Lori slowly opened her eyes, a frown instantly rising on her face when looking at the vacant area beside her and remembering she hadn't shared her bed with her husband the night before. Without thinking, her hand was rubbing her forehead. Yet another headache... she sighed. She had spent the night tossing and turning, contemplating what she truly wanted, and she still didn't have a clue. Lori reached for her phone. She must have had at least twenty missed text messages.

It's okay, you deserve a day off. A text from Candace read.

Lunch today? Andrea had sent her.

It was clear the girls had missed her the day before and Lori needed girl time after last night.

Lori then saw John's response from last night. Bye?

She had been so caught up with defending herself to her family that she had completely forgotten to text him back. She quickly responded "yes" to Andrea and sent John a message as well.

So sorry I never responded last night. It was hectic. I'll be on set in an hour.

Lori then got out of bed and got dressed so she could leave before Mossimo attempted to rehash anything from last night. She wasn't in the mood for more fighting and she still hadn't sorted through all the things she had been feeling.


As Lori arrived at the studio, she looked down at her phone for probably the thousandth time since she messaged John. He still hadn't responded, which caught Lori off-guard. He always responds immediately, she thought, confused, and placed her phone back inside her purse as she walked in the studio door.

Lori greeted everyone she passed by on her way to the set. Looking around, she realized John hadn't arrived yet, so she decided to sit down and wait for him.

Minutes passed before she finally heard a voice from above her, causing a smile to naturally arise on her face. She looked up and found him speaking through his headset before clicking it back off.

"John!" Lori exclaimed excitedly, standing up and going over to him.

Instead of stopping and waiting for her to catch up, John walked faster, surprising Lori.

"John?" Lori called out again, quickening her pace and stopping in front of him. "Are you okay?" she questioned worriedly. "Did I do something?"

"No, of course you didn't do anything wrong. You're perfect," John assured, finally looking at her.

Lori smiled. "Then why are you—?"

"Lori," John's facial expression remained grim, "I got the text from your husband."

She looked at him, confused. "What?"

"The text. He basically told me to stay away from you."

"John…"

They both stayed silent for a moment. John looked into her eyes one last time before continuing to walk past her.

"John," Lori turned around swiftly and called out to him, "I had no idea!"

John didn't say another word as he walked to his Producer chair. Just then, Lori's phone rang. It was Mossimo. Lori walked over to the side, leaving John alone.

"I cannot believe you texted John," Lori answered angrily.

Mossimo was a bit startled by Lori's sudden tone, but instantly shot back, "Erm, I just feel like my wife shouldn't be messing around with other men. Is there a problem with that?"

"You should trust me! We've been together for 18 years!" Lori exclaimed in a hushed voice so the other cast members wouldn't hear her. "If I was going to leave I would have already done it."

"So now you're telling me you've thought about leaving?" Mossimo quipped.

"No, but the more we have these conversations the more I want to!" she shouted a little too loudly. "Look, I'm not having this conversation. I'm on set, I have to go, bye," she pressed end and turned to try to talk to John.

"Lori!" Andrea bounced over and distracted Lori, blocking her path. "We've been waiting for you. You're right on time. We just started eating."

Lori looked over at John one last time before following Andrea to Candace's trailer where they were all sitting.

As Lori joined Candace and Jodie, Andrea locked the door behind her, causing Lori to look back.

"We're really glad you could make it. We need to talk," Candace told her as Lori took a seat.

Lori looked at her puzzled. "What?"

"We need to talk about what's been going on," Andrea started.

"Between you and John," Jodie finished.

"Yeah, we're worried about you," Candace chimed in. Both Jodie and Andrea nodded in agreement.

Lori laughed but they all remained serious. "Wait, is this some sort of intervention?" she asked as she started picking at the omelet the women had gotten for her.

The three girls exchanged looks before looking back at Lori.

"Yes, it is," Candace said seriously.

Jodie half-smiled. "Bacon?" she asked as she picked up a piece from her plate and showed it to Lori.

Lori shook her head no. Jodie shrugged and ate it herself.

"Girls," Lori sighed, "I appreciate your support, but I don't see a reason for any kind of intervention." She chuckled nervously.

"Of course you don't think you need one," Candace began.

"Which is exactly why you do," Andrea said, finishing Candace's sentence.

"Listen Lori, we love you, and we love John. We just don't want to see anyone getting hurt after all of this—" Candace continued.

"After what? There's nothing going on between us."

"Lori, he brought you coffee the other day and had me deliver it to you with the flirty line of 'Coffee m'lady'? His lady, Lori. His. It's obvious he still has feelings for you. He called you 'the one that got away' and from how you look at him, we have a feeling you may feel the same way about him," Jodie reasoned.

"And we overheard John tell you he could have been 'your man' during the first day of table reading," Andrea added.

"Yeah, we know what's been going on. I even saw you leave his trailer. I tried to warn you then, but you didn't want to listen," Candace reminded her. "For goodness sake, he had your lipstick on him, Lori."

"And I saw how jealous you were the other day over Juliette. That says something," Andrea pointed out.

"You've been spending more time with John than you have with us and even your own family," Candace dismayed.

"Every time you arrive on set he's the first person you're looking for," Jodie added. "I mean, I wish I got as much attention as he does," she teased.

"And he was in your trailer three hours after the last shooting," Andrea remarked.

"Yeah, we know because we were waiting to talk to him, but he zoomed past us, obviously upset over you," Jodie continued.

"Yeah, what was that about?" Andrea questioned.

"Did you see the look on his face?" Candace asked Jodie and Andrea, looking back at them as the three got carried away recalling the event.

"I had never seen him look so out of it," Andrea exclaimed.

"Clearly whatever kind of hooking up that happened in the trailer took a turn for the worst," Jodie concluded.

