Fugue in a Nursery, Stretto Summary

After lunch on Sunday, Arnold offers to help Laurel with cleaning up the kitchen, which will allow Ed and Alan some time alone to get to know each other better. During their conversation in the kitchen, Laurel reveals to Arnold her intuition about Arnold's trying to win Ed back into his life. Laurel knows that Arnold calls Ed frequently, which validates her claim. To Laurel's surprise, Arnold reveals that it is Ed who initiates the phone calls, not Arnold. Out in the barn, Ed reveals the circumstances of his meeting Arnold, and he is overcome with Alan's beauty; eventually Ed seduces Alan.

Later on, Arnold muses about feeling bad that he had revealed the truth about the phone calls to Laurel, who was stunned about the revelation, but took the information in stride. Alan wants...