Episode 41, "The Vision"
The Season Premiere
It began as a normal night. The air was cool, crisp, and the soft wind carried with it the sweet smell of rain. The hour was late; few travelers remained in the streets, and what passed from shadow to shadow was seldom human.
Taylor could almost feel the warmth of his cozy living room, the dancing flames from the fireplace licking away the cold from his body. But he stood now before a barren house in shackles, the foreclosure sign slapping him in the face.
Pine Valley had changed in 25 years. It was much different than what his life in L.A. had been. It was darker, colder, lonelier...Taylor’s eyes were flooded with tears.
In desperation, he began to walk. The moon hid behind the ominous clouds, and it was almost impossible to make out the person walking in his direction about 40 feet away...a woman.
He tried to ignore the startling familiarity which resided in her. But then the woman turned her attention to him, moving so quickly that he barely had a moment to call out.
"Amber? "
The woman froze instantly - and so did Taylor, hardly believing what he'd said. It wasn't what he'd meant to say, not by a long shot. But as the woman slowly reached up and threw back the hood of her black jacket, he realized that his heart had spoken before his mind could protest.
"Taylor?" the woman said incredulously.
She had changed.
Taylor silently admitted that to himself as they settled into a booth at an all-night diner. Her hair was bound up in a braid that fell past her shoulders; it was still blond, but streaked with silver at the temples. There were tiny lines at the corner of her eyes. Her lips still looked the same.
"That bad, huh?" she said, arching an eyebrow.
Taylor quickly shook his head. "No, that's not what I was thinking. It's just - you've changed."
She tilted her head. "Twenty five years will do that for you. Well, not for you," she added. "You look exactly the same."
There was some quality in her voice he couldn't quite define, something close to jealousy or pain.
"What’ll ya have?" the waitress asked, appearing at the table. She smiled at Taylor.
"Hot tea," Amber answered. Seeing Taylor's look, she said, "I picked up some habits over the years. And you - you won't want coffee. It makes you jittery. I remember." She abruptly turned her eyes to the window.
"Two teas," he told the waitress. She rolled her eyes and walked off, snapping her notepad shut.
An awkward silence lay between the two of them, a silence twenty-five years wide.
Taylor wanted to say so much, to ask so many questions. They all ran around in his head like frightened cats; when he tried to grab one, it scattered like the wind that was beginning to blow outside.
"How are Alex and Candice? " Amber asks.
"They're in England. Married, you know - they have two boys and a girl. Candice is a professor of psychology. And Alex - you won't believe what he's doing."
Amber laughed.
The sound tore at his heart. It brought all the memories flooding back in a great rush. He closed his eyes against them.
"Candice, a professor? And married to Alex?" She repeated her words, trying to make some sense of them.
And Taylor was trying to concentrate on anything but the curve of her face, the graceful way she moved her hands.
The waitress put two mugs of hot water on the table along with a bowl of tea bags. "Holler if ya need anythin' else," she mumbled, walked away before either answered.
Taylor watched her hands as they deftly opened the paper and slipped the bag into the steaming water. Her hands were different too - the nails were clipped short, unpainted; there were scars and callouses where none had been before. And still he thought they were beautiful.
"Three kids? They've been busy." Again she laughed.
There was some bitterness in her voice, a little sarcasm, a lot of pain, but she said it all with a dazzling smile and a careless manner.
"Whatever happened to Jeff? And Devin - do you know?" Amber asked.
"Jeff..."
The pain in Taylor’s eyes was almost unbearable. "Jeff died many years ago. Or at least we assume. He was kidnapped after our high school graduation...he was never found."
"Dead," she echoed.
Taylor looked hard at the woman across from him. She wasn't nearly as calm as she pretended to be. Her eyes were shifting rapidly from one object to another, but never to him. Her hands were constantly busy with some slight task or other. Whatever emotions she felt, she was clearly trying to keep them to herself. A sure sign that she wanted him to keep some distance.
He knew he should go, but he couldn't - not yet, not so soon.
"Did you ever make it through college?" he asked, trying to change the subject.
She nodded. "All the way. After we...I mean, I found a small little place in Florida. Worked hard for a few years, and eventually went to Sarah Lawrence. I earned a doctorate in medicine, actually. Took me awhile, but I finally got it."
He sat back in surprise. "A doctorate. Your mother must be proud."
She splashed tea onto her hand, cursed the hot liquid that burned her.
"You've burned yourself," he said, realizing he had struck a nerve. Quickly he pulled out napkins, reached out for her hand to dry it.
She snatched the napkins from him, never touching his skin. "It's okay," she said quickly. "It's not your fault. I'm still a little touchy about Mom. God knows I miss her. Haven’t seen her in 25 years."
He watched her begin to stir the tea again. "I'm sorry," he said. Sorrow thickened in his throat. She was so young, so young to have faced so much sadness. And he knew it was because of him that she had lead such a miserable life.
"You're forty-three now. No, forty-four - you just had a birthday." Taylor said, facts running in his mind.
"Didn't you ever learn that to speak of a woman's age is rude?" she teased. "But yes, you're right.
Her voice, some look on her face - something suddenly reminded him of the girl he had once known, the one he had danced with so long ago, the one he had stood beside hundreds of times, the one he had loved.
Still loved.
ROLL CLOSING CREDITS
