EPISODE 145
Written by : Bre L. Drew
August 16, 2021
Last Time On Town and Country
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Tommy was shocked to see Tanner at his doorstep.
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Louise informed Sean of Tricia keeping the secret about Jordan's pregnancy.
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We found out Mala was angry with Daniel for lying to her regarding Jordan's pregnancy as well.
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Shauna became drunk at Courtney and Steven's engagement party.
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Lorenzo's father lost his job, meaning he wasn't able to afford to come home during the summer,
HOME FARM
Realizing it is only a few weeks left before the start of their sophomore year of college, in addition to having things left unsaid. Tanner Lockhart decided to take charge of the situation by driving over to the estate to speak with the person she still thinks of as her boyfriend. Though, when Tommy Covington opened the door, the pain of her finding out he had a baby with Jordan resurfaced like a stranglehold she thought she had managed to escape from in an emotional sense.
"Hi," Tanner Lockhart says
Tommy Covington awkwardly smirks at his girlfriend when he sees her standing at the door.
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"I'm not interrupting, anything, am I?" she asks.
He shakes his head with the hope she gives him another chance after withholding the truth from her about sleeping with Jordan, which created the baby he hadn't wanted until recently.
"I think it is about time we get some things out in the open, don't you?"
"Please come in," he says more eagerly than he anticipated.
She enters the mansion looking good to him in a black collared polka dot top with a pair of blue jeans. Her long brown hair is draping down past her shoulders, and instead, in her trademark pair of eyeglasses. She has in her contacts she hardly wears.
Tommy leads her into the living room as his eyes land on the staircase, which Tanner observes.
"How is --?" Tanner couldn't bring herself to say his son.
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"He's fine; the doctor was able to fix the hole in his heart, and he is now asleep upstairs," Tommy informs her.
The last time they had seen one another, it was at the hospital when the pediatric cardiologist was telling them about the cardiac catheterization that would close the hole in his heart. She had left the hospital as she couldn't stand to be in the same building with him for only hours; the two were about to have sex with each other for the first time together.
"I'm glad to hear that," Tanner says sincerely. "And let me guess, Jordan is around here trying to convince you the best thing is for you two to be together, so you can give your child a family." she hypothesizes.
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"Jordan left town," he responds.
"She left you with the baby?" Tanner sounds taken aback to hear that. "Of course she did,"
"Jordan has postpartum depression, and she couldn't handle raising the baby right now, so she left town, leaving me to care for him."
Tanner tightly grasps the strap of her purse, processing that development.
"What about us, Tanner?" Tommy changes the subject towards them.
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On this particular summer afternoon day, the sun brightly lit, making it is even warmer outside in Radcliffe. Shauna Covington is sitting on one of the chaise lounges poolside, reading the latest edition of Architectural Digest on her iPad in a silver shimmer one-piece swimsuit.
The sound of flip-flops shuffling on the ground gets Mrs. Covington to lift her head from the device. She then sees the proprietor of them was Courtney Covington wearing a light-purple bikini displaying her incredible fit body.
Courtney sees a bottle of water on the table beside her sister-in-law. "I see you are sticking to non-alcoholic beverages." she mocks
Earlier, Shauna saw her throwing a look of displeasure which she gathers is from her behavior that had taken place at her engagement party on the fourth when she consumed more glasses of champagne than she should and admittedly made a complete fool of herself by airing out her frustrations about her husband,
"Courtney, I'm sorry for my behavior; my intention was not to take anything away from you and Steven." Shauna apologizes wholeheartedly
"Well you did," The Covington heiress is now sitting on the chaise lounge beside Shauna, "I hope that was your last publicly drunken tirade,"
"Courtney, I have apologized to you and Steven over the phone. I'm not sure what else I can do here,"
Courtney stands up from the lounge chair. "Next time, communicate with my brother in private before you make a scene in front of his family and friends."
"Got it,"
"My brother is starting to find his footing at Covington, and he doesn't need his own wife making his life any more difficult."
Shauna is aware she and her sister-in-law have never been close, partly due to initially thinking she was a social climber. Though their relationship had mellowed since the marriage, they would never consider themselves as "Sisters."
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"As I said, I'm sorry for what I did," Shauna says with a hint of annoyance.
Courtney takes one last glance at her before diving into the pool, which splashes a decent amount of water onto Shauna.
The latter is unsure whether it was a mistake or somehow on purpose.
JOJO'S CAFE
The dulcet tones of John Mayer singing about "No Such Thing." are playing above the customers inside the café on the sound system this afternoon. Tricia Lockhart is back to work managing the establishment behind the bar, helping serve the patrons.
