Debbie Landry

**Debbie Landry** is Megan's hardworking single mom who thinks hosting Isabella will open Megan’s eyes to a bigger world than their small town.

## Early History

Debbie had an on/off again relationship with a man named Keith, and they had two unplanned pregnancies with their daughters Megan and Lily. Keith was around when Megan was a child but stopped visiting at some point. By the time the couple had Lily, Keith had become completely checked out. Debbie raised the girls herself in Chatham, WA. She started working with Steve Chambers at his real estate company. His son Luke became best friends with Megan, and the families were always together.

## Biography

### Summer 1999

On July 16th, Megan is listening to music with her mom in their camper, which they are cleaning out to make room for Isabella. Megan doesn't want another close friend as she already has Luke. Debbie believes female friendships are different, which might be sexist but is also true. She's worked hard and should enjoy her senior year instead of counting down the days until college. For all she knows, Isabella coming could be the best thing to ever happen to her.

In the kitchen, Debbie sets out a vase of flowers that cost a lot. Megan doesn't understand why she's trying to impress the girl, but she's just giving her a warm welcome. Lily excitedly states that the girl is here and the two rush outside just as Isabella is stepping out of the car.

Debbie, Isabella, Lily, and Megan sit on the porch. Isabella was born in New York but they left the States when she was six months old, so she's lived just about everywhere. India, Malaysia, England, Argentina, Japan, just everywhere since her parents are diplomats. Lily thinks she's incredible and Isabella encourages Debbie to open the gift she brought, which is a glass vase. She gives Lily a bracelet and Megan reluctantly opens hers, which is a book titled “Grave Questions”, since she likes mysteries.

The next morning, Debbie encourages Megan to hang out with Isabella, though Megan doesn't think they'll have anything in common since Isabella was born cool. She isn't changing her schedule for Isabella and has errands to run before meeting Luke at the Bloom. She refuses her mom's suggestion that she take Isabella but eventually caves when the girl rounds the corner, ready to leave.

Debbie brings a file to Steve. She ran the numbers on the Northland project and thinks it's a big swing and is worried about the risk. He asks if she thinks it's too big of a risk, but she doesn't, just that it's a high-flier. He agrees and appreciates the caution, but he's moving on this. Northland could have a real impact on the town. It could bring in business all year round and put Chatham on the map. She notices the pictures of his family on his desk, smiling that Luke was over at the house earlier. Neither of them can believe their kids are going to be seniors. He's lining up investors and has a call with a congressman that he answers teasingly, scheduling a rematch as Debbie walks off.

Two days later, Debbie shows Isabella how to make eggs but she smashes the egg on the counter. It takes practice, assuring Isabella she'll get it one day. When she was younger, they moved around a lot so it made it hard to make friends. She went to boarding school one year, though she didn't miss her parents much as it wasn't that different. She tells Lily that in boarding school, friends become like your family - at least Lisa did. She's super fun, smart, and incredibly ambitious, super driven, but a total control freak. It sounds like someone Debbie knows, except Lily knows they aren't friends. Isabella smirks that it takes time to get to know someone, but sooner or later, she'll crack it.

On July 19th, Megan and Isabella drive up to the house to find Debbie making out with a man on the front lawn. Megan is angry at the sight and storms into the airstream. Isabella follows, confused, as Megan can't believe Debbie would do this to them. The guy is her dad. His name's Keith and he's a musician who plays guitar in an old rock band. She never really called him dad because they weren't married, and he was only around a lot when she was a kid. He dressed up as the Easter bunny one year. She apologizes as this must be boring for Isabella, but Isabella assures her that it's not. Megan remembers him having long hair and sleeping in late, making up funny songs about mundane things. He sounds cool. When her mom got pregnant with Lily they were fighting a lot and by the time she was born, he was never around. Most of the time, Megan forgets that he even exists. Isabella is sorry for her as that sucks. Megan used to catch her mom listening to his music but it's been years. She doesn't understand why Debbie would want to bring him back into their lives, as all he's done is hurt them. Isabella is supportive of her talking to Debbie or staying mad for several days.

### Winter 1999

On December 15th, Megan hurries into the kitchen for water, where Debbie greets her Gate scholar. She is proud of her daughter for being the first Landry to go to college. She wishes she had her drive and focus. Megan notices the past due bills, assuring her mom that she'll still have a job and can help out while in college. Debbie tells her to enjoy college and take her foot off the gas for once. She starts to leave without her lunch, so Megan hands it off.

