EPISODE 92
Written by : Bre L. Drew
August 24th, 2020
Last Time On Town and Country
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Louise and Martha decided to speak to Sarah Lynn's therapist due to their worry about her current state of grief.
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Tommy got accepted into Pepperdine University in Malibu, California.
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Will's apology to Shauna wasn't well-received by her,
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Mala Gupta and her son Samuel moved to Radcliffe from Chicago.
HOME FARM
On this sunny warm afternoon, Tommy Covington is lying beside his girlfriend on the double lounge chaise by the pool on the Home Farm Estate making out, Although sex is presently on his mind he knows she isn't ready to take that step with him to which he is trying to deal with,
"Was it just me, or did this summer go by fast?" Tanner Lockhart asks with amazement whilst straightening the strap of her one-piece bathing suit.
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"No, it not just you, five minutes ago we were all graduating high school, and now we're going off to college,"
"We better make this weekend count because you'll be leaving next week,"
Next week Tommy will be going off to California, where he'll be studying business studies at Pepperdine University in Malibu. And in another week Tanner and Elijah will be attending local Sampson University,
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"I can promise you that," he tells her. Their lips touch one another forming intimacy between them. Peering over his shoulder, Tanner sees Lynn and Elijah arriving in their own swimwear.
"Lockhart, Barker, about time you made it!" Tommy exclaims
Elijah Barker throws a big beach ball at Tommy, who tosses it into the water.
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"We were just giving you two some time to be alone," Lynn says as she puts her straw bag onto the chaise next to theirs.
"How thoughtful," Tanner says amusingly
Lynn, Elijah, and Tanner all get into the pool sending water onto the tiles. As Tommy is heading into their direction his phone rings on the side table,
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"Hello," he answers somewhat formally --- "Yes, this is he," Tommy hears what is being said to him, which makes him shakes his head. "There must be some mistake,"
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RADCLIFFE RECEIVING HOSPITAL
"Take-Two," Martha Saunders vocalizes to her older sister Louise Saunders Lockhart. The women exit out of the elevator onto the third floor of Radcliffe Receiving Hospital. Yesterday the two had ventured up here where they were told their mother's psychiatrist was out for the rest of the day. Putting aside their differences in order to persuade him to go see her because of the grief she still has over the loss of their father.
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Heading towards the general psychiatry unit area, the sisters arrive at the front desk in which a young female red-headed desk clerk slides the glass partition.
"Hi, do you have an appointment this morning?" she queries in her southern accent.
Louise pulls up the strap of her purse on her shoulder. "No, we're are looking to speak to Dr. Samuel Gupta it has to do with our mother,"
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The red-headed front desk receptionist waves her pen in their direction, causing them to see a tall Indian male in his late twenties in a light blue oxford cotton shirt and navy slacks. The ladies thank her and proceed to approach him.
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"Dr. Gupta," Martha starts.
He smiles charismatically "You found him, please call me Samuel,"
All of a sudden, Louise recognizes the familiarity of his surname. "You wouldn't be related to Mala Gupta?"
Mala is the new woman Daniel is currently romantically involved with whom she first met at the café where the two of them were out on a coffee date.
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"No, Not personally," she changes the subject. "My name is Louise Saunders Lockhart and this is my sister Martha Saunders and we are worried about our mother, she was a patient of yours."
"What's her name?" he asks curiously,
"Sarah Lynn Saunders," Martha replies
Samuel recalls the older woman walking out on her first session when she refused to address his question about her father which touched a nerve with her.
"I wish I can be of assistance, but your mother has to decide if therapy is beneficial to her," he informs
Martha senses how somewhat incorporative the shrink sounds. "Look, Samuel, we know it's up to our mother, but you don't know the kind of woman Sarah Lynn Saunders is she is the heartbeat of our family; and we're concerned of the breakdown she suffered because the one man she ever loved with all of her heart unexpectedly passed away,
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COVINGTON GROUP
"Make sure you follow those set guidelines, and you shall be fine," Mala Gupta apprise over the phone to one of the other fellow architects going to a worksite outside of town. She then sets the device back onto the hook. She gets back to reading her work email on the desktop computer in her office on the eighth floor inside of the Covington Tower in Downtown Radcliffe.
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Moments later; her office phone begins ringing in which she picks it up on the third ring. "Hello, Mala Gupta," she answers. She waits for a beat to hear the message from her secretary Marjorie.
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"Send them in, cheers," she ends the call by hanging up. She was just informed a "surprise visitor" is here to see her assuming it is Daniel whom she has been seeing for a while now. Quickly, obtaining the compact mirror in her Louis Vuitton purse to check her makeup, satisfied she puts it back in the bag before moving it out of the way again. Not long after the door swings open, however, when she looks up; it isn't whom she expected,
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"Hi, Mommy,"
"What are you doing here?"