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Escaping from this hot day is Louise Saunders Lockhart. She decided to stop in to pick up a dozen donuts and coffees back to the farm. Louise sees both Aaliyah Gupta and Lorenzo Vidal sitting at one of the tables by the large window. They both turn around to wave at her, and she does the same, but when she gets into the front of the line, she isn't pleased to see Tricia will be the one to serve her, though, realizing she didn't have much choice.
"What can I get for you, Louise?"
Louise apprises the café manager of her order. She then watches Tricia tell one of the baristas to fill the order.
"How is Tanner?" Tricia queries
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Louise folds her arms onto her chest, shaking her head in disgust. "Are you serious? I mean, you, never cared about neither one of my daughters before; what's changed now?"
Tricia is aware of the role she has played regarding keeping the truth from Tanner about Tommy impregnating Jordan,
"Louise, I didn't mean to hurt Tanner, but I couldn't go behind Jordan's back and betray her confidence."
"Was it worth imploding your marriage in the process?" Louise hurls
Tricia is about to explain how her actions might've affected her marriage when it begins to dawn on her.
"Oh my god, it was you, wasn't it?"
"Are you on one again, Tricia?" Louise retorts
"You were the one who told Sean about me keeping everything from him," Tricia replies amazingly
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Samuel Gupta roams into the café, where he locates his little sister and her boyfriend sitting down. He greets them and then takes a seat beside her.
"Hey, what are you all up today?" he asks casually.
"I need a job and one quickly, or I might have to end up dropping out of college and moving back home to Philly, so I can help my mother out until my dad lands back on his feet," Lorenzo notes
For the last few months, his father has not had much luck looking for work after being let go from the same company where he had been an electrical engineer for the last twenty-five years. His mother has been working more overtime shifts as a nurse to make ends meet.
"Any luck so far?" Samuel asks
"Nope," Lorenzo sighs exasperatedly.
"If it wasn't for Mr. Covington, I wouldn't be able to see my family at all this summer."
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Daniel had paid for a ticket for Lorenzo to fly to Philadelphia to see his family over the Fourth Of July weekend: this summer, he had been staying at the guest house; on the Home Farm Estate while completing his internship at the campus radio station.
Samuel could detect the expression on Aaliyah's face when Daniel was mentioned,
"He is a man of many secrets,"
"Aaliyah," Lorenzo interjects
"Well, I'm sorry, but the man is far from a saint; first, he and Tommy had lied to everyone about Jordan for months, and then he recently lied to mommy.
The man is a snake." Aaliyah declares with complete sincerity.
Samuel turns to see his friend and the ex-wife of his friend's husband sharing heated words at the counter.
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"It's a complicated situation all around," Samuel says carefully.
"Please tell me you're not defending that man, Samuel," Aaliyah protests.
"I'm not too happy with Daniel myself right now. But like I said, it's complicated," Samuel reiterates
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J&M MARKET
With her work pretty much done for the day at the office, Mala Gupta decided to do some shopping for dinner before heading home. In her small basket, she has vegetables for roasting, and now she is searching for the precise whole chicken in the meat aisle of the store.
"Looks like someone is prepping for dinner tonight," an awfully familiar voice rings into her ear.
Her ex-husband Jai Gupta who is wearing a black polo t-shirt with dark pants corners her with his charismatic smile.
"Hello," she greets him dutifully. "I must say you did one hell of a job with this place; who knew it would take us ending our marriage for your dream to come true,"
For years, Jai had aspired to own his own grocery store, yet he sacrificed so much for his family to manage their party stores in Chicago until he decided to go for it.
"You were right; it was about time I had gotten my shit together," he admits. "Anyway, I'm glad I had run into you. I wanted to know how were you doing?"
Mala exhales smoothly before responding. "I'm past denial, and I'm settling into anger."
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Mala had been furious at Daniel for lying to her about dealing with something regarding the company. But ended up going two hours out of town to get a claim on the grandchild she had no idea even existed until after,
"Have you spoken to him yet?" Jai queries in his relaxed British accent.
She shakes her head slightly. "Not yet. Luckily, he hasn't been at the office these last few days."
"You know that can't last forever,"
Mala is about to say something when a perky blonde customer squeezes herself to select a pack of skinless chicken breasts out of the freezer, creating a temporary barrier between the exes until she goes down to another aisle.
"I know that, but I'm not in the mood right now."
Jai scratches his forearm while contemplating his next question. "What are you going to do after you talk with him, Mala?"
Mala scoffs. "That's the million-dollar question. I understand in life - people often make decisions that aren't what you want. You know I'm well aware from the first-hand experience. But I thought Daniel and I were at the point of our relationship that he at least not lie to me."
"I get it's not my concern anymore, but I still care about you, Mala."
Mala somewhat smirks at his acknowledgment. "The same applies to you. Sound like things between you and Louise are solid."
