EPISODE 259
Written by: Bre L. Drew
October 23, 2023
Last Time on Town and Country
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With Emma, Tommy, and Max casting their votes with the rest of the board members, Daniel lost his position as CEO at Covington Group, causing Courtney to replace him due to his gaslighting Jordan.
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Meanwhile, issues between her and Steven occur when she finds out he was gossiping about her father to Esther while he disliked her confiding in Jacques.
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Jacques had impersonated a masseuse to seduce Emma, although she discovered it was him and told him off for it. Nonetheless, she started to feel attraction to him again.
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Lorenzo confided in Will about his job offer from Murray Hirsch, who happens to be Martha's ex and SJ's father.
HOPE COTTAGE
On this particular weekday morning, Courtney Covington Sullivan makes her way into the kitchen in the residential cottage where she resides for coffee; however, a plate of food is shown to her, courtesy of her husband.
"Wheat toast, scrambled eggs, and bacon," Steven Sullivan says warmly. "I know you're probably in a rush, but you've got to eat something."
Courtney receives the plate of food and gives him a half-smile. "Thanks,"
She also sees that her husband is dressed for the day to go into the clinic, where he is a veterinarian.
"Steven, can we put whatever is between us out of the way?" Courtney asks straightforwardly.
For a while now, the couple hadn't spoken much to one another after Jai and Louise's failed engagement party, where
Courtney became upset at Steven for gossiping about her father's gaslighting Jordan to his mother and Steven not being too pleased that Courtney was speaking to Jacques, who hasn't hidden his attraction to her.
"That's just it, Courtney, can we?"
The businesswoman sets aside the food on the kitchen countertop.
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"You have to know nothing romantic is happening between me and Jacques Laurent. Yes, I admit he's good-looking, and we've become acquaintances at best, but you're the only man in my life whom I'm dedicated to."
Steven can hear the sincerity behind her assertion of love for him.
"When it comes to what I said about your father, it was not my intention to make light of it whatsoever, but what he did was wrong, and I think you're struggling to come to terms with that because you love and respect him so much that it's hard to accept anything else."
Courtney folds her arms into her chest.
"I know what he did was terrible. I'm not trying to deny that what he did still impacts the people I care about, but I'm tired of the people nearest to me hiding things from me, like my father, but I'm trying to keep the peace for the family and the company's sake."
Presently, Courtney is in charge of the Covington Group.
Courtney reaches up on her toes to kiss Steven's lips. "I should get going. I'll see you later."
"A phrase I've been used to hearing." Steven proclaims it with annoyance.
"I promise when things at Covington calm down, I will have normal business hours again," she crosses her fingers for effect.
As he soon hears the front door closing behind her, he finds himself thinking about what Courtney said about how the people closest to her keep things from her, as he is one of them, by keeping it hidden that they share an aunt in Emma as a result of the long-ago affair between Deirdre Covington and his late grandfather Jimmy Saunders.
He then sees the plate of uneaten food and decides to keep it since he's hungry and has about forty minutes before he heads out of the house for work.
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MILLER INN: SUITE 330
After taking a much-needed shower, Jacques Laurent steps out of the bathroom inside the third-floor hotel suite he's been residing in for months. This morning, he couldn't help but reflect on his latest attempt to seduce his ex-fiancée Emma away from her ex-con of a lover, Will Jackson, at the behest of her mother, Deirdre.
He managed to pay off the masseuse at the spa downstairs so he could be in the same room as Emma, which he managed to make her feel good about. However, she quickly discovered it was him and took off, but not before giving him some colorful parting words, although, without any doubt, he could sense some of the attraction she once had for him during their encounter.
He is about to go towards the closet to select his attire for the day when the bluster of knocking on the door gets his utmost attention.
But when he opens the door, a mischievous grin appears on his face at the sight of Emma Covington glancing at his impressively built upper body with a white towel wrapped around the rest of his body.
"Isn't this a coincidence?" he says in his prominent French accent. "You were just on my mind. Did you come back for an encore?"
"Don't flatter yourself," she scoffs. "I need to talk to you, and I'm not taking no for an answer."
The petite brunette woman is in a toffee brown leather trench coat, carrying her designer handbag breezes directly past him into the room.
