Will Nick be able to talk Carla round? He thinks it's just nerves at first but asks that big question, is there someone else? Of course there isn't, not in the way he was afraid for. She hasn't fallen for Robert, after all, but a fling is a fling. He wants to make it all better for her but he can't and she's feeling the pressure of someone who's trying to fix her and the pressure of everything else. He managed to talk her around, for now. Her self esteem has never been at a high level and she's always her own worst enemy. Well, Nick was spouting phrase after phrase of doom so well all know how this is going to end, sooner or later.
Carla picks the wedding date, the end of May. She's determined to do this and determined they will make each other happy. The words "time", "ticking" and "bomb" come to mind. She even asks Kate to be a bridesmaid so at least two people are getting in the family mode.
Tracy's getting ready to open the new shop and thinks to get Robert to do the catering. Not sure why that would endear her to him but oh well. Training Todd to be a florist looks like it's going to be an uphill battle. Meanwhile, everyone is trying to guess what she's called it. Before I find out, I'm hazarding a guess that it's something to do with Deirdre. Wouldn't that be nice? And her plan to get Robert on site backfired, he sent Zeedan with the food. Amy to the rescue and Robert knew very well she wasn't going to give up until she brought him back to the shop.
True to her goal, Tracy named the salon Preston's Petals, hoping she'd get to change her name back to Preston sooner than later. Robert might have been annoyed but I also got the feeling he wasn't *that* annoyed and might even have been a bit flattered. He does have quite the ego after all and he later as much as admitted to Leanne he's still hung up on her. Tracy is determined, though Robert isn't having any of it, He'd rather buy into Nick's though why he would tell that to Tracy is beyond me. And where did he get the money since he had to buy out his ex-wife. He says he came into a small amount lately. That's new.
That leads us nicely into Robert vs Nick. Robert's ego reckons he has Nick's ego over a barrell. He's the best chef they've ever had and the reviews and punters are proving it. Nick thinks Robert's "only a chef" but any restaurant's success is ultimately down to how good the food is. But Nick doesn't want a business partner but another restaurant owner wants to make an offer under Nick's nose for his chef so it's Use me or Lose me. It might not have been a set up since word does get around after a good review but it doesn't matter. Leanne had good advice.
Robert certainly used it for leverage and Nick certainly was patronizing but Carla thought Robert was going to spill the beans about the fling. He nearly did but Leanne seemed to diffuse the situation and in the end Nick bent to Robert's request and Carla wasn't too happy about it. Tracy was, she tried to sneak in a hug across the bar but wasn't successful. And guess what, the whole thing was set up by Tracy, the competition being a friend of her mother's. And guess what, further, it looked like it worked, at least, the show ended with a snog.
The morning after, Robert and Tracy are all loved up. Ken is happy but is skeptical about how long it will last. As are we all! Later on, Tracy decides to surprise Robert. She finds out he's stayed behind in the empty powerless Bistro to rearrange deliveries and such so dons a sexy little number and lets herself in the back entrance at the kitchen when she finds the front door locked. Why is it locked? Because Carla has been trying to persuade Nick that a partnership with Robert is a Very Bad Idea. She discovers the power crisis has put off the solicitor's visit so there's still a chance. she has gone to the Bistro to talk Robert out of it but he has no intentions. He's happy back with Tracy and he's got a good thing going with the Bistro and Carla isn't going to talk him out of it.
They dodge around the subject a bit more, with Tracy listening from the back until the fateful phrase comes out. Robert says that what happened between them while he was split up from Tracy made him realize how much he loves Tracy. Carla throws it back at him, being more specific so Tracy can find out the truth, sleeping with me made you realize you loved Tracy??? That's a very big cat out of the bag and a very dangerous person that's discovered it.
Another old storyline rears it's ugly head. Jamie (him from the nude photos thing with Steph) is out on bail. Well, why wouldn't he be? I'm only surprised Luke was surprised and Andy's really taking it badly. He's going to take revenge and expose his recent history to his boss. Jamie might say he's sorry for everything but the fact remains, he did it. I guess bars don't require a criminal records check on staff though you'd think they would if said staff will be working with money. Luke and Andy got Jamie and his friend fired. Now we know what kind of man Jamie is and revenge is his middle name. Steph knows, too, upset but she's pulling herself together. Ominous music plays as we see Jamie and his friend in the shadows watching Andy and Luke. On the day of the powercut, Jamie and his mate have been observing the Bistro much of the day again and it sounds like they're planning to give Steph the shock of her life. They don't know that the Bistro has been closed and all the staff are gone.