It is Jai's turn to show his exuberance upon his face. "We're doing fine," he replies. "Well, I got to finish this inventory. I'll see you later."
The two former spouses embrace one another before Jai turns around to go back to his office.
Mala stands there, letting his words penetrate her thoughts more while getting back to shopping.
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JOJO'S CAFE
This one wants you to have an Associate's Degree," Aaliyah reads from the screen of her iPhone.
She and Lorenzo are both trying to find the latter job prospects online. Aaliyah then holds up the screen for her boyfriend and then Samuel to see for themselves.
"Why in the hell do you need a degree to answer phones?" Lorenzo complains. "I'm going to have to leave school."
"That is not going to happen," Aaliyah asserts
Samuel nods agreeably. "Something will turn up for you,"
Lorenzo doesn't hide his reluctance, fearing his time in Radcliffe might be drawing near.
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Louise shakes her head at Tricia, amazed once again by insecurity. "First of all, I was having a conversation with the father of my daughter, whom you kept something from."
"Last time I checked. Tanner is nineteen years old. She doesn't need her parents checking in with one another regarding her own life."
"Come off of it; out of all this, you are one of the least hurt with this reveal. Tommy has to live with the decisions he made. Jordan's somewhere around the world, needing psychiatric help. Not to mention my daughter's, broken heart."
The intensity of her eyes flares with anger. "But of course, Daniel gets off scot-free even though he filed to take the baby away from her."
"Trust me. I'm not too crazy about Daniel's actions either. But he was protecting his flesh and blood."
"And I was protecting my friend." Tricia ripostes loudly
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Samuel, who had witnessed this exchange between the women, walks over to them as most of the customers had dropped what they were doing to behold them going back and forth.
"You know what, keep your donuts and coffee. I'm leaving before I say something I regret. "
Louise saunters her way out of the café opening the door wider than was needed.
"Oh, I won't regret saying this, but she can kiss my ass," Tricia yells at her male friend.
"Maybe saying that in public isn't so helpful; try to calm down,"
Tricia points towards the front door of the establishment. "I'm telling you the same thing I told Sean. I have no regrets about what I did."
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HOME FARM
"What about us?" Tanner repeats a few times. "Is there still an us?"
"I think it can be," Tommy says openly.
Tanner walks a few feet away from him. "For theory's sake, we do remain together. Will you expect me to stand in to be the baby's mother."
"I'm not expecting you to be his mother; you can have as much or little involvement in Jeremy's life as you want, Tanner."
"You named him Jeremy?" Tanner says in amazement. She hadn't heard his name until now.
"Yeah, I know I don't deserve a second chance, but if you give me, one, I swear I won't hurt you ever again."
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"I wish that was true, but this isn't the first time you have hurt me, Tommy. Maybe in time, I can forgive you for what happened. And possibly we can be friends, but if I remain with you, a part of me is always going to be wondering, suspecting if you're going to cheat again. I can't live my life like that way, Tommy."
Tommy clears his throat, trying to make the lump there go away. "What are you saying, Tanner?"
"I ignored your attraction to Jordan since high school. I thought maybe people can be attracted to other people. What's the hurt in that we're human? But you acted on it not once but twice, and I'm not willing to take another chance."
If he hadn't been blindsided at the moment, Tommy would be impressed by her confidence. "Please don't do this,"
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Before stating anything else, Tanner unclasps the necklace around her neck, which she passes to him.
Tommy stares at the necklace with Life's A Song engraved on the charm. "This is yours. I can't take this."
Tanner doesn't go to reclaim it as she nears the door. "You gave me that necklace. I want to be free from everything that had value when we were together."
The tears begin falling from Tommy's eyes. "I'm so sorry for what I did."
Tanner's voice begins to drop. "You at least did one thing right; you stopped me from losing my virginity to you. And for that, I'm grateful I didn't lose it to someone I don't trust."
Tanner decides to leave the mansion altogether before being tempted to forgive him.
Tommy collapses onto the sofa in the living room while he gazes at the necklace. He then is reminded of the first time he gave it to her before she had left for the music program at Berklee College years ago.
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Usually, when someone says I love you, they answer back. Love you too,
He lifts the bag in his hand.
What's in there?
Tommy takes out a jewelry box revealing a silver chain with a treble clef pendant on it. Before Tanner can say how nice it is, he does the honor by clasping the necklace around her neck. She looks down to see it engraved with Life's A Song.
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I love you too,"
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The tears come down fearlessly down his cheek, knowing he is paying for his deception.
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END OF EPISODE
ON THE NEXT EPISODE OF TOWN AND COUNTRY
Deirdre leaves for New York City but not before giving some home truths.
Tommy confides in his friends about his heartbreak.
Jai and Louise take the next step in their relationship.
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