In another part of town, Holly was aimlessly driving her car, still reeling from her missed encounter with Roger. A part of her desperately wanted to go home and wait for him to call. Instead, she just kept driving. The bottom line was that after all these years; she was done waiting for Roger.
On an impulse, she even thought about going to the airport and jump on a plane to Brazil, but she checked herself. Fletcher's absence had made her realize how she truly felt about him. He was a dear and certainly attractive friend, but that was it. He had been there for her, but while companionship was important in life, it was no replacement for love.
Shaking her head, she decided it was time to stop somewhere to unwind. Passing by the Reardon's boarding house, she pulled her car over and went it.
Nodding to Bridget Reardon, who was tending bar, she headed to the back of the room where she would not be disturbed and ordered a glass of red wine from the waiter. Then she proceeded to brood while chastising herself for doing so. Once again, she thought, Roger had put business before her. How dare he say that he had changed?
Lost in her thoughts, she did not see the handsome young man approach her table and he had to cough politely to get her attention. "May I join you?" he asked.
Holly's first reaction was to refuse; she was in no mood to carry a conversation with a stranger. However, on closer examination, she recognized the man and noticed that he looked as dejected as she was. She motioned him to sit down.
He began: "I don't mean to intrude, but you seem to be sharing my mood, and I could really use some company tonight." He looked at her with his baby blue eyes. "You are Holly Lindsey, the owner of Springfield's journal, right? I am Matt Reardon."
Holly smiled and replied: "I know who you are. Everyone in town does."
Matt turned toward his sister to order two more drinks and to hide his embarrassment.
Holly felt sorry for him. Since the disclosure of his affair with Vanessa Chamberlain, who was much richer and older than he was, he had become more than notorious. People assumed that he was after her for her money and not a day went by that he did not make the cover of the news rags.
Regaining his composure, he met her gaze again. "I wanted to thank you for not talking about our story in your newspaper. Vanessa and I really appreciated it."
Holly took a sip and simply nodded.
He went on:" It's not the reporters that I mind so much. I expect it from them to jump to conclusions and to judge me. But what I can't stomach is that so does everybody else, even friends and family. No one is supportive of us and no one wants to listen to our side of the story. It really hurts."
Holly snorted. "I am in touch with that emotion."
Matt looked embarrassed. "I forgot who was talking to. I guess you know more than anybody what it feels like when everyone thinks that you are getting involved with the wrong guy."
"Besides Blake, no one ever supported my relationship with Roger. It was very hard indeed."
Matt looked thoughtful for a second. "Well, and I don't mean this in a judgemental way, but were those people wrong? I heard that you're not with him anymore."
"No, we're separated. But you know, despite what everyone says, Roger has a good heart. Most of the mistakes that he did were to protect his family or to show them that he loved them. He was just very, very misguided in the choice of his means."
"It must be hard to be with someone like that."
"It's hard to be with them, but it's very easy to fall in love with them. That's the problem."
They both took a long swig of their drinks, pondering over Holly's words.
Then Matt got up to the bar and came back with a whole bottle, to Bridget's amazement. What could these two be talking about?
Holly shook her head when he reached for her glass. "I won't be able to drive if I drink more."
"Come on, just one more! You can take a cab afterwards. Besides, I am buying."
Holly could see the desperation hiding behind his smile and she decided to stay. Besides, she was in no hurry to go back to her empty house.
"Well," Matt resumed after filling their glasses, "I am not the gold digger they make me out to be either. I love Vanessa."
"It shows."
"The problem is I can see that she is starting to have doubts about our relationship. It seems that in the last few weeks, she has been listening to Josh, to Mindy, to Bridget but never to me. I feel her pulling away."
Holly smiled sorrowfully. "I have been there. God, there were times when there was practically a line up at my door to convince me to stay away from Roger. Must be hard for her to tune her family out."
"But I have to do something about it! I have to make her see that we belong together."
"Have you tried to put your feelings in writing? Maybe she would be more inclined to see your point of view that way."
"I am afraid that I am not so good with the written word."
Holly laughed at his sheepish air. "I am. I could get you started if you'd like."
Matt smiled for the first time of the evening, running his fingers trough his black hair. "I don't know. I guess you could, but not here thought. This is too private."
Behind the bar, Bridget almost dropped the glass she was wiping when she saw her brother going upstairs with Holly, the bottle of his wine in his hand. Their eyes met and she tried to silently dissuade him but he ignored her. Bridget put the glass down with a thud. It was bad enough that Matt was sleeping with Vanessa, but now with Holly too? This was insane, even for a Reardon. She picked up the phone and dialled as fast as she could.
"Ross, listen, I know it's late, but could I speak to Blake?"
Roger was standing in his suite, trying to read a file for what seemed like the millionth time. The words swam in front of his eyes, only to be replaced by Holly's face. He had gotten so close to see her, why did she have to change her mind about hearing him out?
