Previously:

Josie helped Miles land a date, but she didn't realize she was pushing him into the arms of Travis Caudill, her estranged father.

After running into Travis in St. Laurent, Martine lashed out at him, warning him to stay out of her life.

The lines of Elena and Scarlet's friendship became blurred. Elena questioned herself, wondering whether she could have romantic feelings for a woman.

 

Tyson and Martine's House

Josie Singer was in the midst of tearing her mother's house apart when Martine Guthrie returned home from lunch. Tyson LeBrock was at her side, and Josie's new little brother, Brody, was tucked away in the baby carrier Tyson held. The two of them stopped in the doorway, wondering if it was safe to enter while Josie was in such a rabid state.

"What on earth are you doing?" Martine asked, crossing the room to look at the mess. She picked up an old photo of herself and realized Josie was digging through photo albums and mementos.

"I'm trying to find something," Josie said, ignoring her mother as she continued her search.

"Okay," Martine said, stepping back. She looked to Tyson, but he just shrugged his confusion and busied himself with freeing Brody from the baby carrier. "What are you looking for?" Martine asked, placing a hand on her daughter's shoulder and looking to see what Josie had discovered.

"Him." Josie slammed the photo album shut and shoved a photo at her mother. Martine recognized it immediately. It was a photo of her and Travis Caudill right after they began dating. Josie's father. Martine thought she'd thrown out all her photos of him, but now he was reappearing in her life again, just like he had several weeks ago when she ran into him at the Wonder Magazine party. Why was he suddenly turning up everywhere she went!

"He's my father, isn't he?" Josie pressed, forcing the photo closer to Martine's face so she couldn't look away. "I want to know where he is, and I want you to tell me everything about him."

"Josie, why...?" Martine asked, confused. "I've already told you everything ... what he did to us..."

"Tell me again!" Josie snapped, startling her mother to her feet. Martine backed away into Tyson's arms, but he seemed just as curious as Josie to hear how she would respond. Josie took a deep breath, calming herself as she looked down at the photo of her parents, the two of them together.

Josie demanded answers, but why now? How much did she already know?

 

Highwind Crossings - Miles's Apartment

Miles Burke splashed a handful of cold water over his face, then studied his pale, dripping face in the mirror. He looked so sickly and hideous and his stomach was in knots. He couldn't go out in public like this, let alone go on his first real date with Travis Caudill. Travis would take one look at him and run for the hills.

Miles always worried himself sick over these sorts of situations, dwelling on the worst possible outcomes. He hated being out of his comfort zone, and this ... was definitely a new experience for him. He never really went through the 'dating' phase when he was involved with Dominick, but that relationship had never been healthy or normal to begin with.

He wanted to throw in the towel completely. Maybe he could reschedule for sometime when he wasn't acting like a neurotic basketcase? Not likely. Besides, he couldn't back out now. Travis was already on his way.

He left the bathroom and looked at the clock on his nightstand. "Shit, shit, shit!" He jumped and down, pulling on his favorite pair of jeans.

The doorbell rang. Of course, he just had to be early...

No, not early. Right on time. Miles was the one who was late. He threw on the shirt he'd picked out earlier, and, before could stress himself out to an even higher degree, he made himself answer the door.

"Hey," Travis Caudill said with an easy smile. "You look--"

"--Like I just got dressed two seconds ago? That's because I did..."

"I was actually going to say 'good,' but that sounds pretty generic, doesn't it?"

"Oh. Thanks," Miles mumbled, thrown off by the compliment. Miles probably looked like a deer caught in the headlights, but Travis couldn't have been more put together. He wore a pale blue button-down shirt that accented his clear blue eyes and unseasonable tan. "You too," Miles said, once he remembered how to form words. "You look ... better than good."

"You had to go and one-up me, didn't you?" he asked with a laugh. "You about ready to go?"

"Sure. Let me just grab my wallet and my keys and lock everything up," Miles said, his words running together. He disappeared back into the bedroom to retrieve his things, grateful for one last moment to collect himself before he faced Travis again. Maybe he wasn't ready for this...

But when he caught a glimpse of his reflection in the mirror, he was surprised to find a broad, stupid grin plastered across his face. He'd been waiting for this, wanting to see Travis again since the night they'd met at the club. He wasn't going to ruin this thing for himself before it even got off the ground. Not this time.

He returned to Travis's side with a renewed confidence. "Let's get out of here."

 

Tyson and Martine's House

"Will you excuse us for one second?" Martine said sharply. She led Josie by the arm, out of the room and away from an uncomfortable-looking Tyson. "Why are you doing this?" she asked her daughter once they were down the hall and in the bedroom.

"I just want you to answer my questions. I want you to tell me the truth."

"Right this second? Why do you have to cause a scene like this?" Martine asked in a whisper, looking to the door. This wasn't something she wanted to get into -- especially now and in front of Tyson.

