As the credits fade, we find ourselves staring at a giant eye encircled by a ring of glowing white neon. The camera pans back, and I realize that I'm not, thankfully, having some Dr. Who flashback. We've got a front-row seat as Lily applies her eyeliner while chaos swirls around her. It's morning in the Manning house, and each person is armed with her own agenda. Zoe's hollering that she needs help with her globe. Don't ask me. Lily informs the girls that she could use some help, asking if they remember their first day at school. Zoe, now standing to Lily, says she sure does -- she threw up. Lily tells her that today is kind of like her first day of school, and I think we can guess what happens . Zoe asks if that means she's going to throw up, and Lily banters that she won't, as long as her girls behave "perfectly." Zoe offers to get her a "vomit bag." Ba-dum-dum.
Grace comes into Lily's room as Zoe leaves. She heads for the full-length mirror -- there's only about fifty mirrors in Lily's room, surprise, surprise -- and starts fidgeting with her eyelashes using one of those teeny eyelash combs. Lily, still distracted by her own visage, prattles on about dinner, and Grace says she and Zoe should make dinner to celebrate Lily's first day on the job. Lily gets up and turns to Grace, saying, "That is so. Incredibly. Sweet. Of you," like an engine running out of steam. She's been stunned almost to the point of speechlessness by the sight of Grace's face, which is sporting a rather heavy layer of purple goo around the eye area. Either Grace is going for the sultry look, or she fell face-first on a couple of sledge-hammers. Lily asks the obvious: Is Grace wearing eyeshadow? Without waiting for a response, she immediately tells her to wash it off. Grace wants to know why. I assume it's because Lily's not thrilled at the thought of her kid hitting the street looking like a two-dalla 'ho, and her response pretty much confirms it. She tells Grace it's much too much, and anyway, since when does Grace wear makeup to school? "Since today," snots the Purple Wonder. Lily tells her she doesn't have time for this crap and adds that Grace can talk about it in therapy someday.
Lily heads into Zoe's room to make the bed. Zoe offers up some "kids say the darndest things" advice that just comes off as macabre to me: Lily should tell everyone at work that her father just died because then they'll be nice to her. They'll know how "fragile" she is. She speaks from experience -- it's been working for her all week at school. Oddly, this mention of her father (and the suggestion that she exploit him) doesn't elicit anything more than a chuckle from Lily. Didn't her father die, like, a week ago? I'm not saying she should be angry or offended or anything. I just happen to know that such things tend to lead to fits of tears and sobbing.
Jake calls up from downstairs as Lily's giving Zoe a big hug. His arrival means Lily's free to bail. While she's fleeing the scene, she tosses out reminders to Jake, but he's on top of the situation. He's already gotten Zoe's lunch out of the fridge, and he's ready to help with her globe. Which, it turns out, is one of those big exercise balls with paper continents and melting ice caps taped all over it. Zoe proceeds to bash Jake in the head with it while wrestling it through the doorway of her bedroom. All signs point to the fact that we're in for one of those light-hearted episodes. I'm not complaining, I'm just saying.
After taking a planet in the head, Jake goes off in search of Grace -- or "Graciousness" as he apparently likes to call her. He finds her in front of the bathroom mirror, and instead of chipping away at the purple glaze like Lily told her to, Grace is busy slapping on yet another coat. Jake stops dead at the sight of her.
Black-and-white Jake intrudes. Okay, it's taken many recaps to hit this point, but I've finally had enough of typing "black-and-white whoever" all the time -- especially since there's so damn many of these stupid "interviews." From now on, anyone who shows up for one of these black-and-white gigs is going to be called BWwhoever. As in BWake for Jake. Everyone clear? Good, let's move on. So BWake gets all misty as he reminisces about the first time he held his baby girl, "she was so tiny and so bald" that he "stopped breathing."
Apparently Grace's freakish appearance has had the same effect on Jake again. Although I guess it's because he's struck by how "grown-up" she looks. He tells her she looks "beautiful -- very sophisticated." The purple shadow seems to have blinded Jake to the fact that Grace is still sporting that damn center-part-clamped-down-with-barrettes hair. But he is naturally biased, and his sentiment is sweet, so we'll just let it go without too much of a fight.
