EPISODE 245
Written by: Bre L. Drew
July 17, 2023
Last Time on Town and Country
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Courtney finds herself having to tell Steven about Jacques's flirtations with her.
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Despite his role in gaslighting his now-daughter-in-law, Jordan, Daniel denies the truth.
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Jordan receives audio and video evidence of Daniel's wrongdoing from her late therapist, Dr. Toussaint, and decides to wait until she reveals the truth.
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Tommy marries Jordan to assure her she didn't leave with Jeremy and give her protection from his father.
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Despite promising Tricia his dedication to their marriage, he still has feelings for Louise.
COVINGTON GROUP
It doesn't take long after Courtney Covington Sullivan's office door shuts on the twentieth floor of the Covington Tower in downtown Radcliffe for Steven Sullivan to get straight to the point.
"So, are you going to tell me what the hell was that all about back at the restaurant?" he urges at his wife, who is standing near her desk.
They were having breakfast at The Chateau earlier this morning when someone had paid for their meal, which led to
Courtney informing him she had to tell him something in private relating to Jacques Laurent, also in their proximity. All he could gather while following her here in his car was that it had something to do with the two of them, though he wondered to what degree.
She takes a deep breath before responding, hoping what she is about to tell him won't drastically affect them.
"Sometime now, Jacques has been setting his sights on me. At first, I thought he would get the hint when I told him I'm married, but he has remained persistent."
She watches the perspective on his face go from neutral to taken aback.
Walking the hall of the executive floor of the business that bears his surname, Daniel Covington is about to head down into his office suite when he sees Tommy Covington exits from the sliding stainless steel elevator doors pushing the mail cart.
Aware of his youngest son and he is currently at odds, he quickly approaches him, hoping he can at least try to get through to him.
"I see you are working today."
Tommy tries to observe to see if he can avoid him altogether, but it doesn't look that way.
"What gave it away? Me moving this contraption full of parcels?" He replies sarcastically.
"You know I've been thinking about the future. You are graduating from university next year; it's time to consider your next step within the company."
Tommy shakes his head, knowing his father is trying to pretend things are fine between them, but in reality, they aren't since he is onto him harming Jordan, which caused Max to be unable to walk and Shauna to lose their baby. "So, we are really going to pretend that you didn't do anything that could've cost the lives of not only my wife, your son, his wife, and your grandson?"
PRESLEY MCKNIGHT RESIDENCE
On her day off, Thora McKnight moves the vacuum throughout the carpeted entryway of the Victorian home she resides in with her son.
The loud whirring noise is all she hears until the pinging of the doorbell gets her to turn off the machine.
When she retrieves the door, first, she thinks it's someone else entirely; however, when she gains focus, it nearly makes her react with delay.
"Don't look so surprised, Mom." Jordan Covington relates wearing a light blue strapless top and white pants with her designer brand sunglasses covering her eyes and holding her son Jeremy in her arms while her tote bag hangs from her shoulder.
But her trademark golden blonde hair has vanished, and in its place is chestnut brown, which initially made her unrecognizable.
"I don't know if I should be more surprised about your new hair color or getting married," Thora mentions while her youngest child and her grandson make their way into the rectory.
"I thought it was time for a makeover; maybe, being brunette, I will be finally taken seriously."
Thora hadn't seen her daughter since Jordan and Tommy eloped at the courthouse after she got out of Stonecrest, where she was receiving psychiatric treatment for seventy-two hours after suffering a breakdown.
By now, the grandmother had motioned for her to hold her grandson, which Jordan gave to her, and then embraced, noticing how much bigger he had gotten since the last time she saw him. "I hope no one is taking advantage of you in your fragile state," she adds.
Jordan perches her sunglasses on her forehead. "I see you have zero faith in me, just like old times?"
WHEELER BUILDING: APT #424
The last several months have consumed her regarding the state of her marriage, as she and Sean have been growing distant since the death of their son Dylan of SIDS, and the thought of his first birthday being next week, not to mention his constant need to have Louise in his life. However, the two have been on somewhat better terms, although she wonders if it will last before something else causes her to reevaluate it all.
Even though last night they had sex, which hadn't happened in a while, she still can't shake the feelings she harbors.
"Don't tell me those over-tanned women got so much of your attention that you didn't hear me." Sean Lockhart blurts out, causing Tricia Lockhart to extract herself from her thoughts as she sees him behind her.
"You almost gave me a heart attack!"
The expression on her husband's face becomes more penitent.
"I didn't mean to scare you," he says while joining her on the couch as the reality show goes to a commercial break.
You don't mean to do lots of things, she ponders.
"We had a good night, didn't we?"
Tricia takes a strand of her shoulder-length dark brown hair behind her ear and slowly exhales.
"Sean, please don't tell me you're that clueless to think that a few minutes of horizontal activity can erase our problems."
PRESLEY MCKNIGHT RESIDENCE
Jeremy is content at the kitchen table, having a snack consisting of sliced apples with peanut butter, a grilled cheese sandwich, and a juice box, while he has his tablet to keep him company. Thora then makes her way into the living room, where Jordan sits in an armchair while she sits on the sofa adjacent to her.
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"I can't believe he's already two years old," Thora comments.
"Me neither," Jordan sighs. "It makes you realize how fast time goes."
"Does it make you realize that marrying Tommy on a whim makes no sense, especially after all that happened with his brother and his sister-in-law?" Thora asserts.
"Mom, I married my son's father, not an orderly from Stonecrest, and anyway, I went all over this with Presley, so are you going to congratulate me?"