That afternoon, Debbie meets with Steve in a parking lot. He apologizes for being late as the Northland investors are starting to get cold feet. He could get new ones but they're already losing so much summer foot traffic to Pine Cove. The Northland deal was supposed to recoup all of it, maybe more. She suggests hitting them with the Chambers charm, but he thinks that's gone. She thinks it hardly is, as half the women in this town would ditch their husbands if he looked at them twice. He questions it and they flirt before he kisses her.

During the Chambers Christmas party, Steve entertains wealthy visitors at his house when Debbie arrives. He compliments her and they kiss. He likes her shoes and smiles that he has excellent taste. He's outdone himself with the party this time. Wayne Bright said some of the Northland investors were coming, so he's pulled out all the stops. She nods over to where Megan and Luke are laughing together. He thinks it's puppy love but she thinks it could run deeper than that. He gives her a look - they have their whole futures ahead of them and are a little young to be getting tied down. He notices Wayne arrives and leads Debbie over as she agrees to help him close the deal.

Luke shakes hands with Principal Bowers, who heard from his dad how excited he is to be following in his and Brent's footsteps at Branson. Luke eyes his father when he says it's the Chambers way. Steve is sure Luke will love their great business program. Debbie interrupts to take Steven and Bowers away.

Steve calls everyone's attention to thank them for coming. When he and his late wife Jane started throwing the parties, it was just a handful of friends with Brent and Luke as babies. Brent is now at Branson and Luke is following in his footsteps this fall, raising his glass as he expresses his pride. Megan rubs Luke's arm supportively. This year's Christmas movie is one of Jane's favorites and one that holds a special place in Steve's heart as well. The movie starts and Megan asks Luke if he wants to go inside, which relieves him. The sounds of gasps and moans distract them, pulling their attention to the screen where a sex tape is projected. It features a girl that everyone realizes is Isabella, because she's wearing the same pink sweater as in the video. The boy in the video isn't seen for a while, and Steve shouts to turn off the film while everyone murmurs. The boy in the video lifts his head, revealing himself as Luke. Megan looks at her boyfriend while Isabella raises her eyes. Steve shouts at Luke to turn it off and he runs over to the VCR, ejecting it. Megan rushes after him and then turns to stare at Isabella, while Kelly sneers to Isabella that she's some best friend.

On December 18th, Debbie finds Isabella in the kitchen making breakfast. She just spent an hour trying to convince Principal Bowers not to suspend her. The whole town saw her having sex, but she agreed to probation instead. One false move and she'll be expelled. Isabella thanks her and appreciates it. She doubts it's enough to convince Megan to forgive her, but she has to start somewhere.

That night, Isabella comes downstairs to find Debbie at the table. She stands in front of her and admits there's something she needs to know. Isabella reveals that it was actually Megan on the sex tape, not Isabella, who had taken the fall so Megan wouldn't lose her scholarship.

On December 23rd, the pipes in the Landry house burst. Megan called a plumber, though the estimate given to Debbie was $6,000 upfront. Megan thinks they should tap the emergency fund, but it's empty because of the roof repairs last year and Lily's retainer. Megan is mad that her mom didn't tell her. She can't lean on Megan to pay for things and then keep her in the dark, wishing she would be the grown-up around there for once. She has $900 in her savings account, but Debbie knows that's for college. Debbie will talk to Steve, but Megan doesn't like it as he's her boss, they're dating, and Megan's dating Luke. Debbie doesn't know what else to do and Isabella walks in with an envelope full of money, $5,000, that her parents gave her to buy herself a Christmas present. Megan refuses to let her help even though Isabella insists they're family. Megan calls her family but they'll find a way. They can't stay there tonight, so Debbie tells the girls to pack a bag so they can stay at Steve's.

Megan packs a bag and laments to Debbie that she doesn't want to go. She doesn't want to be around Brent right now, not after the whole tape situation. Debbie is so sorry that happened to her. Sex is supposed to be private and not blasted in public for the whole town. Debbie wishes Megan would have told her they were having sex. Her first time is special, and Megan admits it was. She can't believe Debbie saw the tape. Debbie wishes she could make it all disappear. Megan thanks her for not making her feel worse about it.

The girls arrive at the Chambers' house. Megan and Isabella recap that they won't mention the tape or anything that happened, leaving them little to talk about it. Isabella tells Megan she should have taken the money, which upsets her. Isabella quickly says she was joking, but doesn't think it should be that complicated. Megan knows, but money always complicates things. Steve lets the girls inside and Debbie explains that Lily is at a sleepover. Luke slyly tells Megan to sneak into his room for a sleepover later. Steve calls for Brent to come down and greet their guests, but the boy doesn't show. The kids head upstairs while Debbie asks Steve if he's okay. He is, but Wayne Bright pulled out of the Northland deal because he can't do business with people who don't share his values. It's because of the tape and it doesn't matter, because someone like that spikes a deal and it sends a message to other investors. They're dead in the water.

