Summer Forbids Her Mother From Seeing Daniel — and Chance Finds Some Tear-Stained Evidence in a Dumpster

In the GCAC dining room, Daniel flashes back to arguing with Summer about telling people their mom is alive. She accused him of making everything worse. Lily shows up and gives him a kiss. She just landed. Lucy pops up in time to see the kiss and says her dad must have missed her. Lily offers to take them to dinner tonight. They already have plans but Lucy thinks she should come with them. Daniel warns her it’s dinner at Society with Chelsea, Billy, and the kids so she might not want to come. Actually, Lily thinks they should be adults and agrees to go. Lucy is confused about what she’s missing so Lily promises to fill her in on the way.

The trio arrives at Society to join Billy, Chelsea, and the boys. They get tables set up. The kids take their own. “This is fun,” Lily suggests to the adults. Everyone is awkward. The adults discuss the menu and dips. Everything looks good. Billy admits crab enchiladas are his favorite.

There’s some forced conversation about Lily’s business trip and seeing Charlie. Chelsea says that Lucy is charming and it must be good to have her around. They notice the kids are laughing and decide they should follow their lead. They order a piece of cake to share between the four of them.

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At their table, Lucy asks Johnny and Connor about being brothers. They fill her in on their parentage. It’s all messed up but whatever. Lucy says everything is messed up now and explains how her parents split up too. They ask if she can speak Portuguese and then talk about how the adults in their lives are always saying “pivot.” After comparing boarding schools, they mention how often they can tell their parents are having issues based on how frequently they send them to stay with relatives. As the adults gather them up, Johnny and Lucy exchange numbers. Connor doesn’t look happy about it. After everyone else files out, Chelsea asks her forlorn-looking son if something happened.

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Outside, Billy tells Daniel he’s glad he has Lily’s friendship during his time of loss.

Devon and Abby go to the jazz lounge. She tells him she’s worried that her mom is thinking of marrying his dad. They find the fake engagement weird. She’s sure her mom has gone insane and Tucker has her fooled. Devon isn’t even sure he believes his father’s retirement story. He’s not confident he’s capable of just relaxing. He could have some corporate scheme going on right now and Ashley could be key to it. She gets back to worrying about the engagement and how Tucker could hurt her mom again. Devon doubts that Ashley will let that happen. They just have to wait and see how this plays out. Abby keeps worrying about how McCall could be going after Jabot. “I will crush him first,” she says. He’s sorry for getting her all riled up, even though he likes seeing her get feisty. He may have a way to get her mom out of trouble. If he gets closer to Tucker, he may be able to figure out what’s really going on. She’s impressed he’d do that for her. Devon would do anything for her. He can crush his father and she won’t have to do anything.

Ashley and Tucker are in Chancellor Park. He thinks he played along with her performance for Jack and Diane quite well. But was it just an act, or are any of the emotions behind it real? She agrees that he deserves to know how she feels. She’s sorry if she confused him by talking up their love but she can’t tell him what he wants to hear. McCall assumes she’s kicked him back to the friendzone but she assures him they are more than friends. Ashley is attracted to him and every day she trusts him a little more. But she can’t tell him she loves him the way a wife should love her husband. When she rests her head on his shoulder, he says she’s his better angel. He’ll never give up on her but he wishes she could love him for who he is rather than who he could be. She thinks they need to focus on their fake engagement right now. To show they are serious they should start extravagant wedding planning and make goo-goo eyes at each other. Maybe they can get married at a castle? He’s open to everything and riveted by her. He knows she may not be there in the love department yet, but it seems like part of her wants this to be real. She admits things are “kind of working out” between them and takes his hand. It’s not outside the realm of possibility that things could work out. They kiss.

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Christine meets with Chance at Society, hoping he has some good news for her case against Diane. He admits the evidence he’s seen only confirms his hunch that Phyllis could still be alive. Either way, they should put their doubts to rest. The DA says the new chief won’t be happy about him taking time away from other cases. He’s willing to do it off-duty.

Summer bumps into Sharon at Crimson Lights, who reminds her she has a large and caring support group. As Sharon gets her coffee and carbs, Summer re-reads the text she got requesting a meeting. The barista says it may not seem like it yet, but eventually, she will be grateful for the ways she keeps her mom alive. “I know my mom isn’t fading away any time soon,” Summer admits. She gets another text about the meeting and notices a hotel room key card was slipped into her purse.

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As she jogs out, she bumps into Chase. He tells her the investigation into her mother’s death has been officially closed. Unofficially, he is digging into it today and will tell her if he learns anything. Once she’s gone, he orders coffee. Sharon asks if she owes him a thank you. The cop is confused so she fills him in about the champagne with the cryptic note. He wishes he could take credit for it, but it is kind of creepy. When he offers to look into it, she tells him it’s fine.

In disguise, Phyllis sneaks into a suite at the GCAC. Summer arrives and runs into her arms. She wonders how no one has noticed Phyllis wandering around town. Her daughter didn’t know if she’s been eating out of dumpsters or what so she gives her some croissants. It’s really risky for her to be in town given all the charges she could be facing. Phyllis can’t run. What kind of mother could leave her children? Summer just wants her to be safe, even if she has to disappear for a long time. Her mom tells her how brave she is and promises never to abandon her or her brother again. They sit down and Summer explains that she told Daniel the truth. She felt like she had to. Her mom knows and called him already because she needed to hear his voice and just wants to tell him she loves him. Summer adds she won’t like what he’s done. He’s told people she’s alive and it’s out of control. Even Christine and Chance know. Christine doesn’t believe it. Phyllis is sure “that bug” is too overjoyed to think that she’s dead to doubt it. This likely buys her some time. She makes it clear to her daughter that she’s not holding any of this against Daniel. In fact, she wants to see him and give him a hug. Her daughter forbids that. It would land her in jail. She needs to stay away from him.

Chance goes to the motel room and searches it, staring at the trash can. He goes out back and searches the dumpsters. Eventually, he finds a soiled copy of the program for Phyllis’ celebration of life. He calls Maggie in forensics to ask if they can get DNA from a tear stain he found on some paper in the garbage.

Next on The Young and the Restless: Summer makes a pact with Phyllis.

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