Burning bridges over troubled waters

Bridges -- and the Newman Ranch stables-- were burned, as secrets remained hidden and as Victor disappeared. Was Victor's vanishing act a cover-up for the mystery of what happened to J.T.? Or was Victor just inconsiderate for losing touch with his family? Burn, baby, burn, stables inferno in Two Scoops.

Remember the good old days when you were able to root for your favorite couple and could boo and hiss the ones you hated being together? My, my, that sure was fun, wasn't it? But that seems to be an impossible task these days, when there are very few couples left, and for some of those that are, it's like a revolving door of partners, switching from one to another like clockwork. (Yes, I'm looking at you, Phyllis.) While it's admirable that some characters are finally flying solo without a safety net, it can be rather disconcerting when we can only pick and choose from such a small choice of loving pairs.

My personal favorites are gone. There's no more Nick and Sharon. No more Jack and Phyllis. No more Billy and Victoria. No more Neil and Ashley (for the brief time they were a couple). No more Cane and Lily (well, not really). Plus, there's no more Devon and Hilary. And now there's no more Charlie and Shauna (hooray!). We only have Nick with Phyllis, who so obviously would rather be at work with Billy than at her new glamorous home with Nick. It looks like Michael and Lauren may finally be making a return appearance as the longtime happily married couple. And then there's Abby and Arturo. Oh, yeah, those are some pretty slim pickings.

It usually doesn't take long for one or both of a once-loving couple to become bored with each other or to learn of the other's betrayal. It was actually a refreshing concept for the brokenhearted one to take some time to grieve and to learn to trust again, but now it's becoming the norm, which isn't really normal on a soap. Jack hasn't been serious about another lady since Phyllis, although things are finally looking up for him with Kerry. Our Jackie Boy really needs to have a gorgeous gal in his life again, and Kerry may just do the trick. She'd better treat him right.

And I don't blame Victoria at all for burning her bridges over the troubled waters known as J.T. Hellstrom after everything he did to her. She hasn't really been interested in a man since, although she has been getting pretty chummy with Billy lately. If they reunited, at least I'd have a couple to root for again. It appeared, at one time, that Nate was attempting to pursue Victoria, but hopefully that has been dropped. There was absolutely no on-screen chemistry between the two of them. But Victoria probably won't be able to move on with another man, anyway, until the mystery of J.T.'s disappearing body has been solved.

Of course, there's the on-again, off-again relationship between Victor and Nikki, who seem to be off again, even when they are on again. Shoot, Victor hasn't been around all that much lately, and even when he is, the lovebirds don't share a boatload of scenes together. Apparently, Nikki won't be seeing a whole lot of Victor anytime soon, since his cell phone number was shown as being disconnected. It's sure hard to reach out and touch someone that way. But Victor's vanishing act coincided with the Newman Ranch stables fire, which was rather a coinky-dink, don't you think? For those who don't believe in coincidences, you can bet your boots there's a link between the fire and the disappearance of Victor and J.T. of the cover-up kind. And Rey believed that to be true, also.

Hmmm...if Rey was such a crackerjack detective, why did Nikki have to suggest that the evidence he discovered had been planted? Hadn't he ever heard of "a setup"? Come on, the evidence was so obvious, either Victor was being very cocky, or he was seriously losing his touch. A gun registered to Victor with only his prints on it and a bloody Oxford shirt containing J.T.'s blood found in the Newman stables? What a joke. If he was the culprit, Victor must be senile to have left that kind of evidence behind.

However, that doesn't mean that Victor didn't have something to do with the disappearance of J.T.'s body. It's possible that Victor burned down his own stables and was staying away from his family so they wouldn't be implicated in the body snatching. But the wily guy would never leave that kind of proof around unless he did it intentionally, trying to smoke out the real person responsible. And I still have Rey on my list of suspects of trying to do the exact same thing.

Poor Jack. Every time Victor has an unknown adversary out to do him harm, Jack is always the first suspect on everyone's mind. His reputation will follow him to the ends of the earth. But no, Jack had actually moved on with his life, so Phyllis was the next one on Victor's enemy list. Man, that must be one long list. It could take the ladies forever to go through all of the adversaries out to get Victor. Nikki swore she knew who the offender was, and the next thing you know, Tessa was greeted with a black cloth bag being thrown over her head. It sure wouldn't surprise me if Nikki believed it was Tessa. She proved she would do anything for the almighty dollar.

Phyllis again proved that she would prefer to be at a meeting for work rather than with Nick -- as long as Billy was an attendee at the meeting. Phyllis kept pointing out that the two of them made a great team, but you know she meant both professionally and personally. And then Phyllis tried to pimp out her boyfriend to Rebekah Barlow to seal the deal. Even though Nick was onto Phyllis, he went along with her plan -- hook, line, and sinker -- and ended up being the fish Rebekah was really trying to hook. Well, Rebekah certainly had the right bait, and Nick almost appeared ready to try a little nibble.

