David didn't take the news well, about Shona being Clayton's mother. It's definitely going to be confusing for David with Shona sticking around and admitting she was falling for him. She did stand up to his questioning well. She's no more to blame for Clayton's actions than Gail is for anything David has done.
David is all out of sorts over Shona's disappearance. He confesses to Gail that for a while he felt almost normal, not a widower or a single dad. She has sympathy for him, of course she does. In the salon, Eileen and Billy nearly come to blows with him when he refuses to try to contact Shona using his phone. They had hoped Shona might answer her phone if she saw it was David, but seeing Kylie's photo on his phone only drives it home and he throws his phone against one of the salon mirrors and breaks it. They must have retreated quickly because the next scene we see, he's polishing Max's school shoes back at home.
Later on, he's had a think and realizes Gail hasn't been peppering him with questions about Shona and what happened and he's starting to figure it out. He confronts her. She knew about Shona's secret, didn't she? She admits it and admits she even tried to pay her to leave. He's furious. He throws her out. Permanently. So he says, anyway. When she gets back she finds he's chained the doors from the inside.
Later, Sarah and Bethany get home from a day out and the door's still chained so they holler through the door. David opens it. He tells them he threw Gail out and calls Billy over. He tells them that Shona is Clayton's mother. They're all gobsmacked! Bethany is sarcastic, because they wanted her to take advice from Shona. David tells Sarah that Gail knew and that's why he threw her out. Jaws are dropped all around. Later on, Todd feels vindicated in his suspicions.
Sarah tried to get through to Bethany again. She was close to getting back to a normal life but the brainwashing kicked in again. She did agree to talk to Shona but I don't know if David will let that happen, now or even if she'll want to. She didn't come after all. David thinks she's gone for good. Cop Neil showed up to talk to Bethany but Craig got himself in there as well so whatever it was Neil was going to pass on but he managed to get Craig out of the way. He's confirming that Bethany will be leaving with Nathan and he'll contact her the next day.
It sounds like Daniel is going to continue on with his studies. He may even forgive his mother, or at least put it behind him. I have no sympathy for her telling him she cried herself to sleep many times. Scared is no excuse. She could still have sent him a letter at least. Later it was Denise to the rescue, she knows her dipsticks, does Denise. Too bad she stuck her foot firmly in it by wittering on about how great traveling was where Daniel could overhear. He didn't take it well, as you would imagine, no matter how much she tries to promise she didn't mean it how he took it. I wouldn't take it well, either. he wants to forgive her, you can see it, but he's just too hurt. He's insisting she leave. She doesn't want to. Ken wants her to fight for him but she's going, even though she's not going far, she says.
Aidan did buy something from Phil the jeweller, a bracelet. For Maria. Something for her ankle to replace the tag. And since Johnny knows about the affair, I'm not so sure he should be encouraging Eva to propose to Aidan! Must have been the drink talking.
Johnny and Jenny spent the afternoon drinking and when he staggered and nearly fell, she thought it was the booze after an afternoon of dancing. The next day, Johnny has his appointment with the neurologist but won't let Kate go with him. We'll get back to that. Eva is going to propose to Aidan tonight and is decorating the Bistro in a Mexican theme because they were in Mexico when she first realized she loved him. She spends all day decorating and she's done up in a lovely red dress and has hired a Mariachi band and everything. Only Aidan is nowhere to be found. He knows they're meeting at the Bistro for dinner but he spends his time drinking with Maria in the Rovers instead. They even have an icky quickie in a booth in the gents' toilets! ew! When Eva finds out he's in the pub, she leads the band down the street tot he pub. Johnny is back from the doctor's but won't tell Kate what the diagnosis is, preferring to join the fun in the pub and tell her later.
Eva comes in, but Aidan and Maria are still in the toilet, finishing their encounter. Maria lurches out of the toilets first and then comes Aidan who is stunned to see Eva and the band there. She gets down on one knee and proposes. He glances at Maria but smiles down at her and of course he says yes because he's a coward. Maria scowls. The party goes back to the Bistro. Eva witters on about feminism and the Spice Girls while Aidan looks a little like a deer trapped in the headlights.