Jacques shuts the door behind him as he turns his focus onto the woman he still cares about so much, in addition to her being the objective of receiving the money he needs to rescue his family's shipping company from the brink of financial collapse.
"Whatever your little scheme you're doing, you can stop now. Because I'm not falling for it."
Jacques places his hands on his hips. "By whatever do you mean, chérie?"
"Oh, save the bullshit for all those dimwitted women who hang on to your every word. I know what you're trying to do, and I'm here to tell you I'm not falling for it."
HOME FARM
Despite the peaks of sunlight encompassing the atmosphere, there's no doubt that fall has officially arrived in Radcliffe, with the brisk chill in the air and the leaves starting to populate the ground.
Meanwhile, Tricia Lockhart parks her late-model black Ford in front of the main house on Home Farm Estate. She obtains her purse, which sits on the passenger seat floor, and then she gets out of the vehicle.
Nonetheless, when her eyes lay upon Daniel Covington coming out of the mansion, she wishes she could avoid him altogether. But knows that's more unlikely than her becoming the next Mrs. George Clooney,
"Sorry, ma'am, but there is no soliciting of any kind on this property," the businessman says sarcastically to the woman who manages Jojo's, the cafe the Covington Group owns.
Tricia's heels from her boots clack on the concrete while coming near him.
"I guess with your current unemployment situation, you have all kinds of free time to come up with all those witty comments, but coming from me, you need to work on your material more." she retorts.
"What are you doing here, Tricia?" Daniel makes more of a request than a question.
As Tricia is about to admit her reason for her visit, another voice chimes in.
"She's here to see me." Jordan Covington answers
Daniel's daughter-in-law is in a black leather jacket that reveals a deep blue long-sleeve mock-neck cropped top and dark high-rise pants.
"She lives; she breathes," Daniel notes.
He hadn't seen her since she left the main house for the guest house along with his grandson and now Tommy, who decided to move in with them, which he isn't thrilled about knowing he did it because of his actions.
"No thanks to you," Jordan snipes. "Come on, Tricia,"
"If not for my generosity, you would be shacked up with your brother and mother at that rectory," Daniel informs her. "Even though it was you who cost me my company."
"Jordan, ignore him," Tricia warns her good friend.
Jordan had attended the annual Covington Group shareholder meeting, where she revealed what he did to her, causing the company's board members, including most of the family, to vote him out as CEO due to what he had done to her.
"And if it weren't for mine, you would've been spending five years behind bars." Jordan counters.
The young woman had received recordings of conversations indicating that her late psychiatrist, Dr. Pierre Toussaint, and Daniel were working together to drive her insane.
"Let's go," Tricia tells her.
The pair begin walking when Daniel catches the woman off guard.
"Please tell Jeremy that his grandfather misses him,"
Jordan turns around with her arms crossed, staring directly at her father-in-law.
"All those stunts you pulled to get me out of the picture backfired on you. Not only do I have custody of my son, but it also gives me the chance for Tommy and I to work on our marriage, so if anything, you managed to bring my little family together." Jordan winks
Daniel remains silent as he watches the two women heading in the opposite direction, and he starts to seethe with anger.
FRANKLIN FARM
In spite of growing up in Radcliffe for most of his life, it took Will Jackson to move onto Franklin Farm to discover that no season stops the work on a farm, which he had been doing in exchange for living in the house rent-free, even though now with his job he could afford to pay. Sarah Lynn insists she won't take his money.
Instead, he's sweeping out the horse shed in a sweatshirt, jeans, and an NBA ball cap.
The sound of another set of footsteps makes him raise his head, noticing who they belong to.
"I didn't mean to freak you out." Martha Saunders states it apologetically.
"Nah, I'm alright; it's just that when you're alone in this place, you seem to lose track of time."
The bartending single mother nods in agreement.
"Oh, I get it; it's also one of the many reasons I left here for LA. But guess you can't outrun your past no matter how hard you try?"
Will doesn't hide his confusion over what his friend is going on about.
"Hey, what's goin' on?"
"Does the name Murray Hirsch ring any bells?" Martha queries
He maintains the hold on the broom handle. "Sorta, why?"
"Because after years of thinking I would never see him again, he shows up out of the blue while I was in Nashville wanting to see my son, the one he abandoned." Martha notifies him.