We cut to Lily, walking with extreme trepidation through the entrance of her new workplace, the headquarters of an online magazine. She looks around nervously, like she's in a bad part of town and expecting to get mugged. We can tell this is a young, hip, creative workplace because it's all open-concept and they have inflatable furniture. And all the requisite urban retro styling is on display, from the deco wall sconces (which I really like) to the giant, ironic mural of an old-fashioned telephone (communication in the "old days" before the internet). The this-is-not-your-average-workplace effect is completed by the two twentysomething guys having a shoot-out with their Nerf guns. Lily of course gets caught in the crossfire, and gets one of the little velcro-covered balls stuck to her, um, bosom. Which one of the young men points out in silent embarrassment. When they learn that Lily is the boss's new assistant, terror fills their eyes and they begin to quiver. Now, for those of you who don't remember, Lily's new boss Christy Parker (aka Idiot) is an asinine young woman with a penchant for pigtails. She inspired many things the last time we saw her -- contempt, ridicule, derision -- but not fear. Not even a hint of intimidation. Could there be another side to our seemingly empty-headed editor-in-chief?
We don't have to wait too long for an answer as Lily follows the sound of the boss-girl's very loud, very crusty voice to her office. We don't actually see Idiot yet, just a pair of high-heeled, lace-up boots resting decisively on the desk. Lily waits in the doorway while the girl finishes chewing out her victim. When she spots Lily, she welcomes her to the "asylum." Truer words were never spoken. Idiot proceeds to bitch and moan about all the editing and rewriting there is to do, especially since the "rehab-boy" she was complaining about on the phone has taken a powder on his piece, leaving her to ghost-write it. The piece is going to trace the downfall of the guy back to his mother -- not to "blame" but to "explain" how she contributed to the mess his life's become -- and Idiot says she'll just model his mother on her own. She says it's great how her mother's never recognized herself in Idiot's articles before. I'm beginning to rethink the girl's nickname at this point. Crusty Parker seems somehow apropos. In revealing this less-than-savory side of herself, Crusty has been implying that Lily will be helping her with this monstrous workload. Not quite. She proceeds to quash Lily's hopes by informing her that she's going to get started by addressing some swag. She explains the intricate complexities of the assignment, like how the right people need to get the right sized t-shirt, and the address cards are going to be tied on by hand. Then she asks the all-important question: Does Lily have good handwriting? Crusty gravely informs her that, if she doesn't, now's the time to confess. Lily assuages her fears by assuring Crusty that she has excellent penmanship, and receives two perky thumbs-up as a reward. Guess Crusty is all out of little gold stars. On her way out of the office, Lily lets us know how flustered she is by walking into the doorway.
We cut to the hallway of Grace's high school. Jared's passing by, and he stops to cast an appreciative eye and tell her she looks "goo-ood." He asks if she did something different with her hair. When I stop laughing, I realize he wasn't, in fact, kidding. Somehow, he's missed the purple beacons that are her eyelids, and is busily trying to figure out why she looks so fresh. Grace is all awkward and self-conscious, silently praying that he doesn't solve the mystery and say it out loud. Regarding her hair, she says no, she didn't do anything different. "Maybe in an alternate universe, but not this one." Wha?? Apparently, her strategy is to confuse the boy so thoroughly that he forgets his quest. It seems to work. Jared changes the subject to his father, who's a systems analyst with a side gig as a jazz pianist. He's got a gig that night, and it involves a free meal, so Jared wants to know if Grace would like to join him. She gushes out an answer just before getting clobbered by a classroom door that swings open unexpectedly.
Meanwhile, back in Hell, Lily's tying little labels to t-shirts while answering the phones. She's wearing one of those horrible headsets, which immediately elicits my sympathy. Crusty pokes her head out of her office to tell Lily to get her so-and-so on the phone. Her voice is sopping with contempt as she tells Lily the number isn't in the main directory, it's in the hand-held organizer. Like it's so obvious. Lily is still fielding calls and, in the process of trying to do thirty-nine things at once, accidentally cuts off one of the calls for Crusty. With murder dancing in her eyes, Crusty stalks up behind Lily and says, "Lost that one, huh?" pseudo-sweetly. Lily stammers that she thinks it was someone named Ethel Dyson. Crusty, spewing venom, hisses that it's "ESTHER. Dyson. And that was the one call [she] was waiting for." Lily apologizes, but Crusty's too busy growing fangs to notice. "You don't even know who she is, do you?" Lily struggles to free herself from the death-rays shooting from Crusty's eyes. Crusty starts giving her remedial instructions on how to fix the situation when a delivery guy approaches with an enormous bouquet of yellow orchids. He's not helping any, as he asks for Lily. Crusty gets pushed aside and she's not happy about it. "Orchids. Beautiful," she says, her icy breath forming frosty little clouds. A co-worker approaches and comments on the flowers, remarking that she didn't know it was Crusty's birthday. Do things that hatch actually have birthdays? Crusty informs the woman that the flowers are for Lily.