"Now is that any way to greet your only daughter that you haven't seen in months." Aaliyah Gupta says to her mother.
"I didn't mean it like that, but you were supposed to arrive on Friday," Mala replies more amicably.
"Hence me being your surprise visitor,"
Mala gets out of her chair to hug her as she lets go she takes in her daughter's appearance. She is wearing a white fringe sweater tank top that shows off her midriff and a pair of stylish blue jeans. Her long brown hair still has the honey-coated highlights she had before she left the country three months ago.
"So how was London?" she asks.
Aaliyah decides to take a seat in front of her mother at her desk, "It was fun, did some shopping, of course, sightseeing caught up with the rest of the family, and as usual Dadi taught me how to cook, this time it was dessert, jalebi."
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Mala nods her head not even the slightest taken-aback at her mother trying to teach her grandchildren to cook since she went through the same thing as a youth,
"Anything else happened while you were in Southall?"
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Aaliyah puts her bucket purse on top of her mother's desk, not flinching at her mother's question. "Mommy, what are you trying to get at?"
"Any summer romances?" Mala reveals defeatedly
"Ha, yes I was involved with someone over the summer, but it's over," Aaliyah says nonchalantly
"Who?"
The teenager laughs shaking her head. "Why does it matter who it is?"
"Because I'm your mother and I was the one who paid for your holiday away,"
Aaliyah sighs before responding. "It was Imran Singh,"
Mala rolls her eyes as gets up out of her chair to look out the window that oversees the downtown area. "I never did like him,"
Imran is the son of one of Mala's peers from high school whom she found him cocky like his father as well. She thought her daughter would be smart enough not to get involved with someone like him with no prospects other than working for his father's carpet-cleaning business.
"Do I take it you're no longer a virgin either?"
FRANKLIN FARM : MAIN HOUSE
"Sweetie, one more bite," Sarah Lynn Saunders says encouragingly to her one-year-old grandson. The two were in the kitchen inside of their home on Franklin Farm. She was sitting down at the table keeping an eye on the baby in his highchair nearly done with his lunch consisted of peas, diced pineapples, and small chunks of chicken in his red divided plate, but now we're left was the peas,
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His little face conveyed the refusal of eating the rest of them. "Yucky," he babbles.
"One more bite for me," Sarah Lynn pleads nicely. She opens her mouth for him to follow suit.
A few seconds pass before he complies with his grandmother's order which he makes funny expressions whilst he eats them,
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Sarah Lynn begins clapping enthusiastically, in which SJ does too which lights her spirits by making her laugh, the side-entry door opens with Will Jackson entering inside of the house timidly, he sees Sarah Lynn picking up the baby out of the chair.
"Hey Sarah Lynn, can I talk to you for a minute?" Will inquires
"You can have two," she says pleasantly. "But let me put this little guy down for his nap."
"Nap no," he replies
"Yes, nap," she insists.
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Will could not help but crack a grin at the baby who is fighting sleep being taken upstairs.
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COVINGTON GROUP
Aaliyah chuckles before someone knocks on her door which has interrupted their uncomfortable conversation,
Mala tells the person behind the threshold to come in. Ironically it is Daniel Covington who steps in the office. "Hey," he is about to say some more, but he notices a young woman who looks fairly familiar to him. "I didn't mean to interrupt."
Mala waves her hand dismissively. "It's all right, Daniel, this is my daughter Aaliyah,"
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Daniel sticks out his hand to shake his girlfriend's teenage daughter. Mala also doesn't miss the suggestive glance from the young woman either signifying she knows about the two of them via Samuel,
"So you must be getting ready to head to college," Daniel asks,
"Sure am," Aaliyah responds cheerfully.
"She should be getting ready to attend Yale instead of Sampson."
"Mommy, it only took you ten minutes to mention how I disappointed you about not going to the Ivy League you're losing your touch," Aaliyah says half-mockingly
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At seventeen years old, Aaliyah had not only got accepted into all of the schools she applied for, she as well graduated high school a year early due to hard work in addition to her two previous summers attending summer school. An accomplishment both of her parents are proud of. Nonetheless, Mala was upset her daughter has passed up an opportunity to receive the best education from Yale instead of second-rate college thirty-five minutes away studying fashion design and business studies.
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Mala decides to change the subject. "So do you need a ride home,"
"Yes I do, I took a cab from the airport to here, which was crazy expensive by the way."
Daniel arches one of his eyebrows. "So I see that luggage out there belongs to you then,"
"Yes, it does,"
"Hey, Aaliyah how about my driver takes you to the cottage, so you can freshen up and unpack."