MILLER INN: SUITE 330
Emma tries to advert her gaze, staring at her ex's adequately toned chest.
"Can you please put on a shirt, for god's sake?" she demands.
"Oh, come on, Emma, this is not your first time seeing me in this state of undress; you've seen much less, and I never heard you complain about it," Jacques says charismatically.
Emma grips the strap of her purse, trying to hold on to continue what she came here for. "I think you should leave town. I mean, you have nothing here—no family, no friends, not even a job. Besides, it's not like Radcliffe; Kentucky is a tourist destination."
"I like it here," he replies. "Besides, you're wrong about me not having any friends. Courtney and I have been connecting for some time now. I had sent her flowers for her taking over as CEO of your family's company."
When Daniel's machinations against Jordan came out, the board voted for his daughter to take over the reins of the property development firm.
"It's not going to work, Jacques; you getting closer to Courtney is not going to make me leave Will for you," Emma says warningly.
He soon approaches her, licking his lips at the woman he still cares about and hearing the jealousy in her voice.
"But if you don't want anything to do with me, why come in person instead of reaching me via the telephone? Because deep down, you still feel something for me too. But you don't want the felon to think so little of you. You weren't turned off completely by my hands on your body like old times."
Emma shakes her head at him, trying to forget how good it felt for him to touch her the other day.
"Jacques, get this through your inflated ego. Whatever you're doing, whether it's flirting with my niece, who's, in case you forgot is married, or having your little five minutes with massage oil, will not make me forget how much you hurt me. Or the fact that I'm with someone else. So please do me a favor and move on to your next conquest."
The reason Emma ended their engagement is her discovering he was using her for her family's connections to rescue his family's business. In addition to him being unfaithful,
He uses his finger to lift her chin delicately, making her inhale the familiar opulent scents of his aftershave and cologne on his skin while he sees how much she is trying to resist him. "You are not easy to forget," he replies wholeheartedly.
The wealthy heiress withdraws from his touch; she then departs the suite into the empty hallway toward the elevator. While Jacques remains at the door, smiling, knowing Emma is fighting her lust for him,
"It's only a matter of when before you come back to me, but I think I have a plan to assure you that at least I'm taken care of for the foreseeable future." He then closes the door as he goes to put on clothes.
FRANKLIN FARM
By now, Will has received more information on the deadbeat father of SJ now wanting to be in his life, even though he hadn't before.
"Have you told Samuel about this?"
An expression of the opposite response appears on the singer's face. "I haven't," she confesses. "I bet you think I'm a chicken for not doing so, right?"
Will throws up his hands in protest.
"Look, you know I ain't got no room to judge, but somethin' tells me your doc is the kinda guy who thinks even keepin' somethin' like this is an issue for him."
Martha exhales, knowing what her friend is saying is the truth since Samuel does like to pride himself on the truth, even if it doesn't necessarily involve him.
"Well, Murray hadn't called or texted, so maybe he was just blowing hot air out of that mouth of his. Trust me, it wouldn't be a first. So, I'm in the clear for now. Anyway, how are you doing?"
"For the first time in a long time, it's goin good," he answers optimistically. "The club is making a profit, and things between Emma and me are not bad, even with Jacques Clouseau still in town."
"Other than that, that's good to hear," she responds honestly.
A few years ago, when she had developed a strong liking for Will and walked in on him getting closer to Emma, she wouldn't have been able to say that with a straight face, but now, with her relationship with Samuel, she doesn't hold any grudges regarding them.
Will snaps his fingers abruptly, like he just recalled something.
"What is it?" Martha asks.
"Did you know about Lorenzo's job offer?"
"No, what job offer?"
A gust of wind blows inside the shed, making it even colder while the horses' neighing becomes louder.
"Goin' on tour with musicians and getting footage on their socials, but you'll never guess who offered it to him?"
At first, it didn't register for her, but Lorenzo was also in Nashville at the music festival, recording her and the band for their official Instagram page at the same time as her former lover.
"You got to be kidding me!" She exclaims
HOME FARM: GUEST HOUSE
Out of the briskness of the outdoors and away from Daniel, Tricia, and Jordan are inside the gently heated two-story guest house on the Home Farm estate.