Lily moves toward the lunchroom to put the orchids in water, and she basically shoves past Crusty on her way. Not smart. She also leaves Crusty to answer her own phone, which doesn't exactly score her any points. In her excitement, Lily forgets that her head is wired to the desk, and a small kafuffle ensues as she tries to free herself from the headset just as the phone starts ringing. Crusty tells Lily just to go, she'll answer the phone. And wouldn't you know it? It's for Lily.
Cut to Grace, who's blabbing to Lily about her date with Jared. Lily whispers that she can't talk about it now. Grace says she'll get dinner out, and Lily wants to know what happened to making dinner for her. Grace says she'll make her dinner the night instead. Lily repeats that she can't talk, and tells Grace to call her at lunch. She cuts Grace off to take another call.
Grace looks at the receiver like it's a dead rat and then slams it back on the hook. She tells Jared she's going to call her dad. Apparently Grace wasn't watching last week when Eli got busted for playing his parents off each other.
Cut to Jake answering the phone at the restaurant. Grace throws him her best pitch, and when it looks like she's got him, BWace busts in, carrying a chair. Why isn't she just sitting down in the first place, like usual? What, she got caught off-guard by her conscience, or internal monologue, or whatever these damn things are? Anyway, she makes herself comfortable and then lets us know that she's pretty much got Jake wrapped. Thanks for the update. She fights to wipe the smug little smirk off her face, because she knows what she just said isn't very nice.
When Jake agrees to let Grace go, she launches into an almost-convincing Little Princess routine (in all fairness, I don't think it's meant to be all that convincing), saying "Thank you, thank you, thank you" and telling Jake that he's "like, the perfect dad." She clinches it by telling him she loves him.
BWace: "I know how to do it." She punctuates her statement with a look that says she knows it's bitchy, all right, but, like, so what?
Meanwhile, Jake is looking all smug and strutting around the restaurant, bragging that "She says [he's] the perfect dad." The camera pans to reveal that he isn't, in fact, talking to himself. He's talking to a young, very young, like shouldn't-she-be-in-school?-young girl named Tiffany. Feel free to call her Lolita. She makes some slobbery ass-kissing reply and then they kiss. Let me assure you that Jake does not appear to be suffering from the same doubts and hang-ups that torment Karen about her younger beau.
Cut to Crusty all suited up for a workout. She's sporting pigtails again, but don't let them fool you this time. We know now that she's hiding a pair of horns somewhere under there. Lily is STILL addressing t-shirts. Crusty comes over to inspect her handiwork, and examining one of the labels, demands, "Is this a six or a zero?" Lily tells her it's a six. "Oh, I see," says Crusty, her tongue dripping acid, "It's twisted on its side." Then she oh-so-subtly asks Lily if her arm's getting tired, and Lily assures her that she's fine. Crusty then opens the hand-held organizer with which she's so in love and starts poking at the buttons. Her frustration is palpable. She wants to know what's wrong with her precious machine. The phone rings and Lily scrambles to answer it. In the background, Crusty seethes: "I think you've erased, like, a month of my life." Jake's on the phone, and Lily tells him she'll talk to him later. She then reaches for the hand-held and assures Crusty she can get it back. Crusty looks like she's about to scratch or bite or both, though, and tells Lily just to forget about it. She doesn't want her to touch it at all. She sets it down beyond Lily's reach and launches into deep-knee bends. She asks who Jake is, with a sarcastic smile. "It's a trap!" I yell, but it's too late. Lily's wrapped in Crusty's cloud of evil. She's powerless to resist trying to please her. Crusty asks if she can say something. Then she proceeds to tell Lily that she's a little "claustrophobic and right now [she's] starting to feel like [she's] sharing her office with [Lily's] ex-husband, kids, and boyfriend. And it's getting a little crowded." Lily apologizes, and by way of that, describes a little of what's happening in her life. "STOP!" snaps Crusty: "Okay? I don't need to know the details. I just need you to handle it." Trying to save some grace, Lily says she'll stay and finish up the t-shirts. Crusty's neither surprised nor impressed. She flatly tells Lily "that's good" and informs her they need to be messengered that night. She reminds Lily that her job is all about flexibility. By "flexibility," I think she means "shit-eating." Crusty heads off to her "grunt-kick" class, which I'm going to interpret to mean "kickboxing," but before she leaves, she gives Lily some more remedial instructions about what to do if Esther Dyson calls back. She says "Esther" extra slow and loud, because Lily is an idiot.
