PREVIOUSLY ON SUNRISE BAY…

*Lacey was introduced as a 19-year-old waitress who was a single mom. She worked at Shirley's Bar and Grille to make money for her and son Connor.

*Cynthia and Nicholas revealed their plans to find a house of their own to move in.

*An impatient Cynthia was a complete bitch to their waitress Lacey. Nicholas tried to ease the tension and keep Cynthia's mood in tact.

*At Tom's bedside, Tara relived a memory that involved him from years back. Eve curiously watched from outside and later questioned Tara as to what was bothering her. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________

LACEY ULRICH'S HOUSE

The afternoon air enters the small house as the young woman opens the door wide. She pulls the red scrunchie from her hair and shakes her head. I'm so glad to be away from that damn restaurant. Now I can spend the rest of the day with my son--spending some quality time together like we haven't done since forever! Her long blonde hair now rests freely upon her shoulders. Lacey sighs deeply and wipes her sweaty forehead.

"Connor?! Amy?! You guys here?! Connor, Hon, I'm home!" Lacey walks through the entirety of her living room until she is in the kitchen. She is surprised when she realizes that the kitchen is also empty. She notes two half-empty glasses of cherry Kool-Aid upon the counter, while she makes her way towards the adjacent hallway. In the hallway, she is greeted by a trail of Legos and matchbox cars that lead into her 6-year-old's bedroom, "Connor! Amy! Where are you guys?!"

She stops to look over her son's bedroom. She smiles when she spots a scribbled picture upon the floor with crayons surrounding it. Though it's not a Picasso, she can make out that it is of Connor and her. They are holding hands and smiling wide. Lacey then holds the drawing near her heart as emotion suddenly takes over her at the thought of her little boy.

Suddenly a crashing sound comes from the direction of her own bedroom. Her heart feels like it's dropped to the floor. The picture slowly drops down to the ground as she shakily exits her son's room, What in the hell was that noise?

Her footsteps wearily take her towards the source of it. She notices that her bedroom door is slightly cracked open. Lacey holds her breath as she extends her hand to open the door the rest of the way. I swear I hear whispering, She thinks as she cautiously enters her bedroom. Immediately, she notices someone's foot sticking out from beneath her bed. It looks as though it's a man's foot. She feels horrified. Has some random man broken into her home? "Who…who's under there? I'm going--I'm going to call the police if you don't come out from under there right now!" Lacey boldly chokes out.

There is a sighing noise and a "Shit!" that comes out of the mystery person's mouth. He then slowly begins coming from beneath the bed. Lacey steps back until she is against her wall as the strange man makes himself known. He is in nothing but a pair of boxer briefs. He has short black hair and is tall, with a muscular build. "Look, I can explain." He says as his face is beating tomato red. "I'm not some burglar or something. I'm--I'm here for Amy. She tricked me!"

"Tricked you? What in the hell do you mean? Can you tell me exactly who you are, first of all?" Lacey makes sure to keep her eyes on the young man's face. She admits he is a bit attractive but doesn't want to give him the satisfaction of her checking out his bare chest. Instead she decides to add to her questions: "And while you are at it could you tell me why you are in nothing but your underwear?"

His eyes dart to his pair of blue jeans, which are folded neatly in the corner of the room. He swallows hard as he feels his cheeks beating red in complete and utter embarrassment.

The comfortable winds blow through Cynthia and Nicholas's hair as they proceed to drive down the winding road through Sunrise Bay. The front end of her car trails closely to the rear of the vehicle in front of her. By the back of their heads, Cynthia and Nicholas can make out that it is an elderly couple making a point in checking out every piece of tropical scenery that surrounds them.

"Nicholas, I'm seriously ready to rear end them! I can't stand being behind old people! They are so damn rude! It's like they think they own the road and think they can take their merry old time or something." She rolls her eyes, as she stands up a bit to try to see past the car in front of them. She proceeds to lie on her horn.

"Just chill out, please! Come on, I know it is very annoying to be behind elderly people but it's not like we are in any hurry." Nicholas says, trying to be a voice of reason. "Besides, it is a very beautiful day. Why can't we just drive a little slower than usual and take in all the scenery?"

Cynthia gives her boyfriend a confused look as if to not know the man sitting besides her. "Nicholas, sometimes you come off as a complete and total dweeb. I'd just like you to know that. What teenager says the things that you say? Jeez, how are you even the son of Barbara Winthrop? You act like your sixty years old sometimes, I swear." Ironically, Cynthia is now driving at a much slower pace.

