EPISODE 396
Written by: Bre L Drew
August 3, 2026
Last Time on Town and Country
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Samuel advises Courtney to carefully consider her next steps as she tries to repair her marriage after kissing Jacques.
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Meanwhile, Jes ends her relationship with Antoine, seeing it as an opportunity to finally explore where things with Samuel might lead.
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Steven gives Evan an ultimatum: either find a job to stay in Radcliffe or face the consequences for throwing the out-of-control party at Hope Cottage while he and Courtney were out of town.
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Micah appears ready to reveal to Presley why he has been so hesitant to become intimate with Gemma, until his parents unknowingly interrupt the conversation.
HOPE COTTAGE
Another summer afternoon unfolds in Radcliffe as Courtney Covington Sullivan works from home inside Hope Cottage, focusing on documents on her tablet. Seconds later, she hears footsteps descending the staircase into the rustic yet modern-interior living room.
Evan Sullivan, dressed in a black pullover hoodie and blue jeans, stops upon seeing his stepmother.
"Hey, you're heading out?" she asks him.
"Uh, yeah. I guess today is as good a day as any to look for a job," he tells her.
The requirement his parents set for him to stay at Radcliffe came after he threw an out-of-control party some time ago.
He still sees it as a punishment, but living with his mother and her new husband isn't what he wants either.
Noticing Courtney's distracted demeanor, Evan pauses.
"You, okay?" he asks.
"Oh, yes. I'm sorry. I got caught up with work, that's all," she brushes off.
Despite not knowing his father's considerably younger wife all that well, something tells him otherwise.
"Well, you've been staring at that same thing for a while. It seems like something's on your mind," Evan remarks.
Courtney takes a deep breath before continuing the conversation.
"Well, it's just adult things your father and I are dealing with at the moment, but nothing that involves you."
Evan immediately rolls his eyes.
"Why do adults always say that shit?"
The teenager quickly realizes he swore.
Surprisingly, Courtney doesn't correct him.
Instead, she lets out a small laugh despite the minor's coarse language.
Seeing an opening, Evan presses for more information.
"How bad?"
Courtney carefully chooses her words since it involves her kissing another man. She doesn't even want to test the waters by revealing that she shared a moment of infidelity with her aunt's husband, even if it was only a kiss.
"Your father and I aren't seeing eye to eye on something, and it's just an issue that hasn't been settled yet."
"I'm not the best at this, but if it's something broken that's worth saving, then it should take whatever it takes to fix it."
Courtney is caught off guard by the straightforwardness of his response.
Evan then realizes he should get going.
"Well, I better head out. It'd be easier if I had my license."
"Hey, do you want me to drive you into town?" Courtney offers.
"No, that's alright. Dad gave me some money to take a cab before he left. But I wish the rideshare apps knew this town actually exists."
She laughs softly.
"Well, be careful out there," she says as Evan leaves the room and heads out the front door.
Once alone, Courtney returns to her tablet and attempts to focus on work.
However, her thoughts continually drift back to Steven and the growing distance between them.
Several minutes later, the doorbell rings.
Assuming Evan forgot something, Courtney immediately gets up and heads for the front door.
She opens it expecting to see her stepson.
Instead, she's stunned to find Jacques Laurent standing there.
The unexpected visitor catches her completely off guard.
Jacques wears a reserved expression before speaking.
"May I come in?"
Courtney hesitates, immediately aware of how dangerous even being seen with him could be, given everything happening in her marriage.
After what feels like an eternity, she reluctantly steps aside.
Jacques enters the house.
The businesswoman closes the door behind him, knowing this conversation is unlikely to make her life any simpler.
FIRST STREET METHODIST CHURCH
At First Street Methodist Church, a strong sense of community fills the atmosphere as parishioners and local residents participate in the church's various activities on this particularly warm afternoon. Out on the basketball court, Will Jackson and Steven Sullivan play a competitive yet friendly one-on-one game.
Will loses possession of the ball, which Steven gains as he dribbles toward the hoop, the basketball bouncing rhythmically against the concrete while the shorter man tries to block him. Even so, the two begin talking.
"So, how are you doing?" the veterinarian queries.
Will manages to steal the ball back as the two men briefly stop playing. He starts tossing the basketball back and forth between his hands.
"I can't complain. Well, I guess except for Martha and me."
"What's up?"
Will stops tossing the ball, tucking it under his arm.