"Because I need to know," Josie said, her words pleading.

Martine knew there was something more to this than Josie was letting on. Martine had told her daughter the story of her father before -- told her some of the story, at least. With Travis back in town ... had Josie been in contact with him?

"Can we talk about this later? Please?" Martine was the one pleading now. Begging her daughter to drop this until she had the chance to wrap her mind around it and decide how much she was willing to share with Josie. Her relationship with Travis Caudill wasn't something she talked about. Barring the fact that he was Josie's father, she wished she could erase the entire incident from her past completely.

"No." Josie stood firm. "Every time I ask you about him, you shut me down. Don't you think I deserve to know anything about him?"

"Yes, you deserve better. But he doesn't want to know us. If he cared about either of us, he never would have left us," Martine fought back. "Look what you're doing to me!" She brushed away her angry tears. "If he wanted you to be a part of his life, don't you think he would have made some attempt to get to know you? To support us? He's not a good person, Josie. That's not what he wants, and you're only going to get hurt if you think otherwise."

Josie hung her head. Martine was sure her words stung -- it was what she'd intended. But it was the truth. It would be devastating for everyone if Josie tried to reach out to him thinking there was a chance they could have any sort of relationship.

"Josie. I'm sorry." Martine tried to console her daughter, but Josie brushed her off.

"No, you're not. But don't worry. I won't bother asking you again."

Josie took off before Martine could stop her, stopping only to retrieve the photo of Martine and Travis from the floor before walking out the door.

 

The Bistro

After taking in a movie, Miles and Travis stopped in at the lakeside bistro for some dinner. The date was going far better than Miles had anticipated, probably because, up until this point, he hadn't had to say much. But now that they were seated and waiting for their food, he hoped he could be charming and interesting and basically not be a complete disappointment.

"Sorry I made you sit through that. I thought it would be funny ... or fun to mock, at least," Travis said of the movie they'd seen. They saw a matinee of Twilight at the local dollar theatre and had poked fun at the acting and dialogue through most of the vapid film.

"It was," Miles said. They were probably the only two people in the theatre who hadn't been teenage girls, and they'd been shushed on several occasions when they dared to laugh through the film's more intense moments.

"I normally love vampire movies. Even the worst usually have some redeeming quality to them."

"I don't know about this one..."

"Yeah. Well, I got to see it with you. That alone made it far less excruciating than it could have been. I just wanted to see what all the fuss was about," he shrugged.

"At least we got it out of your system."

The waitress came to the table with their orders. She served Travis his grilled salmon and placed a bowl of pasta in front of Miles.

"This is so good," Miles said, leaning back to savor his first bite.

Travis gave a wistful look to the creamy pasta and pancetta. "I wish I could eat that," he laughed, "but if I did, I'd end up looking like I did in high school. You should see the pictures of me before I became a recovered food addict. You wouldn't believe how huge I was."

Miles cocked his head and tried to imagine it, but Travis was so striking now, it was hard to picture anything other than what was sitting before him. Miles pushed the bowl closer to Travis to tempt him. "Come on. One taste won't kill you."

"Are you trying to ruin me?" he joked. But in the end, Miles's enthusiasm won him over and he gave the pasta a try.

While Travis shared a bite of Miles's meal, neither of them noticed the woman who approached their table.

"Well, isn't this precious?" Elena Halstrom said, her gaze shifting from Miles to Travis. Miles whipped around in his seat to face her.

"Elena!" he said, his breath catching in his throat.

"What's up, boys?" she toyed with them.

"Excuse me for one second," Miles quickly said to Travis, standing from the table to pull Elena aside. Travis didn't seem to make anything of the interruption, but Miles was afraid Elena would start in on him and ruin his date if she knew what was going on -- and she seemed to know exactly what was going on. Miles knew she was never one to bite her tongue, and he was desperate to get her as far away from Travis as possible.

Once they were safely down the hall near the restrooms, Elena broke into a victorious grin. "What's wrong? Don't want to introduce me to your boyfriend?"

"He's not my boyfriend," Miles clarified.

"I'm not an idiot, Miles. I know an intimate moment when I see one. Sharing each other's food? Really? I'm surprised you weren't feeding it to him yourself, the way you two were making eyes at each other."

"What? Two people can't have dinner together now without it being a date?"

She looked back around the corner to Travis, sitting alone at the table. Miles peeked around the corner, too, and found Travis staring in their direction. He watched them with amusement and waved to Elena before Miles dragged her back around into the hallway.

"Okay, fine. It's sort of a date," Miles admitted sheepishly.

 

Tyson and Martine's House

After Josie left, Tyson tiptoed around an edgy Martine, who carried about her usual tasks without a word. She focused her attention on feeding Brody, but she could only avoid the lingering tension for so long, especially when Brody dozed off, leaving her alone with Tyson.