Jordan leaves the kitchen to go to the living room with two bottles of lemon-flavored Perrier water; she gives one to the other woman while she plants herself in the chair adjacent to the sofa where her friend is sitting.
"I'm impressed," Tricia says in awe.
"At what?"
"The way you were able to handle Daniel, not too many people have been able to do that and live to tell the tale."
Jordan takes a sip of the mineral water.
"Trust me, after the hell I've been through, that man doesn't intimidate me anymore."
The last time the two interacted was when she came to see Jordan at Stonecrest, where she was on a three-day psych hold. So, she is glad to see her return to her spunky self.
"But let me caution you to watch your back because men of that ilk don't take losing well."
"He can do what he wants, but like I told the man, I have Jeremy. And I have Tommy, and I couldn't feel more safe or secure from anything or anyone, including Daniel."
Tricia takes a drink of the water, doubting if it will be that simple.
"I guess this is when we move onto my dumpster fire of a life," Trica says half-jokingly.
"Yeah, I heard what went down, Tricia. I'm so sorry," Jordan says meaningfully.
Tricia places the mineral water bottle on the coffee table.
"Oh, please don't be. I always thought it would be a matter of time before Sean would physically turn to his ex-wife.
Tricia had found out from Jai about the video of her husband and Louise playing at their engagement party, and she lashed out at Sean out of anger.
"When is Sean getting back from his trip?" Jordan asks her.
Sean is in Louisiana, visiting with his younger brother Johnny.
"I have no idea, but when he does, I don't think there is anything to return to because I've had it with everything, and I will tell you the same thing I said to Louise and Samuel; I'm done."
Jordan scratches her right arm while she can see the hurt on Tricia.
"Are you sure about that?"
Tricia gives her a small amount of uncertainty.
"You know, a small part of me wishes Sean would walk into our apartment, begging me to take him back. But I know that is a dream unattained, and I will not compete with Louise for him, even if it is someone I care very much about."
Jordan dwells mentally on her feud with Tanner, even though Tanner's with her brother. It's evident to her that she still has it for her Tommy, and there is nothing she won't do to keep her marriage intact.
"Whatever you decide, I will be there for you like you've been there for me."
"I appreciate that." Tricia smiles regardfully.
HOME FARM
With Gabriella nowhere in sight to answer the door, Daniel finds himself racing down the grand staircase to obtain it himself.
Though he's been taken back to see Courtney, whom he hasn't seen since the board meeting,
The two remain standing across from each other before he says something.
"Sorry, come in," he says aloofly.
While she enters the house, she turns around to see her father sticking his hands in his pants pockets.
"For a minute back there, I thought you were not going to let me in," she tells him. "I was on my way to the office and thought I would stop by to see how you were adjusting."
"Let's just say today is the day this estate is having visitors, and other than your grandmother, the rest of the family does not want anything to do with me."
Courtney had seen Tricia's car parked outside, and her friend was visiting Jordan at the guest house.
"Well, dad, what all took place? It's going to take time for them to come around." Courtney replies reasonably.
Also, the revelation of Jordan being overmedicated on her sedatives immediately caused the accident, which rendered
Max paralyzed from the waist down and led to the loss of his baby with Shauna.
Daniel cuts his gaze at her with intent.
"And has it taken time for you to come around?" he says accusatorily, which catches her off guard.
"What are you talking about?"
"I thought, of my three children, you would be in my corner with the vote to keep me in control of the company, but, instead, you decided to forgo altogether, and now you reap the rewards of my failure." He lashes out.
Courtney tries to find the right words.
"You know what? I'm starting to feel damned if I do, then damned if I don't. The board was going to overthrow you regardless." She candidly remarks. "Dad, you know I respect you, but I refuse to be insulted even by you."
As Daniel slowly realizes he went too far, Courtney ignores him as she walks out of the mansion.
"Courtney! Wait!"
She swiftly gets her keys out of her tote bag and gets in her Lexus sedan, starting the ignition, she drives down the well-known pathway onto the main road, hoping to put this conversation out of focus, but she isn't sure if that will be possible.
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END OF EPISODE
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ON THE NEXT EPISODE OF TOWN AND COUNTRY
Will senses something with Emma.
Tricia is stunned.
Jacques turns the tables on Deirdre.
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