"Nah, it's just been a minute since we had any alone time. You know it ain't always easy when we live with her people," he says of his lover's family.
"As a member of that said family, I can understand," Steven notes. "Privacy is considered luxury at the farm."
Will wipes the beads of sweat from his forehead.
"I'll just settle for one night with Martha."
Steven immediately raises a hand.
"Now hold on. That's my cousin you're talking about."
Will laughs and tosses him the basketball.
"Man, get your mind out of the gutter. Besides, we are at church."
He throws the ball back to him.
Steven catches it and chuckles.
Will exhales before admitting, "I'd just like me to have a moment with my girl without someone knockin' on the door, somebody walkin' by, or somebody needin' somethin' for once. I dunno, man."
Steven considers what Will says before responding.
"How about you and Martha have a night away from the farm and go to a hotel or something?"
Will nods thoughtfully.
"Good lookin' out. I might actually look into that."
The mood then shifts.
Will notices Steven has been distracted throughout the game.
"So, what's goin' on with you?"
Steven sighs heavily before taking a shot toward the basket, wanting to avoid getting into it.
The basketball strikes the rim and bounces away.
Steven doesn't miss the symbolism.
RADCLIFFE RECIEVING HOSPITAL
Inside his office at Radcliffe Receiving Hospital, Samuel Gupta sits at his desk, reviewing patient information and recording clinical notes in a secure electronic health record system on his computer.
Soon, a respectful knock interrupts his work.
Samuel pauses what he's doing and looks up before acknowledging the person on the other side.
"Come in."
Moments later, Livia Kelley enters wearing dark gray scrubs and tennis shoes, her trademark genuine smile in place.
"I don't mean to intrude, but someone's here to see you," she tells him.
Before anyone says anything else, Jes Choudhury appears beside the nurse in the doorway with a tentative grin on her face.
Samuel is visibly surprised to see her, though he can't hide the hint of excitement that crosses his face.
Seeing her presence is no longer needed, Livia quickly excuses herself.
"Can I come in?" the beautiful attorney asks. She is dressed in an off-white sleeveless tie-neck blouse with slacks, a designer carryall bag hanging from her shoulder, while her dark hair is pulled back into a ponytail.
"No need to ask."
Jes enters the room, closing the door behind her.
By now, Samuel is standing behind his desk out of respect.
"To tell you the truth, you're the last person I expected to see today. Not that I don't mind seeing you, because I don't. But when we last left things... we were still questioning everything."
"Yeah... about that."
The two had met at Jojo's, where Jes confessed that despite being with Antoine, the two lifelong family friends had developed an attraction neither of them could deny anymore.
"Have you heard from Tricia?"
"As a matter of fact, I have. She and her mother are settling into Los Angeles just fine," he says of his friend, who recently moved away. "Speaking of that, when I was at their leaving party, Antoine texted her saying he wasn't coming.
Apparently, things ended between the two of you."
Jes doesn't try to hide her reaction on her face.
"It did. And while I feel terrible about it all, it was something that had to be done."
Silence settles over the room.
Neither of them seems entirely sure what the next step should be.
Finally, Samuel asks the question that has been weighing on his mind.
"So, where does that leave us?"
Jes is caught off guard by the directness of the question.
JOJO'S CAFE
"Crazy, let's do something maybe
Please, don't take your time
You got me right where you want me (Ooh)
Right where you want me (Whoa, whoa, oh)."
Jesse McCartney's "Right Where You Want Me" plays over the sound system as Jojo's remains busy with customers escaping the afternoon heat.
Thora McKnight is a bit overwhelmed, as these are her first few days as manager of the establishment since Tricia left town. To make matters worse, she's dealing with a lack of staff, having only one other employee working since her boyfriend and his daughter are in Houston visiting the young woman's maternal grandmother.
Nevertheless, the blonde woman powers through the lunch rush, arriving at a table where she knows both occupants well.
"Thank you for your patience," she says apologetically. "What can I get for you two?"
Gemma Grier is wearing a print maxi dress, and her neck-length hair is neatly styled despite the outdoor warmth.
"I'll take a salad and a black iced tea."
Thora jots it down on her small notepad before turning to the teenage girl's boyfriend.
"Uh, a turkey sandwich with no mayo and a water," Micah Kelley says respectfully.
"Okay, I'll get it out to you as soon as I can," Thora assures them before hurrying away.
"Is it just me, or did summer zoom by? Next thing we know, we'll be back in school," Gemma observes.