Cut to Grace in the kitchen, on the phone, whining to Lily that "this is important." I assume that she's referring to her date with Jared. Lily still won't budge and tells Grace that she needs her to be flexible (oh no -- she's already picking up the Crusty lingo). She promises they'll talk about it later. Another call -- THE CALL -- comes through, and Lily cuts Grace off. Then she cuts off Esther Dyson, too.
Later that night, Lily comes home to find a plate of leftovers waiting for her on the table. It's been lovingly wrapped in plastic. Grace comes into the kitchen as Lily's reheating her dinner, and oh-so-selflessly offers to stay with Jake for the week, while Lily settles into her new job. Lily says Jake wouldn't go for it. Grace says she already asked him, and that he said it's fine. Lily still says no. Grace launches into a tantrum, while ironically complaining that she hates the way Lily treats her like a baby. Lily simply ignores her rant. Seeing this tactic is failing, Grace shifts into a lower gear, snuggling up to Lily and rubbing her shoulders. She tells Lily that getting rid of her and Zoe for the week would mean she could focus on work. It would make her life so much easier. Lily gives in and calls Jake to confirm the plans. He tells her she's under a lot of strain, and he's happy to help out. Lily's silhouetted in the doorway, and we can see the girls in the room beyond. They're all giddy about staying with Jake, and this seems to make Lily feel really good about herself. She rubs her forehead like she's got a headache this big.
The morning, Lily's at work so bright and early that none of the computers are running, and there's only a couple other people there. She smiles to herself while drinking her latte and looks, for a moment, like someone in one of those "take a moment just for you" coffee ads. She takes advantage of this quiet time to tidy up the office, and then she starts farting around on the computer. It looks like she's come a long way from a couple weeks ago, when she needed help finding the "menu" on her desktop. Now she's cruising through spreadsheets and surfing the net. She finds an article on the Esther Dyson, the big important woman who's so famous that no one's heard of her.
Cut to Rick, who's ready to perform his supporting role for the week. With all the practice he's been getting, I'm sure he'll nail it. Lily's called him from work, and he assures her that she didn't wake him up. He holds out the phone to the gurgling coffee maker to prove his point. His Krispy Kreme mug is there on the counter, taunting me again. Lily tells him that she just wanted to thank him for the orchids, and she apologizes for not getting the chance to call him the day before. She also tells him he's really thoughtful, and that she loves him.
Crusty comes bounding in, and it looks like she's taken her Prozac this morning, because she's all smiles. Lily gets off the phone, and Crusty apologizes for interrupting and then tells Lily that the place looks great. Crusty calls in her big hairy dog whose name is Charlotte Brontë. Pretentious, much? She baby-talks about the dog, and I discover that my pool of hate is much deeper than I ever suspected. She then observes how much the dog likes Lily, and says that's good. She tells Lily they're having a staff meeting at noon, and Lily repeats "noon" to show Crusty she understands, and she's on top of it. Not so fast. Crusty asks her to walk the dog during the meeting, and hands her a leash. Lily's face falls as she realizes her place in the office hierarchy. It's below nowhere.
Cut to Grace and Jake in the car as he drives her to school. He tells her he's happy they're staying with him, and that he misses them every day he doesn't see them. The conversation shifts to Phil and the restaurant, and Jake says he really admires that Phil truly created something. He hopes that he can carry on the spirit, and then gets all carried away with fantasizing about Grace joining him in the business someday. Grace looks like she smells raunchy feet. She fumbles around for something to say, and settles on, "I like to eat." Jake jokes that that's how he got started. When the raucous laughter finally dies, the conversation shifts again, as Jake light-heartedly tells Grace she knows how to talk him into anything. Ever the coy little minx, she says she wishes that were true. Then her eyes get all foxy (and no, it isn't all that purple goo, which she's still wearing) as she figures out that now's her chance. She brings up the subject of Jared and his dad, who's playing again that night, and asks if she can go. Jake squishes her chin affectionately and says, "I rest my case," as in, she talked him into it.