"Thanks," she says unexpectedly, "I like this guy already mommy,"
Aaliyah gives her mother a side hug before she steps into the hall to retrieve her belongings back into the elevator where she'll be meeting Daniel's limo driver in front of the building downstairs which he arranged via text.
"She's a firecracker isn't she," Daniel points out,
"That's one word for it," Mala replies.
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The two embrace one another in each other's arms she kisses him in which he reciprocates,
"I wanted to come by to thank you for coming over yesterday," he tells her.
Mala had come over to the mansion yesterday when the house was full of loved ones celebrating Shauna being back home.
"No words of gratitude are needed; I'm glad I was able to be there for you in your time of need," she says in her native British accent.
Daniel pulls her in back in his arms, and this time the two are snogging passionately.
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FRANKLIN FARM : MAIN HOUSE
Sarah Lynn walks back into the kitchen where Will is standing around the counter, "How are you,"
Will rubs his hands together before responding. "In all realness, I've been better."
"Is this about what happened with Shauna?"
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Will explains how he approached Shauna when she got home from the hospital after being examined from the kidnapping of his former cellmate Jerome Hawkins. And despite him getting involved with her recovery she wasn't receptive to him when he tried to apologize to her for his association with him leading to her being snatched up out of the parking lot of the bar, it seemed customers in the bar were whispering and giving him the same type of stares he was given when he was heading to prison nearly four years ago,
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Sarah Lynn goes to the refrigerator to obtain two bottles of water in which she gave one to him. "So what is it you wanted to talk to me about,"
Will's hand rests on the top of the bottle. "If you don't mind could you tell Esther today is my last day I don't this is going to work out,"
"How come?"
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"The other workers out there keep giving me looks --- not to mention everyone else is on Shauna's side including my momma," he announces
"If you want to leave it's up to you, but from the progress I've seen out there, we'll miss you around here,"
Will takes a sip of water. "Everybody thinks I was the one who kidnapped someone, not Jerome, Mario, and Chaz."
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"Hey, you paid your debt to society, and I know the situations our complete opposite. but I know what it is like to feel like an outsider in this town."
He expresses an expression of disbelief with a scoff.
"I grew up poor in a trailer park with my siblings and my mother, so when I first started seeing Peter; some people closest to him thought he was out of his mind getting involved with someone like me,"
"So how did you deal with it?"
"At first, it was difficult, but I remember Peter telling me people are going to have their opinions, and there ain't damn thing you can do about it."
He takes another sip of water, understanding mentally what she is talking about. However, staying here in Radcliffe with him being the leper doesn't appeal to him. "So let them gawk huh,"
"Don't let others uproot your life is all I'm getting at." she advises caringly."
Will remains there contemplating his next step as he let the words sink in.
RADCLIFFE RECEIVING HOSPITAL
"I get that you two care about her," he says whilst he looks behind them ready to get to his office.
"We know we can't force her to talk to you, but it would greatly be appreciated if you can see her where she is the most comfortable maybe she will open up to you it took me too long to realize she was depressed until it was too late," Louise says wholeheartedly,
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Samuel scratches behind his right ear. "I'm not guaranteeing anything,"
"Thank you," The Saunders sisters say in unison.
With there information exchanged with each other Samuel goes towards his office as the sisters head back to the elevator bank.
"Did we just work together for a greater good?" Martha asks is somewhat disbelief due to them not being close.
Louise steps foot into the elevator. "Well, I don't see any lightning striking so I think it worked,"
HOME FARM
The longer he stays on the phone the more upset Tommy is becoming. "Is there a reason why?" he interrogates
He hears footsteps from his girlfriend and friends who all our wet from being in the pool. The three shows various facial reactions of concern as they overhear him. Tommy soon hangs up the phone, due to not receiving the response he wanted to get during the conversation.
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"Hey, what's going on?" Tanner asks worriedly
Tommy tosses his iPhone onto the chaise lounge chair. "That was the Pepperdine Admissions Department my admission for the upcoming fall semester has been rescinded."
"How is that even possible?" Lynn says
"Something about due to the recent events your family was involved in." Tommy paraphrases the admission representative.
All of them knew it must have to do with Shauna's kidnapping since it was covered in all of the media since Covington's are known worldwide for being a successful multimillionaire family.
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"Man, I'm so sorry," Elijah gives his sympathies to his best friend since he knew how much going there is important to him.
"I bet you this I'm going to be on that campus next week," Tommy declares defiantly,
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END OF EPISODE
ON THE NEXT EPISODE OF TOWN AND COUNTRY
Tanner and Lynn finally give Tricia an answer.
Sarah Lynn finds herself opening up about her life.
Shauna reels from the kidnapping.
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