"That it did. Dad's been putting me through drills ever since we got out of school."
Gemma hears the exhaustion in his voice as he talks about his father and the constant pressure to succeed in football.
Deciding to lighten the mood, she changes the subject.
"Yeah, that's gotta be rough. Well, just get through this season. Anyway, maybe we should cap the summer off before real life begins by finally doing what we talked about."
Micah realizes she's referring to taking the next step in their relationship and having sex. Although he knows many people would expect that to happen, he still can't bring himself to move forward with it. He also reflects on confiding in Presley about the issue and remains unsure why he feels so hesitant, especially since Gemma is one of the most beautiful girls in town and someone he's known all his life.
Sensing something is wrong, Gemma presses.
"Micah, what is it?"
If they were alone, he might have found the courage to tell her the truth, but he immediately pushes the thought aside.
"I'm alright. It's just that I'm a little tired from the Ray Kelley training camp. That's all," he says, somewhat lying as he mentally kicks himself.
The conversation comes to an abrupt end when Evan walks in. Gemma waves him over, and the fellow teenager happily obliges.
"It's packed in here," Evan remarks as he grabs another chair from the only empty table and pulls it over to join his friends.
Micah can't help but notice the ease and confidence his friend carries himself with, making him envious of what he feels he lacks.
"Yeah, it's almost standing room only in here," the high school athlete says, secretly hoping what he said doesn't sound stupid.
"I know," Evan replies casually.
"So," Gemma begins, "what's going on with you?"
"Oh, I've just been getting turned down place after place looking for a job. It feels like no one's hiring in this town. And I gotta find something soon, or I'm on a plane to Boston to live with my mother and that husband of hers."
"That's disgusting," Gemma says, using the term the way some Gen Z teens do to mean unfortunate or frustrating.
The three of them soon notice just how overwhelmed Thora is.
"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Micah asks, mostly directing the question to his best friend.
"Right ahead of you," Evan says confidently as he gets up from the table and approaches the older woman, who has an apron tied around her waist while juggling multiple tasks. "Heck, at this rate I could probably go behind the counter and run the place myself."
She immediately follows it up with, "On second thought... don't."
"Look, this might be a bad time, but I've been trying to find a job, and it seems no one's willing to take a chance on me. Well... I need it."
"I know what that's like," Thora says sympathetically, remembering how difficult it was for her, after years as a housewife, to find employment.
When she struggles to carry several plates at once, Evan volunteers to deliver them to a nearby table, and Thora gestures for him to go ahead.
Impressed by the save, Thora smiles.
"What if I give you a trial run?"
"When?" Evan asks.
"How about now? You help me out for a few hours, and if you do good, we'll talk about something permanent."
"Thank you. Thank you," Evan says gratefully
FIRST STREET METHODIST CHURCH
After deciding on a timeout, Steven and Will take a seat on a nearby bench.
Will drapes a towel around his sweat-covered neck while Steven takes a long drink from a water bottle.
"Let's just say that, uh, things are a bit rocky in the Covington-Sullivan household right now," Steven opens up.
Since he was younger, Will has been able to read people's expressions without them saying a word, a skill that serves him well during his imprisonment and in moments like this, as he senses the issue is primarily related to Steven's marriage.
"How bad?" he immediately asks.
Steven hesitates.
Although he and Will have known each other for years, he's unsure how much he wants to reveal.
He knows Will is still close to Emma, and with her pregnancy, Steven doesn't want the situation involving Courtney and Jacques getting back to her.
Will senses Steven's reluctance.
"Man, look, I ain't tryin' to pry into ya business or anything, but I'll ask... can it be worked out, whatever it is?"
The question catches Steven off guard.
After a moment of thought, he eventually admits, "I haven't really thought about it... but maybe I should."
"Well, from some experience, it's best not to let things in your relationship get bad if you intend to fix 'em, because time is a mother..." He stops himself from saying the full word, remembering he's on God's property. "But you don't wanna look back and see you ain't at least tried to fix what's broken between y'all."
"Hmm."
Will holds the ends of the towel draped around his neck.
"And I know comin' from me might sound kinda hypocritical, but you can't fix it with anger or let things be left unsaid. You gotta do what you can. You know what I'm gettin' at?"
Steven quietly considers the advice.
After a beat, he decides their game is finished for the day.
"Well, I think our game is over," he remarks.
The two men exchange their handshake, complete with the finger snap at the end.