Brent, Luke, Isabella, and Megan talk before dinner about him being grounded because of his pitiful snitch of a brother. Luke calls him out for the pervy shit he did. As they argue over the table and he makes a crude remark to Isabella, Megan shouts that she used to make excuses for him. That he was just damaged but he went too far this time. He tells them to get over it as it's not that big of a deal. He accuses Isabella of being a slut and banging Luke behind Megan's back. Steve and Debbie enter the room and Steve shuts down the fighting, telling everyone to sit.

The awkward dinner continues in silence until Debbie admits to thinking Brent owes Isabella and Luke an apology. Steve instructs Brent to do that, and he does apologize for what he did. Megan urges him to keep going, though Steve cuts her off as he did apologize. Debbie thinks some genuine remorse would be great. Luke just wants to have a nice dinner, something Steve seconds. Megan refuses as she wants Brent to admit to filming those girls without telling them. Luke asks Megan if they have to do this now and Debbie realizes there was more than one tape. Megan tells him there is and that Steve must be so proud. Debbie is horrified to learn that Steve knew and tells Brent his mother would be so ashamed. She can't believe Steve isn't more upset. He admits Brent made a serious lapse in judgment but has been punished - end of story. She rebuttals that he filmed those kids without their knowledge without consent. That is more than a lapse in judgment that is criminal. Steve doesn't want her to critique his parenting in front of his kids. She accuses him of letting Brent coast for a few months, so Steve offers to talk privately. She refuses as the kids can handle this. Steve had Jack back off so it wouldn't go on his permanent record. Debbie thinks real lasting consequences might just be what he needs. Steve coldly asks when she became the morality police since Keith got her pregnant and she didn't marry him twice. Isabella stands up for Debbie, telling Steve not to talk to her like that. The trio bickers and Debbie accuses Steve of sweeping things under the rug to protect his social status. She knows reputation is everything to him, but this is what he gets when he prioritizes the Chambers name over his family, hoping it's worth it. She leaves the table as Megan smirks proudly.

Back in the Landry house, Debbie thinks about taking Isabella's offer as a loan. Megan doesn't want to since she already owes Isabella enough with the school stuff. The phone rings, and she answers it, only for a guy to call Isabella obscenities. It rings again, and another boy shouts vulgarities, so Megan unplugs the phone. Debbie knows this cover story is putting a lot of pressure on both of them, on their friendship. She asks if it's worth it. Megan hopes it is because it's her future. She asks if Debbie and Steve will be okay, but Debbie isn't sure. Love isn't always enough - you have to see the world in the same way.

In the morning, Megan comes downstairs to find plumbers working on the pipes. She assumes Debbie convinced the plumber, but she never talked to them. Steve sent them as his way of trying to apologize. Megan opens a letter from Chatham High School, in which she gets a C+ as her final grade in a class. Megan lies to Debbie that it's just junk mail. She heads back upstairs.

### Summer 2000

On July 16th, Lily asks Megan for money to go to the movies, and Debbie tells Megan to let her have some fun since they canceled the Ocean Bloom. Megan hands her money but wants her to change her shirt first, and gets called a “biatch” in response. Megan says she looks slutty, but Lily would rather look like a slut than have everyone think she's a freak. She takes the money in the end. Debbie doesn't want her to be so hard on Lily, but Megan insists she's just looking out for her and goes back to filling a pill container.

Later in the day, Steve, Brent, and Debbie hear that a fisherman found a body in the lake. They hurry down to the docks, where Steve pushes past the crime scene tape despite Sheriff Myers trying to stop him. He unzips the bag, pausing before identifying Luke. Brent starts to get emotional as Debbie holds his arm.

Two days later, Isabella and the Landry family drive up to a memorial for Luke. She knows he'll have a million new best friends soon enough, just like Princess Diana. People who never cared when she was alive suddenly started crying at her memorial, as they loved her. Debbie merely drives on while Isabella looks at the memorial, then Megan in the backseat. They arrive at the Chambers house looking for Steve. Brent is there, telling them that Steve got called down to the station. Luke didn't just drown, they think he was murdered. The news scares Megan and Isabella.

That afternoon, Debbie finds Steve on the porch about to smoke a cigarette, ruining eight years of not smoking. He admits to cheating once before, on the first anniversary of Jane's death. She doesn't know where to begin but is there for him anytime. He doesn't think she'll want to be. It's like he's cursed, being punished for something. First Jane, now Luke. She tells him not to go there, but it's hard not to. Even when all those weeks and months went by with no word, Steve kept thinking Luke would come home.