Anna pretends her date is someone she met at the singles' night and boy, wasn't Sally patronizing about it!!! It's going to make watching her discover who Anna is really seeing even sweeter. Laughed at Sally feeding Tim and Faye a broccoli bake that neither of them liked and that she had to add salt to in order that it be palatable. Across the road, Kevin and Anna snog in a taxi but they are seen by Tim who tells Kevin he knows.
They make another date and try to get Faye to go to Tim and Sally's but Sally decides to bring Faye over to her flat to look for a DVD because she wants to get an eye on whoever the bloke is. Kevin and Sally nearly get caught! Sally has been really over the top patronizing about Anna dating so it will be very satisfying to see her reaction when she finds out it's Kevin! Anna's ready to go public, too so it won't be long!
Kevin and Anna are all loved up, too. They determine they'll go public later today after Craig finishes the new mural. They'll tell Sophie and Faye first and then Sally later. Tim wants to know when so he can be well clear of the explosion!
Craig finishes up the new mural for Maddie only for the council to show up to powerwash it all. How they found out, I don't know. Sally and Sophie and Maddie are determined to defend it but the bloke threatens to power wash them. I don't think he actually could but he might call in reinforcements. They're quite happy to call the police which they should have done on their own but no, that's not what they do. Sally goes running for Kevin's help and walks in on Anna and Kevin snogging in the garage office!!!! Her face is a treat!
Roy is avoiding calling his aunt about his mother, which confuses and upsets Cathy. He admitted to cathy the same thing Anna told her, about his mother's exit when Hayley got ill and I can't really blame him for being upset over that. But Cathy still thinks he needs to do the right thing and she held Roy's advice to Carla about Johnny up to a mirror. Busted. Turns out his mother broke her wrists and her sister is booked to go to Australia. Non refundable. Roy's first step is to arrange for carers but contrary to his usual methods he's stalling the departure until the very last minute.
Roy was only in Hastings with Sylvia for the weekend but apparently he was no sooner back than his Aunt called from Australia to tell him that his mother has fired the latest in a long string of carers and refuses to have anyone else in the house. His mother therefore has nobody to help her.
Tyrone and Fiz have been given very optimistic news but they still have to wait a couple of weeks for the definitive news. That's always the hard part. And now Fiz has a bad cold and can't be at the hospital. She has to stay home and conveniently, one of the people Tyrone owes money to comes banging on the door. The secret is out. And he had to admit it wasn't just the bank account in the red, it was a "payday loan", too. And I can't blame Fiz for being furious, can you? And the lies on top of it makes it worse. She's right, he sacrificed their future for one day even if he did it to make his daughter happy for that one day. It was irresponsible. Is this the end of Tyrone and Fiz? No, but it's a big dent in the relationship. She's going back to work to add that income back into the pot.
Dev wasn't fooled that the sock is Mary's but she's embarassed. Dev was then embarassed to be caught out talking to Erica about Mary's love life. Luke is still living with Tyrone, he must be staying in that playroom in the attic that they built. Can't think where else! Anwyay, he's going to live at home for a few days and let Tyrone and Fiz work things out because you knew they wouldn't break up for good. With Nessa out of the picture, Rita thinks Audrey should waste no time but Audrey thinks time is exactly what she needs. There's no hurry, after all, now there's no competition! Meanwhile, Alex has turned up. His mother is driving him mad and he's lost his job. Kevin's looking at quotes for the renovations and isn't automatically about to give it to Jason, though "shopping locally" should give him an edge. No, apparently it does not. He got a cheaper quote and is going with it in spite of Jason.
Ken tries twice to ask Audrey for drinks but twice she manages to put him off, first citing how busy they are at the salon now Nessa has left and then lying that she and Gail are going to see the new Mad Max movie which is pretty obvious to all and sundry that it's an excuse. Audrey later tells Gail she doesn't want to give the gossips any further fuel.
Things have begun on the building site today with workers in starting the excavations. One of the workers gets shouted at for skiving off, standing outside having a drink of water. In the middle of the lunch rush at the Bistro, the power goes out and it turns out someone at the building site next door cut a power cable. The same man tells the foreman the name of someone that can help quickly but the restaurant won't be open for at least a day or two. Nick isn't happy as you can imagine. Kevin goes to introduce himself to the unnamed worker only to have him unmasked as Pat Phelan, the man that caused so much trouble last year with Anna and Gary and Owen!!!! Wait until Anna claps eyes on him!
Deirdre: A Life on Coronation Street - official ITV tribute to a soap icon.
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