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While taking out the trash, Josh catches an older man peering in their kitchen
window. Josh scares him off. Shamaya, who is going over the figures for
starting her own business, admits someone has been following her. The next day, Shamaya meets with a loan
officer (Oscar Davis) to present her idea for personal hygiene products. Mr. Davis invites Shamaya to dinner to
discuss it further. Shamaya accepts his
invitation, but to test his sincerity, she asks to call her boyfriend (she
doesn't have one) to join them. At
this, Oscar retracts the offer, feigning an unexpected conflict in his
schedule. The following night, Russell
catches the unidentified stalker looking in Shamaya’s window at night. But when Russell tells Claire to call 911,
Shamaya stops her, identifying the man as her father, Lawrence Taggert Sr. Lawrence admits he’s been following Shamaya
from a distance because he knows neither of his children want anything to do
with him. Lawrence explains he lost his
job as a salesman to a younger man six months ago, and had a series of bad
breaks, losing his car and his apartment.
When Russell and Claire find out Lawrence has nowhere to go, they offer
to put him up for the night. The next
morning, LT becomes enraged when he sees his father, to the point where Russell
has to restrain him. Russell gives
Lawrence a ride to the shelter and learns a little about the problems between
him and his wife and kids. Lawrence
hoped he could make it up to them, but never managed to do so. After their mother died, the bad feelings
between them grew worse. Russell pulls
over when Lawrence starts to complain of being too warm (even though the heater
isn't on). At this point, Lawrence
reveals he has prostate cancer.
Meanwhile, Claire, trying to help Shamaya is reminded of her strained relationship with her own father.
Claire tries to get Shamaya to soften toward her father, but she is
still too bitter. Shamaya tells Claire
that she didn't get the business loan because she wouldn't go to dinner with
the loan officer. Shamaya eventually
comes around, goes to the shelter where her father is staying and invites him
to stay with them. Lawrence thinks
she’s just doing this because the Greenes told her about his cancer. But this is the first she’s heard of
it. LT objects to Shamaya’s decision to
let their father move in with them.
Josh agrees to let LT stay with him in the trailer temporarily until his
father is gone. Shamaya tries to get LT
to remember the good times, but the few good memories he has are overshadowed
by the void when he left. Lawrence's
health problem prompts Russell to schedule an overdue appointment with his own
doctor to check for prostate cancer, a disease which, if detected early, has an
excellent recovery rate. Shamaya’s
conflict with her father prompts Claire to call her own father. She feels better having done so.
Subplot: Leon asks Russell for advice with his girlfriend Tina. When things go awry, Leon blames Russell and
takes his anger out on the kids at the Ridley Center. Eventually, Leon eventually apologizes to Russell for his
behavior and admits that Tina had been seeing someone for the past two
months. He suspected something was
going on, but wasn’t ready to admit it to himself.
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