Phyllis certainly had no qualms about risking what she had with Nick by flaunting the gorgeous and highly successful businesswoman in front of his "baby blues." She was obviously ready for another round of seduction with Billy. Phyllis loved her games and knew that Billy appreciated the sport of the competition, too. As much as Phyllis enjoyed toying with Nick, Billy played for keeps, and Phyllis couldn't resist the challenge he constantly provided. Besides, Phyllis didn't like to lose. If she won Billy back, she could then be the one to win by dumping him -- if she could bear to let him go.

Lola and Kyle are the cutesy couple, but they are new, and the jury's still out for me as far as cheerleading them on goes. I haven't decided if I'm ready to dust off my pom-poms for them quite yet. But there's a new guy in town -- well, okay, a familiar guy with a new face -- by the name of Fenmore Baldwin, in the flesh, fresh from law school, to pursue a singing career in Genoa City. Hey, if he can make it there, he can make it anywhere, right? Okay, so Genoa City was no New York City, but Fen had to start somewhere. What...another singer-in-the-making story? We have already played this out with Noah and Tessa. And with Reed and Tessa. Oh, no, don't tell me Fen is going to turn to Tessa for advice on music. Heck, I'm still waiting for her to leave town.

Anyway, Fen showed quite the interest in lovely Lola. But the spirited girl was no pushover, and she planted a kiss smack-dab on Kyle's lips to show Fen that she was already taken. Fen, who was completely enamored over the food truck female, shouldn't let a little thing like that stop him, though. Shoot, Lola and Kyle aren't even engaged. Mia and Rey are married, and Sharon doesn't let that piddly little detail stop her from being all gaga over Rey.

The writers are just so determined to pair off Sharon with Rey. Ugh. I really don't like watching Sharon fall all over herself over a married man. She's so much better than that. I mean, Sharon knows better than anyone how much hurt a partner's betrayal can cause. It would seem she wouldn't want to be inflicting that kind of pain on anyone else, even Mia, whom she barely knows. But Mia may be seeing some flames flare up on her own bridge after that horrendous makeup party she threw. If her whole point was to network and make contacts for potential future clients, she sure went about it the wrong way. Mia insulted both Sharon and Abby in front of their family and friends. That wasn't the least bit professional.

Mia seemed more interested in getting in a few personal knocks against her guests than in gaining customers and sales. All the boldness and originality in the world won't help Mia if she's that determined to get even with the ladies she thinks pose a threat. And with Arturo, Mia seems to be an "I don't want him, but I don't want anyone else to have him either" kind of gal. Either that or she wanted both Arturo and Rey to continue to forever bask in her glory.

Don't even get me started on Mariah and Tessa. Mariah's heart to stick it out with Tessa was winning out over her brain to walk away from the pathological liar. Mariah knew darned well that she only had a future of more pain, disappointment, and heartache over Tessa, but even though she wanted to stick it out, Mariah realized she needed to cut Tessa loose. That shows the difference between Mariah and Tessa, though. Mariah's true blue, and Tessa is self-centered to the core. But Mariah was aware that she was never going to change her girlfriend. If she couldn't accept Tessa for the deceitful liar that she was, Mariah had to walk away, swiftly and permanently.

Even if Devon was newly single, he was not alone, since his sister decided to remain glued to his side, no matter if Devon wanted it or not. For some people, time and space helps to aid in the grieving process, yet Devon never really had the space or the alone time that would be required. All his concerned friends and family have constantly been around, telling him how he should heal. I can understand why he would resent that. Strangely, Devon claimed to Ana that once Hilary's funeral was over, he was left alone to deal with his grief. That must have happened off-screen, because I never saw him alone. Well, except for when he was in bed, and it would have been a little bizarre if his loved ones had followed him there.

While it's great Devon finally talked to a counselor, I just hope he doesn't get the same kind of backlash that Sharon received when she got therapy. It was almost like a positive thing was being turned into a negative thing at the time. In the past, points would be scored against hiring a person if management discovered a potential candidate had, at one time or another, sought the help of a psychiatrist. It just seemed that they should have been impressed that an individual had actually taken the necessary steps to get help toward a healthy state of mind. Hopefully, we are past those dark days and have crawled out of that dingy cave into a brand-new world of enlightenment.

Devon's mental state affected his physical state, as he appeared to suffer from an anxiety attack. Unfortunately, it happened right in front of Rebekah Barlow, the very person he was trying to schmooze to persuade her to sign his singer as the spokesperson for her multi-million-dollar cosmetics campaign. But with a little help from his sister and his prescribed medication, Devon pulled it all together and rescued the deal. With Neil nowhere in sight these days, Devon needed to take charge of their company, which will also provide the distraction he will require to move on without Hilary

With Hilary gone, Shauna really had no story and no reason to be there. In fact, it could be considered a little creepy for a guy Devon's age to be shacking up with the teen girl. Sadly, people talk.

Nate called Devon a stupid guy with a hangover, and Mariah said to Kyle that she couldn't walk away from Tessa due to stupidity. Well, at least Devon and Mariah still have something in common.

Whew, what a relief. Even though Billy was open to the idea of starting up with Phyllis again, she comforted Sharon by letting her know he would still be available for their Wounded Hearts Society. Thank goodness Billy let Sharon know, or she might not have been able to sleep at night.

Until next time, please stay tuned -- and keep on buzzing.Teddi

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