The Best Is Yet to Come

Eugene Meltsner has accepted a job offer from his longtime colleague Dr. Langford Hunt, whose foundation wants Eugene's memory-restoring research in Baltimore. After his son Buck selflessly urged him to take the position, the whole family has agreed to go. Now the news is rippling painfully through Odyssey.

Jules Kendall is heartbroken and angry. She reminds Buck that he once promised to do everything he could to stay, and she can't understand why he told his parents to move anyway. Buck explains that he felt horrible, but he couldn't manipulate the parents who have done so much for him, and after waiting so long to have a family, he needs to stay with them. He insists the two of them can still date long distance, talking on the phone and visiting when they can, but Jules isn't convinced. "If you're going to leave, Buck, then just leave," she says.

At Whit's End, Eugene announces the decision to Whit and Connie. The family leaves Friday, and Eugene is even selling the house because he can't imagine any reason they'd return. Connie is stunned and hurt, especially when she learns Whit encouraged the move. Whit admits the loss is hard for him too, but he believes it's right. Connie isn't ready to hear it. Watching everyone go along with the plan, she mutters that just because everybody else is accepting this doesn't mean she has to.

That evening, Connie urges Jules to spend her last days with Buck instead of avoiding him, but Jules explains the pattern of her life: her dad vanished without a goodbye before her fourth-grade career day, and her mom disappeared for a month after promising to attend her school play. "Everyone I've ever trusted leaves," she says, so she has decided the safest thing is to stop caring about Buck before it hurts even more. At school, Buck tries everything to reach her - waiting outside her classes, delivering her favorite cookies, stuffing notes in her locker - but Jules brushes past him. Talking with his mom, Katrina, Buck refuses to give up, and remembering a song the two of them shared gives him an idea.

Meanwhile, Dr. Hunt calls Eugene with startling news: after a conversation with someone he won't name, the Foundation is considering building the research facility in Odyssey so the Meltsners wouldn't have to move at all. Instead of rejoicing, Eugene is dismayed. Team members would be uprooted against their wishes and might resent him, and his family has already made peace with the decision. Eugene quickly guesses who interfered. Confronted at Whit's End, Connie can't understand why no one is celebrating - she thought this was what everyone wanted. Eugene tells her the decision was never hers to make, declares he will reject the Odyssey proposal, and leaves to help his family finish packing. Whit gently but firmly tells Connie she was being selfish, thinking only of herself. He compares Eugene's situation to Abraham, whom God blessed only after he obeyed and left his home, his family, and everything he knew. Connie admits God may have a bigger plan, but she tells Whit she needs a day just to be mad, lazy, and sad about it.

Early the next morning, Buck makes one last grand gesture. With his friend Otto standing by with a whole lineup of fireworks, Buck stands outside Jules's window and sings a song he wrote for her, shouting an apology and begging her to give their relationship a chance, even long distance. The fireworks blaze into the sky - but it's Connie who comes outside. Jules isn't home. She left for the airport, headed back to California for a few days to get away. Buck is crushed: "I'm leaving for Baltimore tonight."

On the plane, Jules finds herself seated beside Ted Humphries, a Channel 10 news reporter on his way to visit his great-aunt. When he asks why a teenager is skipping school to fly to Denver, Jules says she's connecting to Los Angeles because she needed to get out of town - as far away as she can. The story ends with both Buck and Jules leaving Odyssey, in opposite directions, with everything between them unresolved.