Meanwhile, Will grabs the basketball and casually launches it toward the hoop.
The ball sails successfully through the net.
RADCLIFFE RECIEVING HOSPITAL
Jes decides to break the stillness in Samuel's office by speaking.
"I think I deserve an answer as to where we stand, Samuel. I mean, there isn't anything—or, more importantly, anyone—standing in our way to see where this can go."
Samuel steps a little closer to her, though he keeps enough distance to avoid invading her personal space.
"Well... you're omitting one obstacle. My mother."
Mala has made it clear she isn't keen on the two of them getting involved.
"Who cares?"
Samuel stifles a snort of amusement, knowing better than anyone that one should never openly challenge a Desi mother—especially his own—about her opinions on what she disagrees with.
"Well, I think, for now, we should keep this development between ourselves."
The attorney gives him a look that suggests otherwise, and he catches it.
"I don't mention this to many people, but I was once in a relationship that had to stay hidden because it was an extramarital affair. I promised myself that when I got serious about someone again, I wouldn't have to hide it."
Samuel listens without judging her for her past mistake before responding.
"Look, I understand why you're apprehensive about this, but neither of us is married, nor are we in a serious relationship with anyone else. I just think it's best if we keep this private until we're ready to tell everyone—including my mother. Maybe then she'll be more understanding."
"Samuel, I don't know..." she begins.
Samuel leans a little closer, causing Jes to look up at him with quiet intensity.
"We at least deserve this chance to be happy."
Their lips meet in a lingering kiss, filled with love and unspoken longing.
They continue until Livia's voice unexpectedly comes from the other side of the door.
"Doctor?"
Reluctantly, Samuel pulls away as Jes exhales softly from the kiss they just shared.
"Yes?" he replies, trying to compose himself.
"Nina Whitlock is here early for her appointment."
"I'll be right out!"
Fortunately, Samuel and Jes have already stepped apart before anyone sees them.
The two share a knowing smile.
"Well," Samuel says, "I guess we have to work on our timing, huh?"
"Yeah," Jes replies with a smile. "We do."
The two exchange one last glance before Jes quietly slips out of the office, allowing Samuel to return to his duties.
HOPE COTTAGE
The two are now in the kitchen. Jacques is in a linen short-sleeve shirt with chinos, a look that's more dressed down than his usual tailored suits. Even so, his arms, sculpted from a consistent workout routine, are on full display before he is the first to speak.
"Look, I'm fully aware that I have no right to come to your home unannounced after everything that has happened," he says in his distinct French accent.
"You aren’t wrong about that," Courtney replies, taking Jacques somewhat by surprise.
"I'm not here to make things worse between you and Steven. I'm here to offer you a shoulder... a supportive shoulder to lean on, knowing things between you and your husband are frosty, to say the least."
Courtney immediately challenges the idea.
"And what exactly would my aunt think about that?" she asks.
The question gives Jacques pause.
He knows there is a significant difference between the kiss he shared with Courtney and the affair he carried on with Aaliyah while Emma is now pregnant. More than ever, he realizes how disastrous things could become if the truth comes out.
"We only kissed once, and whatever the reason it happened, there was never any malice behind it."
Courtney takes a strand of hair and tucks it behind one of her ears.
"The state of my marriage is up in the air because of one foolish mistake."
Jacques slips one hand into his pocket.
"Being upset is one thing, but Steven treating you so coldly isn't right."
"In spite of the mistake we made, let me make one thing clear to you, Jacques. I love my husband, and I'm willing to do anything I can to salvage what we have," Courtney says sincerely.
Seeing how distressed she is, Jacques gently places his hands on her shoulders and looks her directly in the eyes.
"You're too good-hearted and far too vibrant to spend your life with someone who constantly gets his little feelings hurt every time his partner does something he doesn't like."
Before Courtney can react, another voice cuts through the room.
"I'd advise you to take your hands off my wife—and do it now."
Both Courtney and Jacques immediately turn.
Steven is standing there, his expression making it clear he has seen enough.
The French expatriate faces the veterinarian across the room.
"Steven, look, I was just consoling Courtney."
"Well, last time I checked, that isn't your place, Jacques."
Courtney suddenly finds herself caught squarely between the two men as the tension in the room rises.
END OF EPISODE
ON THE NEXT EPISODE OF TOWN AND COUNTRY
Steven confronts Jacques.
Elijah warns Tanner.
Micah confides in Evan.
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