Nicholas takes note of this and then scratches his chin with a grin. He then begins to "soak in the scenery". As he looks ahead, something seems to catch his eye. "That house up there has a "For Sale" sign on it!" exclaims Nicholas as his eyes light up. "We should go and check it out. If we want to execute moving out of the mansion, we need to find a place to take ourselves first."

Cynthia squints as she looks up ahead at the home in discussion. "From here it looks like it might be a decent place. If only we could make it there before we are as old as these slow asses in front of us!" She once again lays on her horn.

Both her and Nicholas are shocked when the elderly man's hand comes out of the window. His middle finger is pointed proudly upwards as they hear him yell, "Screw you!" He begins to drive even slower.

Cynthia and Nicholas exchange glances and then both erupt into laughter.

"We just got flipped off by a man old enough to be my grandfather! Now that is a definitely a first for me!" Nicholas says as he continues to laugh.

Eve looks the other woman straight in the eyes. "Are you sure there isn't something else bothering you, Tara?"

Tara sighs deeply and then turns her attention towards the window that looks out to the hospital hall. A group of doctors are quickly rushing a patient down its long stretch. They go past quickly but Tara does get sight that the patient is a woman with long and curly brown hair. She wonders what happened to the woman.

"Tara? Are you going to answer my question?" persists a curious Eve. I swear there is something else on her mind and I'm not usually wrong about these kinds of things.

Tara's answer comes abruptly as she focuses her attention back on Eve Jones; "Derek's brother is out of his coma. We just found out earlier today. However, the woman on the phone said that Jake wasn't the same person that he used to be. Whatever that is supposed to mean. So, yes, Eve. You caught me! There was something else on my mind."

Eve seems at a loss of words for a moment but then proceeds into an apology: "Oh, Tara. I had no idea. Look, I'm sorry for being so pushy about you telling me what was on your mind. It's just that I noticed you were talking aloud to Tom from outside and you just seemed so lost in your thoughts. I guess you would call that bittersweet news. It's been years since Jake first fell into that coma. It's wonderful that he's awoken but at the same time I bet Derek is saddened to hear that his brother won't be the same." Eve glances at her unconscious son-in-law while saying this.

"Yeah, don't get me wrong. Both Derek and I are thrilled. We booked a ticket to Miami for the first thing tomorrow morning. I just wish the woman made more clear what she meant by Jake not being the same."

Eve nods slowly. "Well, I wish the best for you and Derek. Speaking of you two, have you gotten any closer to setting a wedding date?"

"Actually, we haven't even thought of it all. There is wayyy too much going on to plan something like a wedding." Tara smiles and she doesn't even know why. Eve, I'm glad you are interested in my life but would you please just let me leave and go home? I can't stand the sight of Tom hooked up to those machines any longer…

"I guess you're right, Tara. There is a lot of tragedy going on at the moment. Carl and I have been praying more and more lately. I just want our daughter back home safe and sound more than anything. Of course, then there is Tom. Tom is such a wonderful man, Tara. He didn't deserve this a single bit!"

Tom is definitely a wonderful man, Eve. You really don't have to tell me that. Tara thinks as she swallows hard. She notices that the same stray hair has wondered into his eye again. She wants nothing more than to reach out and put it back in its place.

The young man can't seem to look Lacey in the face because of his complete embarrassment by the whole situation. He looks down and begins to answer Lacey's questions, but in no particular order. "Umm, My name is Jarrod--Jarrod Hetricke. Look, I just met Amy last night and we hit it off real well. She told me to meet her here at this address." He then darts to the corner where his blue jeans lay and unfolds them, pulling out a crumpled piece of yellow paper from the right pocket. He hands it to Lacey. He then proceeds to put on the jeans.

Lacey looks it over and immediately can tell that it is her best friend Amy Slater's handwriting, indeed. What's a big giveaway is Amy's "cutesy habit" of using hearts intstead of dots for when she writes an "i".

"Look, I'm sorry to have frightened you. She told me this was her house and that she would be home around this time. She told me to walk right in and make myself comfortable which, well as you can see, maybe I made myself a little too comfortable…"

Lacey's look evolves to one of thoughtfulness to complete and utter frustration, "Why did she have to pull one of her stunts today?! All's I wanted to do was come home and see my son and hold him in my arms and spend time with him! Is that too much to ask? Instead, I come home and am scared half to death by a half-naked man hiding beneath my bed! Tell me, Jarrod! Why on earth does life have to be so damn stressful? Huh? Why?" She buries her face in her hands.