Johnny lies to Kate and says he's got a bacterial infection. It's clearly a lie but she believes it and takes the drink out of his hand because he said he was on antibiotics. Jenny comes in, pretending to be happy for the newly engaged couple. Jenny's only concerned it's a long engagement so as not to overshadow her wedding. She goes on about how common the Mexican proposal was until Kate reminds her that she got proposed to in the factory. Yes. Well. Aidan makes an excuse to nip out to send some emails and documents from his laptop. What he's really doing is goingi to Maria's to insist that nothing's changed between them. Dog. Double dealing, dirty dog. Maria gives him an earful and if he won't leave, she decides to. I bet she doesn't mean it.
Maria has taken refuge in the kebab shop where Aidan tracks her down. He confesses that he loves both women but she reckons he loves Eva more because he agreed to marry her. Aidan insists it means nothing. I never liked him and now I hate him more every day. Eva smacks on the window, having tracked Aidan down and wants to know what's going on. There's some lame excuse that Aidan isn't supposed to be talking to Maria. I don't remember when that apparently came about. Eva drags him back off to the party. Gemma has clocked the end of that and asks Maria if she wants to go for a drink later which she does. Turns out Gemma used to work in a morgue, or had a friend that did. Gemma and Liz both notice that Maria's a bit off tonight. She admits she's been seeing someone who is seeing someone else as well. They sympathise. Gemma suggests she could go to war rather than sit back and accept it.
War it is, then.
Earlier, Michelle and Eva had a chat with Michelle urging Eva to make up with Maria who will be family soon, distantly and she was a good friend. They're hard to find. Eva is thoughtful. When Maria shows up at the Bistro, with both barrells loaded, angry that Aidan lies to Eva all the time. They're interrupted by Eva who offers to bury the hatchet, she was missed. Eva then insists that Maria be her bridesmaid and it's difficult to say no to Hurricane Eva, isn't it? She whispers to Aidan that she's sick of being second and knows she can make him happy. She tells Aidan he has to make a choice.
I liked an exchange that David and Maria had the day after, where she insisted Aidan couldn't say no and David pointed out he was weak. Got it in one. She told David about giving Aidan an ultimatim. You know he'll drag that out as long as he can. He's one of those people that wants it all. Yep, he's already suggesting a *very* long engagement. She could have her Christmas dream wedding but he'd prefer it to be end of next year. She's going to talk about nothing else but weddings, though, and can Aidan actually stand it for the next 18 months? He might have to break up with her and choose Maria sooner than he wanted to just for that!
Ken is on his way back from Freschos with his shopping, when a bag breaks and tins go all over the place. Johnny has left the Bistro and hurries over to help him. I refuse to believe that Ken wouldn't have brought a "green" bag with him to the shops. This is contrived to have Johnny get out of the way of prying eyes, Kate's. Johnny tells Ken he's trying to avoid someone. Inside, they have a drink and Johnny spots Deirdre's photo. He never met her. He asks about the age gap. Ken admits there was one but yet Deirdre went first. Johnny seems to be concerned about trying to keep up with Jenny's energy. Johnny doesn't want to be a burden. Ken reckons they're all going to be a burden to someone in the end. True, that. Johnny finishes his drink and decides to leave. He goes back to the party at the Bistro.
At the party, Jenny continues to hint about a 2018 wedding but also admits she sees that Aidan makes Eva happy. He looks uncomfortable. She wants them to be friends. She jokes that he can be an arrogant so and so and is about to say that she likes him anyway but Johnny comes in and hears her criticism, doesn't realize she's only kidding and gives her a hard time about it. Jenny tries to talk to him about it but he's in a very bad mood. When she reminds him she's his fiancee, he turns on her and breaks up with her. He says he's having doubts and he leaves her standing there, stunned.
She doesn't think he really means it and shows up the next morning with croissants. Johnny is sober and serious and tells her he doesn't love her anymore. When she finally believed him, she hauled off and really hit him hard and gave him the ring back so he wouldn't think she was a gold digger. We know he didn't mean it but he doesn't want to be ill and a burden to her. Rita gave him a huge piece of her mind. Awesome scene. We don't see Barbara Knox in any meaty scenes like that much anymore. Later when she destroyed her wedding dress, she warned Eva that the Connor men lie. Even more than eitiher of them are aware.
Kate's the only one that knows why he dumped her. Johnny finally admitted to Kate. It's Multiple Sclerosis. But Johnny wants Kate to keep the secret from Aidan and it puts it all on her. She refuses, he throws her out and then collapses. Kate finds out the next day that he cut his head when he fell and brought in Rana to look at the cut and told her about the MS. Johnny wasn't pleased when she told him she was telling Aidan and she's right. It's too big a secret to keep about a parent from the other sibling. He begged Rana to head Kate off.