Cut to Lily and Charlotte, the dog. Lily's trying to wrestle the dog into some stupid canine rain slicker. Not surprisingly, Charlotte's not too excited by the prospect of wearing the thing in public. As Lily talks to the dog while dressing her, we learn that she feels all her years of motherhood are finally paying off. She stands up and Charlotte circles her, sporting that ridiculous yellow raincoat. It's pretty cute, but it's humiliating just the same. Lily has a moment of disheartened clarity as she wonders aloud what she's doing.
We see her a little later at Rick's office. He's continuing in his supporting role, rubbing her shoulders while Lily pats the dog and kvetches about her job. She says she doesn't mind doing menial work, as long as she's not pigeon-holed. Rick tells her they're always impressed at his office when an assistant shows initiative. Lily realizes that he's right, and that his four minutes on-camera are almost up, so she heads back to her office.
At the restaurant, Jake is walking past Grace when she blurts out that Jared is black. Jake stops dead, pauses, and then says, "Well, that's interesting." She wants to know what he means. I rub my hands, thinking we can add "bigot" to our list of reasons to hate Jake, but it's not to be. Jake's as cool with it as he could be. Jake says it's interesting that she felt the need to tell him. Grace says she just wanted to warn him, so he doesn't look surprised when he meets Jared. Jake jokes that that's good, and he hopes she warned Jared that he'll be, you know, white. They head over to the bar, where Zoe's trying to talk the bartender into teaching her how to make a cosmopolitan. The bartender declines, citing jail as her reason, but offers to make Zoe a Shirley Temple instead. ["All right! Make one for me, too!" -- Wing Chun] Jake takes a seat and starts mock-lamenting to the bartender about how his girls are just growing up too fast. Perhaps this is why he feels the need to pick up another child -- Tiffany, I mean. She's just walked into the restaurant, and Jake rushes over to kiss her. Grace is stunned. Zoe doesn't even bat an eye, and she gives Grace the skinny. Tiffany's going to hang out with her while Grace is on her date with Jared. Grace is no less stunned when Zoe finishes. She seems to have forgotten about the maraschino cherry that was on its way to her mouth. She's just sitting and staring with her mouth hanging open. Zoe doesn't get why she's so wigged out. Ah, the little innocent.
Meanwhile, Lily's trying to show initiative at work. She offers to take home a stack of editing from Crusty's in-pile. Crusty's got nothing to lose, she argues. Crusty asks what about the kids, and Lily says they're staying with their father so she "can easily give it a shot." "Oh, well, if [she] can easily give it a shot..." Crusty's voice trails off, and I suspect her unfinished thought can't be good. Lily doesn't clue in that the supreme bitch isn't exactly thrilled at the offer.
Cut to Grace wearing some weird attempt at Bohemian: A crocheted skull-cap and some eastern-inspired printed polyester shirt. She's definitely more colorful than usual. Funky music is blasting, and she's watching Zoe get down with Tiffany. When the song ends, Tiffany flops down in a chair to Grace and tells her she looks nice. She asks if Grace is wearing make-up. Embarrassed, Grace admits that she is, "sort of." Tiffany offers to give her some tips on how to put on make-up, since she took a course in it. Of course she did. Jake walks in with his arm around Jared. Jake dispenses with the introductions and then throws on some Wilson Pickett. He slips on some shades and he and Zoe get down with their bad, bad selves. They're having a great time, and Jared loves it. He joins in, but Grace refuses. She's mortified, but by the end of the song, she relaxes and ends up smiling.
As they're leaving the restaurant, Jared tells Grace that he thinks Jake is "cool." Grace is incredulous. Jared walks her through the situation: Jake obviously wanted Jared to like him because of Grace. Jared thinks that is "pretty cool." Grace sees his point.
Lily's at home on the couch, editing. She takes a break to call Zoe at the restaurant. Zoe tells Lily that everything is fine, but Lily's obviously lonely. She tells Zoe she can come pick her up, but Zoe says she wants to stay. So Lily asks to talk to Grace. Zoe tells her that she's out with Jared. Lily wants to know why she wasn't told about it. Zoe doesn't know, but reminds Lily that they're not supposed to call her at work. Lily holds the phone away for a second to get a grip on her temper. She then asks Zoe to put Jake on the phone, but Zoe says he's in the middle of something. Defeated, Lily hangs up, and you can just tell she's wondering what the hell she's doing with her life.