Sitting on the couch, Megan pretended to shuffle trough the papers lying on the coffee table while discreetly observing him. He looked much more dejected than she had expected. This was not going to be a night of crazy, sweaty sex after all, she sighed. Roger clearly had only one woman on his mind tonight, and it wasn't her.
She stretched her arms like a cat, trying to be philosophical. The next morning, they would fly to Chicago never to come back. Then, it would only be a matter of time before she got what she wanted. Who cared if it took a month instead of a night? He would love her in the end, she promised herself, pushing away the nagging suspicion that there was only woman he could ever love.
She was getting up to put a consoling hand on his shoulder when Blake erupted in the room.
A little thrown by the fact that he wasn't alone and mistaking Megan's gesture, she stopped in her tracks.
"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" she sneered.
It took Roger a while to understand her meaning, but when he did he started laughing. "Honey, this is Megan, my business partner. It's not what you think at all." He opened his arms. "Come here! Let me give you a hug!"
He stepped toward her but Blake was already heading for the door. "There is no time for hugs, Dad. Mom is about to do something very foolish and we have to stop her!"
The blood drained from Roger's face. "Is she hurt?"
"No, nothing like that, but Bridget Reardon just tracked me down to tell me that Mom is with her brother at the boarding house and that it looks…compromising."
Upon hearing this, Megan hastily hid a smile behind her hand. Talk about luck!
Roger looked puzzled. "She must be mistaken. Holly would not do something like that." Not to me, not so soon, he added to himself.
"Bridget said she saw both of them go up to his room with a bottle of wine."
Roger suddenly felt furious. First Fletcher, now this Irish puppy! Had Holly gone mad? Here he was, staying away because he was afraid that she might kill herself because of him, when all the while she was going at it with half the men in town. Well, this time, she was going to hear him out, whether she liked it or not.
He grabbed his coat, not waiting to see if Blake was coming. Megan made a move to follow him but Blake put her hand inches before her face.
"This is family business, and you are not family, so good night."
She left the room and slammed the door behind her.
Back at the Reardon's boarding house, Matt and Holly, both sitting on Matt's bed, were putting the final touches to his letter to Vanessa.
Matt read it one last time. "This is exactly what I wanted to tell her, thank you so much for helping."
"I suggest that you re-read it in the morning though. I am afraid that with all that wine, we might not be thinking straight anymore." She got up only to fall back on the bed. "Whoa."
"Are you ok?"
"I'll be fine once I get into bed with a tall glass of water. I must have had more wine than I thought."
Matt shook the empty bottle in front of her face. "Shall we hide the proof?" They both laughed.
"Thank you for helping me, Holly. I won't forget it."
"I was glad to do it. True love conquers all," she said. Except in my case, she thought cynically.
She reached out and hugged him. The door flew opened at that moment and Roger barged in, screaming "Freeze!"
Matt jumped on the other side of the bed and raised his hands, wondering if Holly was also seeing the crazy man by the door. Through a drunken fog, he finally recognized Roger and started laughing in relief.
"God, I though you were the police or something!"
"You better stop laughing right now, unless you want to join the flowers on the wallpaper behind you."
Bridget and Blake cautiously came in.
Roger turned to Holly, who was still too shocked to speak.
"Why are you here with him?"
Holly's cheeks instantly flushed in anger and she got up, grabbing the bedpost for balance.
"Why I am here?" She repeated with such a nasty look that everyone took a step back. "I am here because you stood me up, asshole!"
"Whoa, whoa. I was only out for an errand!"
"That's not what the giraffe with the black hair told me. She said you were out for the night."
"What giraffe? Holly, you are not making any sense at all!"
Blake intervened. "I think she is talking about the bimbo masquerading as your assistant, Daddy."
"Megan? You have it all backwards, it was you that told her that you were not…" his voice trailed off.
"What was it she said?" Blake prompted. Roger did not answer. The truth was slowly dawning on him.
Meanwhile, Holly was still holding on for dear life to the bedpost, as angry as ever. She lunged for the door in an attempt to leave, only to fall into Roger's arms. Blake and Bridget smiled in spite of themselves.
"Let me go, jerk. I am leaving," she blurted out.
Bridget pointed at the bed and said: "Yes, I think we should all go now." Matt had fallen asleep, clutching the letter in his hands.
Roger swept Holly of her feet, to Blake's delight, and they all went back downstairs.
"Put me down right now!" Holly repeated all the way to the front door.
"Not a chance. You are in no shape to drive, and besides, you still haven't told me what you were doing in that guy's room."
"Oh please, take your mind out of the gutter, Roger," Holly retorted, now yawning. She tried to wiggle free one more time, but the wine was taking its toll and it became harder and harder for her to fight the desire to just nestled in his arms.
He gently put her down in the backseat and sat in the front beside Blake. "Let's go home, Honey".
"Yes, Daddy," Blake answered with a smile.