Sweet Magnolias

Where do you wanna talk?

Um...

The living room might be best.

I need you to trust me.

I do.

I just wish we weren't having this conversation.

I wish I hadn't let him get to me

or Mary Vaughn.

- Any of it. All of it. - Cal, stop.

No, see, that's the problem right there, isn't it?

I don't know when to stop.

Cal.

- Is Stu okay? - His ego was more bruised than his lip.

- I shouldn't have hit him. - We all wanted to.

I was worried he had a weapon or something.

I only called for help 'cause I was afraid you'd get hurt.

- I was protecting Maddie. - We know that.

That's no excuse. There is no excuse.

- Not a soul there would blame you. - I'm not looking for forgiveness either.

I messed up.

I will step away from the restaurant, from... from everything.

Whatever sets matters right.

You need to set matters right for yourself too, Cal.

And you do not need to step back.

Let me start by talking with the county prosecutor in the morning,

and we'll go from there.

We all wanna help you, Cal.

I have to, um, get, um, home.

It's, um, late.

- Hey, let me drive you home. - Yeah.

Just, uh, give me a moment, all right?

Maddie, why don't you ride with me?

- Hey. - Hey.

It's been quite a night.

It has.

I'll... talk to you tomorrow.

I'm happy to help with English homework, especially if we're reading more Austen,

but I'd be no good with chemistry.

Science was never my thing.

I'm excited. Not many juniors get to take this class.

Proud of you.

Oh! Welcome home.

Hey! I didn't expect you two to still be up.

I tried to get her to bed.

Not very hard, but I tried.

I wanted to make sure that Coach Cal was okay. Is he?

He will be.

And Maddie?

She's fine.

Annie, how about we talk more in the morning? It's been such a long day.

- Sure. - Okay.

- Night, Mom. Night, Dad. - Mm.

- Good night. I love you. - Sweet dreams, baby.

So, where's Cal now?

Helen got him released, and Erik took him home.

I wish I'd have been there. I'd have...

When the hell were you gonna tell me Kathy was back?

- I didn't know. - Really?

She came back without calling you, texting, anything?

Dana Sue, I haven't heard from her since...

Then why is she here... doing this?

What are you... Come here. Give me that.

Come here! Give me that phone. Hey, what are you doing? Come here.

I have no idea.

You know what to do if she does reach out, right?

I got a ton of texts overnight about Coach Cal getting fired

but nothing about a fight.

- Sure it'll spread like wildfire today. - I can't imagine Coach in a fight.

- He was protecting me. - From what?

Listen, it was a mess.

We'll get it all figured out today. Just please don't worry.

How can we not? It...

So, what can we do?

Well, the first thing you could do is don't let your friends,

even if they mean well, pull you into negative conversations.

Otherwise, just... do your chores and look after Katie.

- I wanna go see him. - No.

Not now.

Please.

My queen, we shall guard the princess,

banish dragons, and defend the castle.

And empty the dishwasher.

And empty the washer of dishes.

Ta-ta.

Unbelievable. Coach Cal got fired.

What are Gabe and the guys gonna do without him?

Won't Coach Harlan take over? You always liked him.

Yeah, he's great. Just... didn't play pro.

The fight actually sounds like an equally big deal, which stinks.

I mean, Mom was happy,

and I thought Coach was coming around on important stuff like listening to us

and appreciating theater.

Nobody said Mom and Coach are breaking up.

Yeah, but they might.

Cal's not Dad.

Ever wonder what it's like to live with calm people?

You? You want less drama?

I want fewer surprises.

Actually, I want no surprises,

but Dr. Ashley says I need to recognize that the results will be... suboptimal.

I really need to talk to Coach.

Mom said no. And the last thing she needs right now is you going rogue.

Yeah. I suppose.

Since we're on the subject of moms who say no...

- Are we? - ...I asked Nellie out.

And she said yes.

And things were great for, like, 15 whole minutes,

and then... boom.

Boom?

Her mom says we can't see each other because of the stupid recall.

And all the usual our mom versus her mom stuff.

I'm sorry, dude.

You deserve some happiness just like Mom does.

Uh...

Thanks.

Of course.

So, do you got any advice?

No, sir. Mrs. Lewis has always kind of scared me.

Yeah.

Do you remember that Fourth of July parade when she jumped up on a Scout float

while it was moving to comb Jackson's hair?

She landed right on my foot,

and I thought her heel was gonna go all the way through

and nail me to that float permanently.

That show she put on in court is the whole reason I got community service.

I... I kept waiting for a spotlight to appear.

I'll bet she'll move on to terrorizing somebody else

and forget all about you.

And you and Nellie can pick up where you left off.

Wow.

Wow.

Right?

All those zeroes.

Not even talking about all the zeros.

How in heaven's name did you forget to tell me

about all these zeros last night?

Oh, come on.

I had a lot on my mind

with the Cal of it all, the Kathy of it all,

much less the doesn't-seem-quite-real of it all.

Sure you didn't need to sleep on it before you decided to tell me?

Ronnie Sullivan...

Are you joshing me?

You think I would hide that from you?

A... a check that could change our lives

and then some?

Okay. I...

I could have said that better.

But it strikes me as odd.

Ronnie.

We're still finding our footing.

And...

I'm sorry.

I could have handled that more gracefully,

even with all the this-and-that last night.

Ryan.

- This is a nice surprise. - Maddie.

First, let me thank you again for the beautiful day

you and everyone else created to honor Aunt Frances.

It was our honor, truly.

In her name, I wanna present you with this box.

Should I be worried what's in it?

Her note to me said it's memorabilia from when the spa was her house.

She thought you might enjoy displaying some of it.

Oh, how fun! What kind of memorabilia?

I actually didn't go through it.

There were a lot of boxes with a lot of instructions,

some more complicated than others, and I have to tend to them all.

So you're staying a bit.

I was thinking about it.

Well, I'm sure that'll make a lot of people very happy.

I always appreciate the chance to make people happy.

Yeah.

Neville, Grace, Collins, my mom.

They're all gonna wanna hold on to you even as they try to let her go.

Well, thank you so much for bringing this by.

I will let you know if there's treasure inside.

Have a good day.

Hey, Isaac.

Uh, good morning, Maddie.

I prayed for a lot of people last night, including you.

Thank you.

Um...

The Bill part.

I just... I want you to know I'm not gonna say anything to anybody,

including my children, unless you ask me to.

I appreciate that.

It's so complicated. I'm still trying to figure out what I want.

Well, that's what matters most.

And if you need any help or support or anything,

I am here for you as a friend.

Although I'm pretty sure you already have a full roster of those.

- Always room for another. - Morning, you two.

Isaac, tell me you brought the yogurt parfaits.

Vanilla and sour cherry as requested.

Wonderful. And, Maddie, I have something when you two are done.

Oh, go ahead. I have to get back.

- Hope you have a beautiful day. - You too.

- You have a great one too, Trotter. - Oh, if you insist.

- He's a good kid. - Yeah, he sure is.