"Girls," Lori attempted to break up the chatter but failed. "Helloo?" She waved her hand in front of them to get their attention.

The girls finally looked back at Lori.

"Okay, listen, this is what you should do," Jodie started again.

Candace and Andrea's facial expressions turned serious again as they looked at Jodie.

"Obviously you can't keep doing this to yourself. We've watched you two go on an emotional roller coaster the past several weeks and frankly I'm drained by it. You need to let it out in the open. Do you want him to continue flirting with you? Do you want to just be friends with him? You can't keep doing this to yourself, Lori. Bad habits die hard… trust me, I know." She looked right into Lori's eyes. "You need to tell him how you feel!"

"What? Jodie!" Candace exclaimed, jumping in her seat and putting her hand in front of Jodie to stop her from talking. "That's a terrible idea! Do NOT listen to her," she retorted to Lori.

Andrea just sat there confused and silently biting her lip as she looked from Jodie to Candace and back to Lori.

"Listen to me and listen good," Lori declared sternly, "John and I are just good friends and always will be. There is and never has been anything going on between us. She looked at each of the girls.

"Really? Disneyland was nothing?" Jodie questioned.

Lori rolled her eyes. "We were teenagers—it wasn't even a real date."

Jodie smirked, "Making out on the Matterhorn doesn't qualify as a date?"

Andrea and Candace gasped and looked at each other first before looking at Jodie, clear shock on their faces.

"They did?!" they cried out simultaneously.

Jodie simply nodded.

"I appreciate the concern but I think I have it under control."

"Lori, please reexamine the situation and be honest with yourself. Do you really think you have everything under control?" Candace asked, not believing a word that Lori claimed.

"We all know what happened with your first marriage," Jodie commented.

Lori looked down at the ground. Her head spun as she tried to process everything the girls were saying. She knew deep down, even though she denied it, they were right. She didn't have it under control. Every time she thought she did, John came swooping in, making her question everything again.

"You told us you loved John," Jodie stated seriously.

Lori looked up at her but didn't say anything. Jodie was right. She was in love with him back then, and she was slowly starting to realize that, two decades later, she may still be in love with him.

"You left Michael for him and the timing still didn't work out. You need to move on," Candace advised. "You can't do this to yourself again."

Lori was quiet for a moment before finally speaking up, "You're right."

The girls looked at her confused. "What?" they asked practically in sync.

"I love him." Lori paused. "Wow," she breathed. "I love John." She could feel a sensation run through her as she suddenly stood up.

The girls looked up at her wide-eyed.

"W-what are you doing?" Candace asked with concern.

Lori threw her empty plate in the trash can.

"I need to tell John," Lori announced as she grabbed her purse from her chair.

"No, no you do not!" Candace shrieked, jumping out of her chair.

"Erm, yeah, that's what I've been saying this whole time," Jodie remarked, both annoyed and proud of herself.

Lori half-smiled at the girls before pulling her purse onto her shoulder and rushing out the door.

Jodie laid back peacefully in her chair as Candace tried to hurry after her.

Andrea put her arm in front of her best friend, stopping her. "She's made up her mind, Deej. There's nothing we can say to stop her."

Candace stared at the closing door before looking back at her friend. She sighed and sat back down.

"I just hope she knows what she's doing."


Lori made a dash to the set, trying to figure out where John could possibly be. She wandered the halls, asking those around her if they had seen him. They all either said no or pretended they didn't hear her. After five minutes, she finally got an answer. One of the assistants recalled him walking into one of the meeting rooms and he generously told her the way to get there.

As she was walking, a million thoughts ran through her head. She didn't know if she loved John. Scratch that—she knew she loved him and cared for him as a friend, but was she in love with him? What was she planning on telling John? "Oh, I was in love with you decades ago which was one of the leading reasons I had gone through my divorce from Michael, and oh yeah, I may potentially be in love with you now"?

And what about Mossimo? Lori pondered. She wasn't lying to him the night before when she had told him she loved him. She truly did, otherwise she wouldn't have married him 18 years ago and remained married to him all these years. In their recent arguments, she had mindlessly brushed off his comments believing they were all invalid. More than anything else, she had been so focused on defending herself.

However, Lori knew that above everything, the agony needed to end. She didn't want to wake up to a man every morning and lie to him about her feelings when that man was willing to give her the whole world and more. Mossimo didn't deserve that nor did she want to put him through it.

My family deserves to be happy, Lori thought to herself as she raised her hand up on the doorknob, and for that to happen, I need to be honest with myself and lay it all out on the line.

She knocked on the door and within seconds was greeted by a smile from John.

"Why hello m'lady," John grinned.

Lori chuckled; John loved her laugh.

"Hey you," Lori responded cutely. They looked into each other's eyes for a second before she continued, "I need to talk to you about something… do you have time?"

John raised his eyebrows, but nodded. "For you, anything," he reminded her with a wink.

He went to grab her hand before a man popped up from behind them.

"Guys, sorry to interrupt, but there's a lady here from E! News to interview Lori."

Lori bit her lip disappointingly.

"We'll talk later?" John asked apologetically.

Lori nodded with a smile.

As the assistant was leading the way to the room where the interview was to be conducted, Lori suddenly heard her phone ding with a text.

"Sorry about that," Lori apologized to the young man directing her. She quickly pulled out her phone and went to turn it back on vibrate when she accidentally read the text.

I'm sorry about the way that I've been acting. I just really care for you and don't want to lose you. After all, you're the love of my life.

"No worries," the assistant stated as he guided her to a chair. He watched as she read the text. "Anything important?"

Lori reread the text back a few times, guilt flooding into her.

"Nothing really," she lied as she could feel her heart shatter, "just another sweet text from the husband."

The assistant smiled.

"How sweet of him."