If you’re in the mood for soapy drama with a unique flair not seen on the three broadcast networks, Soap Hub Insider has a treat for you.
Introducing our exclusive online daily soap opera for Insider members. Like current soaps on air, Best For Last features daily written episodes focused on the drama surrounding Laurie, Seth, and a host of other players.
Get immersed in stories and characters you’ve never seen before and let them become family, like the players we see every day on Days of our Lives, General Hospital, The Young and the Restless, and The Bold and the Beautiful.
Continue from Episode 16
“Seth!” Lauren didn’t bother hiding her pleasure when she got out of the car that took her to and from school.
The last time he’d been over, Mama and Junior had swooped in for one of their unannounced, increasingly rare, increasingly more uncomfortable visits.
Polly – no, Pauline; Lauren had to keep reminding herself – looking tan and fit and possessively comfortable in the white dress and triple string of pearls that set off her newly bronzed skin, had taken one look at both Seth and Lauren swimming in Granddaddy’s pool and observed, “My, you certainly have made yourself at home here, haven’t you?”
Before either of the kids could reply, Granddaddy had growled, “I kept my part of the bargain. Now you two damn well best keep yours.”
Lauren had no idea what they were talking about, but she certainly understood what Pauline was implying when, later, she grabbed Lauren by the arm, pulled her aside, and hissed, “I hope you’re grateful, young lady. I’m the only one who got you all set up here in the lap of luxury. What were you thinking, bringing Seth around? You think Jeremiah wants a reminder of where you came from? You better behave yourself, or I can make all this disappear, just like,” she snapped her fingers. “That.”
Seth heard. She’d wanted him to hear. And, even though Polly and Junior only stayed the weekend before taking off for parts unknown again, Seth continued keeping his distance for weeks.
“What are you doing here?”
“I came to speak to your granddaddy.”
“Why?”
“To ask him for a job. He’s going to let me work on one of his sites this summer. And, if I do well enough, maybe permanently.”
“Really?”
“Really,” Granddaddy confirmed, coming up to stand behind him. “We’ll see what he’s good for, yet.”
“Well, then,” Lauren looked from one to the other. “I want a job too!”
“You want to lug cement bags in one hundred degree heat?”
“No.” She rolled her eyes, knowing full well he was teasing. “I want to work with you. In your office. Just for the summer,” she quickly qualified, lest he think she was suggesting dropping out of school.
“And what brought this on?”
“I want to be a help to you. You’re always saying how good help is hard to find, and how, even when you do, you can’t fully trust them, because everyone is only out for themselves.”
“I do say that.”
“Well, you can trust me.”
“Can I now?”
“Yes! I – I want to be useful. I don’t want to just take and not give anything back. I don’t – I don’t want to be like… “ Lauren bit her tongue, and not just because she’d been about to call her mother Polly and not Pauline. But because she didn’t even want Granddaddy thinking for a moment that Lauren might be anything like her worthless mother. Instead, she swore, “You can count on me.”
Not knowing at the time just how often those words would come back to haunt her.
And the price both she and Seth would pay for keeping her promise.
Continue to Episode 18
About the Author
Alina Adams wrote the “As the World Turns” tie-ins, “Oakdale Confidential” and “The Man From Oakdale,” and co-wrote “Guiding Light’s” “Jonathan’s Story.” She was the Creative Content Producer for “Another World Today,” and worked on the 2013 relaunches of “All My Children” and “One Life To Live.” Her books include romance novels, figure skating murder mysteries, and the historical family saga, “The Nesting Dolls,” from HarperCollins. Read more at: AlinaAdams.com