She had announced the marriage to everyone during Max's homecoming party at Home Farm, catching everyone off guard, and Presley also tried to lecture her. But she remained resolute, knowing why she married Tommy, including the perks of being part of the town's wealthiest family, in addition to needing protection from Daniel's gaslighting of her, for which she received evidence from her late psychiatrist, who too participated in it but somehow did that last one thing before he took his life.
Thora throws a look, begging to differ. "Look, I get that you're leaning on Tommy for comfort, but he still has feelings for your brother's girlfriend? Besides, it's not too late to get one of those things rich people get when they don't want a divorce."
"An annulment?"
"Yeah, that,"
"That's not happening, Mom."
Thora sets her arm around the top of the sofa, giving her daughter more focus. "So you mean to tell me that you can be married to someone who doesn't love you the way you should?"
"If I wanted your opinion on a successful relationship, I wouldn't have come to you, now, would I?" Jordan scoffs.
Before realizing what she said could make how her mother feel, she quickly finds the words to recover.
"I'm sorry, Mom, I'm just tired of people trying to dictate my life."
Thora does her best not to let what was said get to her, knowing she and Ernest split up, and throughout her marriage, she was the submissive one, and how eventually it became too much to be taken advantage of herself.
"I don't mean to overstep," she replies. "I just don't want you to be unhappy because you deserve a heck of a lot better than what you think you do, Jordan."
"I have no intention of ending my marriage, but I will tell you this: the days of people hurting me are going to be over soon enough."
Thora doesn't hide her bewilderment at the statement. "You keep saying that? What do you mean by that?"
Jordan leans over with a smirk. "Just trust me."
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WHEELER BUILDING: APT #424
Sean shakes his head to convey his response. "I know that; it's just that I enjoyed last night, that's all."
"Sex was never one of our issues, and you know that," Tricia remarks. "It's like we keep going back to everything being fine between us until something happens to jeopardize it, and I don't want to go through that again."
Sean uses one of his hands to caress her face, which Tricia doesn't refute.
"I haven't been the best husband to you, but I love you, Tricia. I hope you know that, and I want us to have a fresh start after everything we've been through. We're still together."
A wave of silence other than sounds from the television is audible.
"Oh, I wish it was that simple," she says. "A part of me wants to pack my bags and file for divorce, but the other less rational part of me doesn't want that unless you give me another reason for it."
"I wouldn't blame you if you did, and I know how you feel about Louise and me being close, but we're good friends who work together and share two beautiful daughters and nothing else." He tries to assure her.
Tricia doesn't hide her distrust of his claim, although she doesn't have the energy to counter it.
She presents him with a look that shows he better mean it, while Sean does his best to shove his feelings for his ex-wife aside while devoting himself to this marriage.
COVINGTON GROUP
"Let me get this straight? Emma's ex-fiancé has been coming onto you for months. And you just now feel the need to tell me this now?" Steven notes.
He and Courtney were still in her office when she informed him about Jacques being flirtatious with her, despite telling him several times she was married.
"Steven, the only thing I'm guilty of is keeping it from you, but I assure you nothing has happened between Jacques Laurent and I. You know I would never do that to you, not after everything we've been through."
His mood becomes less distressed after hearing those words, although it doesn't stop him from reacting.
"Maybe Emma can straighten him out. If anyone knows how to deal with him, it's probably her," he says of the aunt they both share. Yet he is keeping that secret, knowing the revelation would affect their families since she is the product of an affair with Deirdre and his grandfather Jimmy Saunders.
Courtney folds her arms across her chest. "Emma knows about it, and she tried, but Jacques is one unreasonably stubborn man."
"Maybe he needs to hear it from someone he can't charm," Steven remarks.
"Steven, please do not make this situation worse,"
Before he can say anything else, the reverb of an angry voice coming from outside the room suddenly grabs their concentration.
The spouses make their way out of the office, where they spot Tommy going off on Daniel.
"You've got some damn nerve pretending it's business as usual after what you did," Tommy says accusatory.
"I know you're upset, but this is not the time nor place to get into it, Thomas," Daniel says under his breath.
When his father refers to him by his full name, he knows he is making him upset,
"Don't want anyone to hear the truth about their leader?" Tommy announces.
Courtney quickly walks up to them both, raising her hands to halt whatever is said back and forth between her father and younger brother.
"Hey, hey, what is going on here?"
"Just giving your brother my opinion on his elopement to Jordan rushing into a marriage isn't the best thing," Daniel lies, which makes Tommy smirk while moving his head in disbelief.
Courtney turns to her brother to corroborate the story.
"I better get back to work; I'll see you later. Tommy says mainly to his sister and brother-in-law,
The young man continues to push the handcart throughout the hallway.
"I better do the same," Steven says. "We will discuss you know what at home,"
He reaches to drop a peck on his wife's lips before casually waving to his father-in-law, who bobs at him as he gets on the elevator.
Courtney turns to her father. "Dad, what is going on with you and Tommy?"
"As I said, we disagree on him marrying Jordan," he says, knowing no one else must know what he has done.
"No, it's more than that," Courtney replies. "And I'm not backing away until you tell me because there have been enough secrets in this family."
Daniel slightly nods while he leads his only daughter to his office suite to talk.
END OF EPISODE
ON THE NEXT EPISODE OF TOWN AND COUNTRY
Daniel conceals the truth.
Tommy and Tanner confide in each other.
Aaliyah gets a dose of reality.
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