Grace is having a decidedly better time. She and Jared are walking up the sidewalk to Jake's house, bonding over their parents' divorces, and he gives her a big ol' kiss. Then another. Then Zoe and Tiffany catch them by accident. There's embarrassment on all sides, except for Zoe, who's unabashedly staring at them like they're a circus sideshow. Tiffany drags her into the house.
Inside, Grace shoos Zoe off to bed with a sisterly threat, and then she and Tiffany bond over boys and other complicated stuff. Tiffany agrees to show Grace some make-up tricks the day after school.
Somehow, Rick's managed to slip on-camera for a few more seconds as he and Lily make out on her couch. Three...two...one. Lily tells him she has something else to do. This time, it's her work. She tells him he can hang out and wait for her to finish -- he "can go watch TV or sit and stare at [her]." Yes, she actually said that out loud. Like a good little boyfriend, Rick doesn't make any fuss at all but heads off to watch TV. Hey, he's learned his place by now (somewhere around fourth or fifth, depending on the week).
The morning, Crusty warns Lily that she's "not fit for human company." She's just figuring this out now? She goes on to explain that she's got a raging case of PMS. So what's her excuse the rest of the time? Crusty tells Lily she just came from her acupuncture session, which is supposed to help, and that her acupuncturist gave her some "little bags of dirt" which is supposedly tea. She tells Lily it has to be brewed exactly the way the instructions describe (which means it's a colossal pain in the ass, no doubt) and then shoos her off to brew it. Lily tries to get Crusty to look at her work, but Crusty dismisses her.
Suddenly, it's afternoon. Jake busy giving Grace a cooking lesson at the restaurant. He asks Grace why she likes Jared and she tells him that Jared's "perceptive about people." Jake says that's good, he likes that, because as "her dad, it's [his] job to make sure that all potential boyfriends demonstrate a clear understanding of her wonderfulness." I snicker in my dirty little mind as I think of Wing's patented definition for "wonderfulness" and the new spin the euphemism puts on Jake's speech. I am fully aware of my immaturity, thank you. Tiffany shows up and asks Jake if she can borrow Grace for a little while. Time for Grace to learn how to paint her face the right way.
Lily calls just as Grace is heading into the back room with Tiffany. Lily's busy making Crusty's tea while she talks, and everyone who comes into the lunchroom gags and expresses their disgust over the smell of that foul brew. Lily hears Tiffany call for Grace, and she asks whose voice that is. Reluctantly, Grace tells her it's "that friend of daddy's." Lily looks like she swallowed a bug. Crusty comes in search of her tea, and Lily hangs up with Grace. Crusty takes one sip, spits it out, proclaims it "vile," and tells Lily to throw it all out. She also tells Lily to "turn on a fan, 'cause..." and sweeps out of the room, too horrified to finish her sentence. Lily finally looks like she's getting tired of all the "flexibility" her job demands. She follows Crusty and asks if they can talk about the editing she did. Crusty says she gave the pages a look. "And?" "Lily, it isn't even in the ball-park," Crusty bitches, and spits, "I'm crazy right now and I just don't have the time to deal with it." Lily stands there looking like she just got clobbered.
Tiffany's busily painting all over Grace's face, and she mentions something about adding some glitter. Grace says she doesn't want to look like it's Halloween, and this comment prompts Tiffany to shuffle off down memory lane. She remembers that the first time she met Jake was at a Halloween party, and he was dressed as Bill Clinton. Take a moment here, just to appreciate that. Anyway, Grace's face freezes while Tiffany blabs on about the jokes people were making at the party, and how Jake wanted to make sure she knew that he was "lean and mean" under "all that padding." Grace says that Jake dressed as Clinton two Halloweens ago, while he and Lily were still married. Tiffany knows she flubbed and tries like mad to fix it, but Grace just gets up and walks away. She casts a horrified look over her shoulder as she goes. She staggers out to the bar, where she pauses to watch while Jake directs some workmen. She sits for a moment to gather her thoughts, and then quickly heads for the front exit.
Tiffany comes out and asks Jake where Grace is. She tells him they should really look for her. Jake doesn't understand what's going on yet. When he does, he calls Lily at work.