"I hate seeing you like this," he said sadly, wrapping her in his arms when she finally dared to join him on the couch.

It felt strangely reassuring that his first reaction was to comfort her and stand by her, despite how little he knew of the situation between her and Josie and whether or not Martine was in the wrong. She wasn't even sure of that, herself.

"If you want to talk to me about it, I'm here." Tyson kissed her forehead. "Or we can just sit here like this. Either way is fine with me."

She smiled up at him in spite of herself. She didn't want to spoil the moment by dredging up the past, but he was being so supportive. She felt she owed him an explanation of her side of things. "I don't even know how things got so out of hand with Josie. This came completely out of nowhere. We never talk about her father -- we just don't -- so it threw me for a loop that she suddenly had all these questions about him."

"Something must have triggered her curiosity."

"She just said she needed to hear it. I don't know what's gotten into her. We've made so much progress, I almost forgot how to deal with her when she's like this."

"You have made a lot of progress with her," Tyson said. Martine remembered how strained her relationship with her daughter had been when she first met Tyson. They really had come a long way. She would hate to see things revert back to the way they were. "I'm sure your past with Josie's father is complicated, but is it really so bad, even now? You wouldn't even want her to meet him?"

"I'm afraid of what will happen if she ends up contacting him. He walked out on us, and after what he did ... I'm only trying to protect her from being rejected again. He can't give her whatever it is she thinks she needs from him."

"He must've really hurt you." Tyson rubbed her shoulder and held her closer to him. "Even if we weren't together, I can't imagine not being a part of Brody's life. We've managed to make something great of our situation. Maybe enough time has passed that Josie's dad has come to realize what he missed out on."

"I sincerely doubt that," she said bitterly. "If you and I weren't together, I'd still know that you would make a good father to Brody. That you would want to be there for him. Travis isn't like that. He isn't half the man you are."

"You can't protect her forever, Martine. She's older now and if she wants to find him, you might not be able to stop her."

"I know," Martine said, resigned to the outcome.

 

The Bistro

"Do you hate me?" Miles asked, once he'd confirmed Elena's suspicions.

She narrowed her eyes at him, but she looked more entertained than angry at the situation. "No. To tell you the truth, it puts my mind at ease a bit. When you broke up with me, I couldn't figure out what I'd done or where I went wrong. I thought it was my fault, and the worst part was that I didn't even know why. But now I see it was all on you," she chirped, patting his shoulder. "How was I supposed to compete with that?" She gestured around the corner to Travis.

"I'm sorry I made you feel that way. It was never anything you did. I should have ended things better, but I couldn't bring myself to tell you the real reason. It's still hard for me to admit to myself sometimes."

"Well, you'd better get with the program!" she snapped, slapping his arm. "I wouldn't want to see you lose a fine piece of man like that because you're afraid to be honest with yourself. Whatever hangups you have, you're not doing too bad for yourself, I'd say."

Miles finally relaxed and smiled, taking in her advice. "Thanks for being so cool about this. And I think you're right."

"I know I'm right," she said.

"I was never trying to play games with you. I was still ... figuring things out when I was with you, but I did care about you and I didn't mean to hurt you when I broke it off."

"Hurt me? Please," she muttered. She brushed off the bitterness she once held for him, but her mind was wandering now. It wasn't her former relationship with Miles that concerned her. She'd gotten over him a long time ago, and it really did make her feel better to know the truth behind their breakup. What unsettled her was the advice she'd given him ... and how she was beginning to find herself in the same predicament with Scarlet Deshpande.

"I've gotta go. I'm meeting someone," she announced, remembering the real reason she'd come to the Bistro in the first place. "You'd better get back to your man before he comes to his senses and realizes you're not worth all this drama." She gave him a playful shove back toward his table.

"Thanks again," he said before returning to Travis.

* * *

"I was beginning to wonder if I should come rescue you," Travis said when Miles returned to his seat.

"No, I can handle myself," Miles laughed, returning to his meal. His food had cooled considerably, but it was still tasty. "I'm sorry I left you here by yourself. That was ... a friend of mine," Miles said, happy with the unexpected way his conversation with Elena had ended up. "She felt the need to give me some unwarranted dating advice."

"Oh? What'd she say?" Travis leaned in conspiratorially. "Did she tell you to stay away from me?" he teased.

Miles shook his head. "Not at all. She told me I should enjoy myself with you. That I should ease up and stop worrying so much."

"Sounds like sage advice," Travis said. "You should listen to her."

"I'm trying." He glanced over his shoulder to Elena's table across the room.

She had been joined by a beautiful, dark-haired woman who was sampling Elena's appetizer and trying to feed her a bite. Miles couldn't help but laugh to himself as he watched the two of them together. "That hypocrite," he muttered under his breath.