Isabella takes a seat across from the Sheriff, Debbie to her left, as he asks her about her relationship with Luke. How they dated then broke up before he dated Megan. Then came the illegally recorded tape of them having sex. He muses about how things changed after that. She scoffs - she's a minor and thinks he should be more concerned about who made the tape. Debbie asks what his question is. After all, he's been through, he asks why she's still in town. She corrects his question as being why she didn't let herself get run out of town. Debbie stands up to leave, but Isabella tells her to sit as she's got this. When he talked to her back when Luke disappeared, she was ready to leave town once school ended. That's true, but Debbie got sick so she decided to stay and help out. He calls it kind of her but also convenient, given her situation before she came there. She went to three schools in three years and didn't even finish her junior year, having left before she could finish. She asks if that's all he has on her, and it is, for now. It's kind of hard not to notice a pattern of trouble following her wherever she goes. She stands up, but he's not done. She insists they are and won't be saying another word without her lawyer.

On July 19th, Sheriff Myer pulls up to the Landry house and Megan sees him from her window. Isabella watches from the airstream as he knocks on the door, with Debbie answering. She asks if everything is alright and he's afraid not. She lets him inside. The ballistics came back from the gun that shot Luke. It's registered to Steve Chambers, and he's at the Landry's house because there were three pairs of prints on the gun - Luke's, Isabella's, and Megan's.

That night, Steve visits Debbie with a casserole, amusing her, because she's pretty sure she's supposed to be the one giving him food. He could open a store with all the casseroles he has. He comes in and sets it on the table. He's holding up, but it's been a bit of a blur. The nights are worse and he doesn't think he'll sleep again until he finds out who killed Luke. Jack told him about the fingerprints on the gun. Debbie, incredulous, asks if he thinks the girls did it, but he knows they were up at the cabin with Luke last summer. They were probably playing around with the gun. There is one strange thing though. Jack said the cabin was cleaned lately, but he hasn't been there in months and neither has Brent. He wonders who did clean it. Megan eavesdrops from her bedroom.

The next day, in the gazebo at the Landry house, Isabella tells Debbie to get a lawyer. Debbie is sure Sheriff Myer will sort it all out, but Isabella reminds her that he's not her friend anymore, but a cop. Megan accuses her of knowing a lot about the law, but Isabella ignores her. She tells Debbie to just get a lawyer - a really, really good one.

Megan's new lawyer, Tom, talks to her and Debbie at the kitchen table. The sex tape gives Isabella's team an angle they can sell, and Megan jokes about being a jilted lover. With the fingerprints and her being the last one to see Luke starts to tell a story. He answers the phone for jury selection and walks off. Debbie thinks he seems good, and Megan adds that he seems expensive too. She assumes the money came from Steve, then realizes she isn't telling her something. Debbie hasn't asked Megan's father for anything in 12 years, and Megan is taken aback by the answer. She shouts that Debbie said they didn't need him and wouldn't ask him for anything. Debbie knows, but won't let her pride get in the way of getting Megan the best possible defense. It is too important to her. Megan swears to pay him back every cent. The lawyer returns, needing to take them down to the station.

Tom, Debbie, and Megan arrive at the Sheriff's station. Megan sees Isabella in an office room with her lawyer and they lock eyes for a long time until a deputy shuts the door. Megan and Tom speak to Sheriff Myer alone in an interrogation room without Debbie's presence.

On July 23rd, Tom reminds Megan this is real life and not fiction. It doesn't look good for her and asks when the last time she saw Luke was. It was early that Saturday morning but claimed she hasn't been back to the cabin since then. Debbie listens from the kitchen. He asks if there's anything else she hasn't told him as they can't afford any more surprises. He needs to be prepared for whatever is coming. She insists that's it.

Megan listens to music on her bed when Debbie yanks them off. She's mad that Megan knew Luke was running away and didn't say anything. She let Steve suffer. Megan was trying to protect Luke. He was really freaked out and wouldn't tell her much, just that he had to get away for a while. Debbie wishes she would have told her. This is too much for Megan to handle on her own. Megan admits that Luke showed her the letter while they were at the cabin. She was supposed to put it in Steve's mailbox after she dropped him off at the train station. When she got back to the cabin after work, he wasn't there. For months after he left, every time the phone rang, she thought it would be him.

Sheriff Myer knocks on Debbie's front door with a warrant for Megan's computer, as it may contain evidence of fraud. She shouts after Deputy Hardwicke and runs upstairs, following them. The sheriff and deputy leave with Megan's computer as she watches them go. She looks over at Isabella, who is standing in the doorway of the air stream, watching them.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 2.01 "Welcome to Chatham"
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.02 - "Ride or Die"
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 2.03 - "Bloody Knuckles"
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 2.04 - "Springing a Leak"