While Lily's hearing from Jake that Grace is missing, Crusty starts hollering from her office. Lily ignores her and keeps talking to Jake, running down the list of where Grace could be. Crusty pops her head out the door, and snaps, "Lily. Now. Please," while waving her arms like a madwoman. Lily continues to ignore her. When Crusty screeches for her yet again, Lily throws off her shackles (her headset) and storms into Crusty's office. She launches into a tirade, telling Crusty that her ex lost one of her children, and she's going to leave to deal with the situation, and if Crusty wants to fire her then she can go right ahead: "Because, even though I now know who Esther Dyson is, I'll never be able to do what you do. It was stupid of me to even try." Crusty's stunned. Lily stops in the doorway to inform Crusty that she's "waiting for Jake to call back, but right now [she] has to go to the washroom," and tells Crusty to answer the phones. Crusty's standing behind her desk, actually speechless for once. It's refreshing.
A few minutes later, Crusty comes into the bathroom after Lily. She asks Lily if something's "really wrong." Duh. She wants to know if Lily's "leaving for the night or quitting." She says they didn't get a chance to talk about Lily's work. "What's to talk about?" Lily asks, since "it wasn't in the ball-park." Crusty says she hates sports metaphors, but then goes right ahead and says that Lily's "been out of the ball-park. She's a rookie." She then points out that Lily may find it hard working for someone younger, but that she made the choices to get there. Crusty asks if she should cut Lily slack because of her age. Lily says no but she would "like some respect." Crusty turns this around, saying that she's been doing her job for eight years, and it's insulting for Lily to "bop in" and think she can do it after only two days. Lily sees her mistake and apologizes, but she's still making to leave. Crusty blurts that she wants Lily to come back. Lily wants to know why. Crusty tells her to "take a look around -- [she's] the only one [there] with a life" and she "brings a fresh element to the place." Lily's still making to leave, and Crusty heads into a stall. She calls out before Lily can get through the door. Lily responds through gritted teeth. Turns out Crusty needs a tampon. Lily says, "I don't think so" but the maternal side of her just won't let her leave, and she fishes around in her bag until she finds one. She passes Crusty the tampon under the door.
Finally, it looks like Lily's going to get out of there, when Crusty calls out again. She tells Lily that she's not as young as Lily probably thinks -- she's twenty-eight. Then she wishes Lily "good luck with [her] kid." Lily looks thoughtful for a second and then splits.
At home, she finds Grace in bed. Grace tells her what she learned, and then worries maybe Lily didn't already know about Jake's infidelity. Lily assures her that she knew. The phone rings, and we hear Jake's voice on the machine. Lily goes to her room to grab it, and hisses, "Nice going, Jake." She says that Grace doesn't want to talk to him, tells him that she'll call him later, and slams down the phone.
Jake's worried that "he's going to lose [Grace]," but Tiffany guarantees that he won't. She's convinced it will all be okay in the long run. Jake's angry at her for letting the truth slip out. She says she made sure to tell Grace that he didn't leave Lily to be with her. Yeah, Jake agrees: "Lily threw me out, " he says, wallowing in self-pity. He's sorry that he couldn't just put the past behind himself and leave it there. He hates that Grace had to find out about his indiscretions.
BWake reminisces about Grace when she was still in diapers. She was daddy's little girl. He can't believe how easy it was to make her happy back then -- all he had to do was be there. It's amazing to him that he was the person who could make her that happy.
A little later, Lily sticks her head in to check on Grace, who apologizes for "being so mean...when it was him." Lily reminds her that Jake is a good person, and that Grace's relationship with him is her own. What happened between him and Lily isn't Grace's problem. Grace insists that there should be "consequences for people who betray other people." Lily tells Grace that she doesn't want to see her waste a minute with her father, especially since Lily just lost her own, and knows how much it hurts. She tells Grace that, if she wants to be an adult, then this is what it's all about -- dealing with the fact that people aren't perfect. She insists that she's forgiven Jake, she just can't be in love with him anymore. Grace starts sobbing, and says she hates him. Lily holds her and the phone starts ringing again. Grace begs her not to leave, and Lily says she's not going anywhere. She hugs Grace even tighter.
At his place, Jake is staring out the window into the darkness, and crying. Zoe comes padding into the room in her jammies and fuzzy slippers. She asks him if he's okay. He scoops her up into his arms and says he's okay. Then he settles onto the sofa, still holding her, and tells her how much he loves her. Somewhere along the way, the episode lost its light-hearted feel. The mood is definitely melancholy as we fade to black.