

“Actually… there’s something I need to talk to you about.”

He sets down the pamphlet and waits.

“It’s going to be a very small wedding,” she says, “and I’ve asked my brother to be my man of honor. You’re going to be okay seeing him, right?”

Alex’s insistent nod comes without delay. “Of course. Yeah. I’ll be fine.”

Something about the swiftness of his answer isn’t entirely convincing, but she doesn’t want to make him uncomfortable, either. “You’re sure?”

“Yeah. Trevor and I… We weren’t individually in a place to work out as a couple. We can’t hold that against one another. At least, I don’t hold it against him. We both had a lot of growing-up to do.”

“Well, I’m glad to hear you say that, because I want you at my wedding!”

“I wouldn’t miss it.” Alex picks up the pamphlet again and is about to ask a question about the garden when he notices Lauren staring at him. “What?”

“Have you been seeing anybody? I haven’t heard you talk about anyone since… probably since Seth left.”

He shrugs. “Nobody worth mentioning.”

“What does that mean?”

“I tried online dating a little, but I didn’t really meet anyone I was that into. Maybe I was having a relationship hangover.” He gets up from his seat and grabs a half-full coffee mug from the opposite counter. “Now can we stop talking about my lack of a love life and focus on your wedding?”

COLVILLE HOME

Sarah goes upstairs to take a shower before meeting with a client. Graham notices that the door to the garage is ajar and, tea in hand, moves to close it. When he reaches the threshold, however, he notices a few boxes that have been pulled off a shelf against the far wall.

The top box in the short stack sits open. On the very top of its contents is a photo album, with several loose photographs sitting on top of a blank page. As he flips through the photos, Graham realizes that this must be the album from which Sarah took the sonogram photo. Feeling that he is somehow invading her privacy, he is about to close the album--when he catches sight of the other photos.

The sonogram isn’t the only thing that she removed from the album. There are several other photos sitting out, photos which depict her, Tori, and Matt on a day at the park. Sarah’s burgeoning pregnancy is evident in several of the pictures. What strikes Graham most is how happy they all look. The Sarah in these photos is worlds away from the woman he just saw on the window seat.

As he stares at the photos, whatever confidence Sarah just instilled in him begins to wither away. He took it as a positive sign that she was opening up to him about the past, but now it occurs to him that she only opened up because he found her lost in thought and inquired. She didn’t seek him out with her troubles. Because she was thinking about the old days. With her and Matt. And that is how it’s always going to be. An insidious thought creeps in, or rather, it emerges from the grave in which he thought he had managed to bury it. That baby Sarah is carrying--could it be Matt’s? Could that be why she is so melancholy? The way that the two of them looked together--the way they always look together, so intimate…

Graham startles when the sharp ring of his cell phone slices through his thoughts. Almost grateful for the reprieve, he lets go of the photos and, shifting his tea to the other hand, pulls out his phone.

“This is Graham Colville,” he answers.

“Hi, Mr. Colville. I’m calling about the planned demolition of the structure on Pier 23…”

Graham fields the call quickly, confirming details that have more or less already been set in stone. It is only when he hears one particular phrase that his attention zeroes in:

“…the structure will be sealed off and notices will be posted to keep people away from the site…”

Adrenaline races through Graham’s body as he finishes the call. As he ends the call, he reaches again for the photos. His fingers fumble, and the mug of tea goes tumbling to the garage floor.

He jumps back and manages to avoid being hit by the hot liquid, aside from a few small drops that hit the bottom of his pants. He stares at the broken ceramic scattered over the garage floor--and a nervous smile overtakes his lips.

That’s it.

END OF EPISODE #657

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