Days of our Lives Recap for Monday, March 24, 2025: Julie gets a tip from an unlikely source

What you missed on Days of our Lives

At the police station, Julie told JJ that she wanted Melinda arrested immediately. JJ tried to reason with her about the need for stronger evidence than just Julie’s belief. Julie decided to text everyone who had seen the necklace before it went missing to see if they could identify it as well. She sent her family members the picture she had taken of Melinda wearing the necklace.

Jennifer later responded that she “believed” the necklace in the picture Julie had sent might be the same necklace. Julie was certain the text would be enough to at least bring Melinda in for questioning. JJ reluctantly agreed.

At the Bistro, Doug appealed to Melinda to sell him back Julie’s necklace, but she again refused. Leo stopped by to get take-out and noticed Doug and Melinda. He greeted Doug and snarked at Melinda. Leo was surprised to see Melinda wearing the necklace, and Melinda was equally surprised that Leo appeared to know about the stolen jewelry. She deduced Leo’s involvement in the fencing of the necklace.

Leo teamed up with Doug to persuade Melinda to hand over the necklace and asked Melinda to give Doug a break. Leo believed Doug to be an essentially good guy who had gotten in over his head, and he reminded Melinda that both she and himself could relate to those circumstances. Melinda remained steadfast in her refusal to return the necklace since she knew Doug wouldn’t be able to pay her back in full for a long time. She’d be out of the money and without the necklace.

Melinda also threatened to out Doug as the thief if the police questioned her. Leo argued that Melinda could make her problems disappear if she just returned the necklace. In the event she still refused, he asked that she leave Doug’s name out of it, arguing that Doug was his friend. After Leo left, Melinda got a call from JJ summoning her to the police station. She told Doug about the summons without revealing what she would say.

When Melinda later arrived at the station, she continued to stonewall JJ and Julie. After she realized the police still had nothing to hold her on, she departed. Julie vowed to find answers.

At Cat’s house, Chad knocked on the door. Suddenly, a shout rang out from inside, alarming Chad. When he raced through the door, he saw Cat – clad in a baseball uniform – screaming at the TV. Embarrassed, she apologized for panicking Chad and explained that watching the baseball team’s opening game had been a family tradition. Cat added that she hadn’t been able to watch a game since her accident, just as she hadn’t been able to do a lot of things.

The admission seemed to embarrass Cat further, but Chad said he got it. Cat admitted missing her family, since she didn’t know when her brother Aaron would be back. Plus, her mother’s case was still up in the air. The duo lamented about how Clyde had upended both their lives, and Chad started to say he wished he had never crossed paths with the man. Cat presumed he was talking about her and assured Chad she understood if he could never truly forgive her.

Chad attempted to lighten the mood by talking about the upcoming fundraiser and auction. He also shared a lighter bonding moment with Cat over the baseball game. Cat offered Chad some of the hot dogs she had made to take with him since Felicity was busy studying in her room. The mention of Felicity prompted Cat to apologize for her sister’s innocent attempts to play matchmaker between Cat and Chad. Cat knew that Chad could never feel that way about her and affirmed her feelings were in the past. Cat quickly changed the subject and hurried to retrieve the hot dogs.

But as Cat brought the plate of food over, Chad threw his hands in the air victoriously because of a home run in the baseball game. Chad’s gesture sent the plate of hot dogs tumbling all over his shirt. A mortified Cat stammered out an apology; Chad told her it was fine and left, still splattered in mustard. “What’s wrong with me?” Cat wondered. Outside the door, Chad let out a small smile.

After leaving Horton Town Square, Gabi went home and beamed at the set-up for a romantic dinner that greeted her. She assumed that JJ had arranged for the dinner following his thoughtful text from earlier. Javi was also home but promised to make himself scarce – along with Leo – so that his cousin could enjoy the night with JJ. Gabi scowled at the mention of Leo’s name and launched into a rant about him. Javi stopped her and requested she make an effort to be cordial to Leo for his sake.

With a grin, Javi confided that Leo had returned his declaration of love. He believed he might have finally found his “true love.” Javi also chided Gabi about how people had often said the same things about her as they’d said about Leo, but Javi loved them both nonetheless. Gabi was happy for Javi and grudgingly promised she would try with Leo.

Enter Leo, who immediately corrected Gabi’s wrong guess. Leo, not JJ, had arranged the dinner…for Javi and himself. He wanted to thank Javi for giving him a place to stay. Gabi made a sarcastic remark about the lack of a ‘thank you’ for her, which led to Leo and her making wisecracks at each other. Javi played mediator until Gabi received a text from JJ asking her to meet him at the Bistro.

As Gabi prepared to leave, Leo sincerely wished her a good night. Gabi silently stalked off, and Leo made a joke to Javi about how well he had handled the situation. Javi wished that Leo would have shown his cousin a bit more grace and gratitude, but he still hoped that everyone would eventually get along. Javi’s mood turned more upbeat when Leo laid out his spread of food, which contained all of Javi’s favorites.

Leo apologized for always using humor to cover up his discomfort, then grew serious as he opened up about his breakup with Dimitri. After Dimitri had broken his heart, Leo believed he’d never find love again. He considered himself lucky to have met Javi, and Javi returned the sentiment as he grasped Leo’s hand. The couple decided to end dinner early and head upstairs for some more intimate quality time.

Back at the Bistro, Gabi arrived for her date with JJ. He updated her about the developments with Julie’s necklace and admitted he wasn’t confident they would ever get the family heirloom back. Gabi reassured him, but JJ wanted to change the subject. He asked Gabi to talk about anything her heart desired because he only wanted to spend time with her. They agreed to make date nights a regular occurrence.

Tate and Holly made out on the sofa at John and Marlena's place. Both were willing to forego the movie they had been watching and just enjoy being alone with each other. Tate admitted he’d been worried Holly was mad at him for lashing out about Doug. Holly, in turn, admitted she hadn’t made things easy with her own less-than-pleasant reactions to the adoption drama.

Tate suggested they move things to the bedroom but backed off at Holly’s seeming hesitation. Holly assured him she wanted to be with him but was thirsty. Tate went to fetch them some refreshments. Just then, Holly got a call from Doug. He revealed that Melinda had been brought in for questioning, and he asked that Holly meet him in the park to go over their stories in case the police questioned them.

Tate had returned and rolled his eyes throughout the conversation. When Holly promised to meet Doug and hung up, his irritation turned to outrage. He implored Holly not to get entangled in any more of Doug’s issues and warned he was a bad influence. Tate insisted it wasn’t jealousy. He didn’t want to see Holly hurt because of Doug.

Holly insisted she had to go. She rushed out the door, leaving Tate seething. Later, when Holly got to the park, a relieved Doug informed her it was a false alarm. He had talked with Julie over the phone, and she hadn’t mentioned anything about Melinda implicating him. Doug was having second thoughts about keeping the truth from Julie, however.

Meanwhile, at the Horton house, Julie answered a phone call. It was Tate, and he declared he had information about the stolen necklace.

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