But after finding out about Johnny and Jenny, Aidan promised Maria he would break up with Eva. But naturally, it's still "I have to pick the right time" Delay, delay, delay. It might happen sooner than even he thinks though, because Adam spied them snogging in the ginnel and photographed it because we all know Adam loves a bit of blackmail.
Faye tries to get Phelan to take her to see Seb again but he refuses. Later, he's approached by a woman who says her name is Nicola. She's Seb's case worker and she proposes a scheme to Phelan. She wants him to have Seb as an apprentice to help him get settled when he comes out of Juvenile. If she can steer him into a job and education, he might not re-offend. She explains the scheme to him and that he'd have to have a background check. He jokes that he might be a serial killer. Not really that far off the mark, we viewers know. She gives him her card. Her last name is Rubenstein. He looks thoughtful and is about to ask her something when Todd comes in so Nicola leaves. Todd asks who she is. Million dollar question, Phelan muses. What's going on there? He didn't look lascivious or anything, almost as if he recognized the name.
Phelan finds Faye outside later on and joins her on the bench so he can find out more about the case worker. He tells Faye about the apprenticeship and that he thinks he'll do it for her. Flattery will get you anywhere, or at least information. He even offers to take her to see him again but it's secret. Eileen and Billy come by and Phelan joins them to head home, lying about why he was talking to Faye.
Daniel looks dreadful and forgot to pay for his cafe coffee. He didn't want to talk to Ken either though Ken tried to help. Ken can clearly see that Daniel needs help but Daniel isn't ready to ask for it. Ken's trying to get Tracy to talk to Daniel but she doesn't want to and I don't think she'd be much help anyway. Daniel still hopes he can get Sinead back. She's still staying away but he was pleased to see her in the pub at dinnertime. She wasn't. He keeps getting knocked back more and more and it's heartbreaking when you know what he's had to deal with especially lately.
In the Bistro, the customers clearly like to flirt with Michelle. Especially this new one who turns out to be someone Robert knows from old. He's called Rich. And Rich seems to be a drug supplier of the illegal kind and it sounds like he and Robert imbibed in the good old days. Daniel overhears and is warned off by Robert quite strongly. Hmmm. Is this a skeleton in Robert's closet that he wants to keep hidden?
Tracy was at the Bistro so that she could put in a few very well placed digs and Daniel's nasty reaction, fully validated after the things she said, only got him in trouble with Robert who sent him home. Robert knows very well that Tracy is an instigator but you still can't treat customers that way, unfortunately. He spotted Rich the dealer (ironic name, what?) and got some drugs from him, pretending they were for Robert. He had his own party, cocaine and booze, and ended up passing out with the music blaring, noticed by Kirk and Chesney outside. I can figure out where this is going but we'll have to wait until next week here in Canada to find out.
Todd was sweet to Bethany. You forget they have a lovely little bond. But Billy reminds Todd he'd be a good dad which isn't really what Todd wants, or so he says. They're supposed to be meeting Summer but Todd has the chance of a temp job. Hard to turn that down when you're out of work. Billy got to meet her on his own and she seems quite the little madam, doing research on gay vicars and everything! Billy is charmed by the little girl and makes the decision for both he and Todd. I don't think Todd's going to be too happy.
Gina might be dangerous to have around, she knows where all Sally's wild young skeletons are buried! Nice little few bits where Audrey fondly remembers Alf. I like when they write things like that in. I see Michelle and Leanne are continuing to snipe at each other, this time Michelle making sure Leanne knows that Nick has been talking to Robert about selling his half of the Bistro. Leanne hasn't heard a thing from Nick so that hurts as much as Michelle intended it to. Michelle looked miserable the whole night at the engagement party.
Brian and Cathy have a date in the Bistro and enjoy themselves but they're still keeping it from Roy. Eileen passed her driving test! Tracy and Mary are getting on so well that they even have lunch together! I guess that means Tracy now has two friends, Mary and Beth. Must be a record for her! It seemed to take them an awfully long time to get from one end of the street to the other, however. It sounds like Steve and Liz are going to move into the Streetcars flat and that means Kate and Alya are moving out. Steve didn't want to tell the girls and keeps avoiding it until Liz tried to drag him into it. But Luke offered the spare room to them. Sorted.
Tvor
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