Howard Wise/jpistudios.com
Secrets Are No Fun: Adam (Mark Grossman) and Chelsea (Melissa Claire Egan) are having a tough time managing their post-tryst guilt.
It’s Adam’s first day as CEO of Newman Media and instead of heading into the office, he stops at Chancellor Park to clear his head. Before too long, Chelsea joins him on a park bench and claims she’s still decompressing from the latest progress report they’ve received regarding Connor’s OCD.
However, Adam can tell that there’s something more on her mind. “Adam can sense the guilt over sleeping together is still weighing very heavily on Chelsea and I think she’s having a real tough time with it,” says Mark Grossman (Adam). “It is such a big thing, so it’s hard to just forget about it. It’s kind of an elephant in the room every time Adam and Chelsea get together. The guilt is definitely weighing on both of them — but it’s affecting Chelsea a lot more.”
Balancing Act
During their conversation, Adam and Chelsea agree that it would be inappropriate for them to lean on one another under the present circumstances, as they each find a way to cope with the aftermath of their tryst. “I’m sure that Chelsea feels that she should just come clean to Billy,” Grossman opines. “Maybe he would just understand and they can move on from it.” Adam is taking a different stance. Notes Grossman, “Adam definitely is [taking the position of], ‘I don’t ever want to talk about this so let’s just stuff it down.’ Obviously, Adam and Chelsea have to deal with Connor and his situation together because it’ll be ongoing. But Adam wants to try and put what happened between them behind them, so as to not to raise any suspicion about it. It’s a tightrope to walk there.”
Why Go There?
However, Adam has a track record demonstrating that bottling things up tends to make him rash and self-destructive, which usually means his life runs off the rails. “I think Adam is better at at least trying to compartmentalize his feelings and pushing them down in hopes of moving on,” Grossman explains. “But Adam absolutely feels guilty about being unfaithful. He’s telling Chelsea, ‘We’ve got to focus on Connor,’ and, of course, he’s CEO of Newman Media now, so he thinks those are two welcome distractions. If he can just put one foot in front of the other, then they can put this behind them and just keep moving forward. He’s in a vulnerable place right now. His basic attitude with Chelsea is, ‘I don’t want to dig any deeper about this.’ ”
Talked Out
When Chelsea tries to further discuss their predicament, Adam politely shuts down the conversation, causing her to feel even more anxious. “Adam thinks the only plausible thing to do in this moment is just stopping talking about it,” Grossman reasons. “The only other alternative is coming clean with [their significant others] Sally and Billy and as far as Adam is concerned, that would be worse. That would just explode everything. Not just his relationship with Sally — it could set Connor back, which is a huge deal and the last thing that Adam and Chelsea would want to happen is. Exposing this secret could harm their son, and they don’t want to do anything to jeopardize Connor’s treatment, so it’s a very tough place to be in.”