Jarrod seems at a loss as to what to say so he slowly approaches Lacey, who seems to be crying in her hands. "Umm, I'm real sorry, I swear I am. I don't usually do stuff like this. It's just that Amy, well, she just had this way about her. I guess it was just a real dumb choice on my part." He gently sets his hand on her back as if to comfort her.

She quickly slaps his hand away, "Get away from me and get out of my bedroom! I need to take a shower. I'm all hot and sweaty from working all freaking day at a stupid diner with unappreciative bitches for customers. I swear I'm gonna go insane! By the way, when Amy and my son Connor get home tell Amy that I'm royally pissed at her, Ok?!"

Jarrod looks confused, "Wait, so you want me to stay here while you're in the shower?"

Lacey is at her dresser pulling out clothes and a towel while she replies, "Look, I trust Amy and I trust the men that she chooses to invite so I guess I can trust you. You do seem like a nice enough guy. If you feel you can't handle yourself while I'm in the shower or if you get the sudden need to go through my dirty clothes or something then I'd advise you to leave. However, if you have no psycho or panty-sniffing tendencies then you can stay and wait till she comes back. I have no problem with that, OK?"

"Umm, Ok, I guess…" Jarrod states with an unsure tone. He slowly heads towards her bedroom door.

"Oh, one more thing, Jarrod!" Lacey states before stepping into the bathroom.

"What?"

"Could you please clean up the Legos and matchbox cars my son made a mess of in the hall? I really don't feel like cleaning up after him."

Jarrod is a bit surprised by her request, "Umm, I guess so. Yeah, sure."

Lacey then wears a big smile, "See you can't be half that bad--You’re a man who actually didn't argue about cleaning!" With that, she disappears into the bathroom, locking the door from the inside.

Jarrod pauses with a grin then proceeds to the hallway to complete his cleaning duty.

Nicholas leans against the window and tries to peer into the empty house. "From what I can see, this looks like a pretty spiffy place to live. Cynthia, I think we may have found our future dwelling!"

Cynthia is at another window as she squints her eyes hard. "Well I can definitely tell it's no Jackson Mansion. Don't you think we should look at a few more houses before we make a final decision?"

Nicholas gazes through the window a couple more seconds before looking at Cynthia, "Yeah, I guess we should. However, I have a really good feeling about this one. Don’t you?"

Cynthia is now using the reflection of the window to brush her long brown hair. "Well, I think we should get a good look of the inside of it before we make any final verdict, Nicholas. Why don't you just call the number on the sign? Maybe the owner doesn't live too far away and can give us a tour of it tonight."

"Good idea!" smiles Nicholas. "Cynthia, I am getting so psyched about us living out on our own. How about you? We won't have to worry about my overly emotional mother and your father pestering us all of the time. It's gonna be awesome." He rushes to the car and fetches Cynthia's cell phone, which she laid upon the driver's seat. He then dials the number on the sign and holds the phone to his ear.

Cynthia crosses her arms and watches him. He is so adorable. Look at him. My big hunk of a man is making a big grown-up call! It's a Kodak moment! She smiles wide and glances around. The house has a pretty large yard and the neighboring house is a decent distance away. She watches as a car pulls up in the neighboring house's driveway. Out comes a girl, about her age, with a little boy exiting from the car's passenger's side. Cynthia always held a soft spot for children. Awww, we'll have a little boy living next to us if we get this house!

Nicholas turns off the phone and wears a huge grin as he approaches Cynthia. She is surprised when he takes her and pulls her into a passionate kiss. Cynthia giggles and eventually they break the kiss. She looks up into his eyes as she questions: "So, can he give us a big tour of this place tonight?"

"Yes, he's on his way over as we speak!" Nicholas is visibly thrilled. He looks over the outside of the two-story house. "Isn't this exciting? Just think--whenever we get married this could be the place where we raise our family!"

"Whoa, now don’t get too ahead of yourself there…" states Cynthia as she puts her arms around Nicholas's waist and pushes him near her. Nicholas smiles in agreement and kisses the top of her head.

THAT CONCLUDES THIS EPISODE OF SUNRISE BAY!

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