Erinsborough High
Jane visits Susan in her office before class and says she had an enlightening morning tea with Nicolette. She's pleased they managed to get to the bottom of their issues. Her happiness is short-lived, however, when she receives an out of the blue text message from Des. Jane's concerned because this is the first time they've spoken since the split and now Des has informed her he's coming to visit tomorrow. Susan asks if Des mentioned a reason for the visit. Jane says no, but she has a pretty good idea who the instigator is.

Harold's Café
Karl sees a woman walk away from Toadie and assumes it's another date, teasing Toad that he should audition to become the next Bachelor. But Toadie explains he's interviewing people to be his new PA. Karl's confused as to why Toadie's conducting job interviews in the Café and Toadie explains that there's a problem at Lassiters, so they have to rip up his office floor to access the pipes. His office will be out of action for a few weeks till it's fixed, so he has a temporary workplace at the hotel in the meantime. Karl then asks how Shane's getting on. Toadie says he hasn't heard from his brother yet, assuming he's still getting his head around everything. He then gets a phone call and immediately puts the person on hold, explaining to Karl that's exactly why he needs a PA, so he won't have to put Shane on hold too when he eventually rings.

Number 22 Backyard
Jane lays into Paul, getting angry with him for sticking his nose in again and calling Des behind her back. Paul is thoroughly confused, which Jane thinks is an act, but Paul swears it's the first he's heard of it. He does admit, though, that he did speak to Nicolette after their chat this morning and Des's name may have come up in conversation - as well as Mannix Foster's name. Jane asks Paul to tell her exactly what he said to Nicolette.

Lassiters Hotel - Toadie's Office
Toadie is on a phone call in the midst of his temporary workspace, one of the office suites at the hotel. It's a huge mess with boxes of paperwork everywhere. A smiling blonde woman walks in who turns out to be Toadie's 4.30pm PA interviewee, Rose Walker. Toadie's in a bit of a fluster with all the phone calls and mess, so Rose offers to come back, but Toadie tells her to take a seat. Rose looks around in bemusement before using a plastic crate as a chair. Toadie locates her CV and is happy to see that her letterhead is black and red, aka the Essendon colours, aka Toad's favourite footy team.

TOADIE: Are you a Bombers fan?
ROSE: I'm the Bombers fan.
TOADIE: Oh-ho! Okay, that makes two of us then.
ROSE: What! Seriously?
TOADIE: Hang on, what do you do if you're being interviewed by a Collingwood supporter?
ROSE: I send my CV off in black and white... I'm kidding! I would never work for a Pies supporter.

This makes Toadie chuckle. He notes that Rose is not short on legal experience, but is then distracted by his phone ringing. Toadie apologises and answers it, just as his office phone starts to ring. Rose takes initiative and answers, jotting down a memo for Toadie in a very professional manner. They try to restart their interview when both phones ring again, so Rose goes back into PA mode and takes another office call. Impressed, Toadie asks her to start a trial run tomorrow, which Rose happily accepts.

Number 24
Chloe's looking at photos online of David and Aaron's holiday with Fay. She's pleased they're having a good time but at the same time seeing them have fun is pushing all her FOMO buttons. Nicolette is alarmed when she gets a text from Jane letting her know Des is on his way to Erinsborough, and now Jane wants to see her daughter pronto. Nicolette can't believe Des is on his way already when she hasn't even had a chance to prepare her mum. Chloe tries to calm Nicolette down and says it might not be that bad. But when Nicolette shows her the text from Jane, Chloe admits she sounds a little annoyed.

CHLOE: Just remember why you've done this. Meanwhile, in the morning I can distract you with something I know will cheer you up.
NICOLETTE: What is it?
CHLOE: Just say you're in and all will be revealed.
NICOLETTE: (smiling) Okay, I'm in.

Nicolette's pleased smile fades when Pierce arrives home from work. She heads over to see her mum, leaving Pierce and Chloe to talk. Pierce says that housekeeping are complaining that the new organic cleaning products aren't working as well as the chemicals. He wonders if Chloe could come into work the next morning to smooth things over, but Chloe pretends she has a yoga class to attend.

Number 28
Jane wants to know what Nicolette was thinking inviting Des to Erinsborough. Nic explains that Paul told her the background of Jane and Des getting together and that she was vulnerable, which explained why she gravitated towards him. It gave Nicolette new insight into her mum and it made her realise that she might have been insensitive calling out the faults in Jane's marriage to Des. Jane says it's nice for Nicolette to admit it now, even though she might have been right about some things.

NICOLETTE: I should have let you decide that in your own time. Instead I cause this massive fight between you and Des that never got resolved.
JANE: He was terribly hurt. And then we just went our separate ways.
NICOLETTE: Well don't you want to work it out now?
JANE: I have no idea how he's feeling. What if he's been resenting me this whole time?
NICOLETTE: It's a possibility.
JANE: Or what if he's holding out hope that we'll get back together again? Ugh, I hadn't even considered that.
NICOLETTE: But you want a friendship don't you?
JANE: Yes. Yes of course I do. We go back decades.
NICOLETTE: Look mum, Des arrives tomorrow: make the most of it or don't.

Lassiters Hotel - Toadie's Office
Rose arrives early to work the next morning and brings a coffee in for Toadie after asking what his favourite was at the Café. Toadie's grateful and also apologetic after throwing her into the deep end yesterday with all the phone calls. Rose smiles and says the way she sees it, she jumped. Toadie gets her set up at her desk, showing off the fact he has an actual chair for her this time instead of a crate. He says he wants to organise his calendar on the laptop, so he needs her to link up his court schedule with his digital case files. Rose looks slightly bewildered but pretends it'll be easy-peasy. There's a spot of trouble when Rose opens up the case files and discovers they're empty, but Toadie says he's got everything backed up on the Cloud. He's a bit concerned when Rose doesn't seem to know how to get into the Cloud, but she says it's just a different operating system to what she's used to.

Number 28
Jane and Nicolette look anxious when they hear a knock at the door. Jane opens it to greet Des and says how strange it is to be inviting him in since he lived in this house for so many years. They all make strained small talk until Nicolette decides to bite the bullet.

NICOLETTE: Can we cut to the chase? I've got the loudest voice in the room so I'm going to do the talking. I shouldn't have come to Perth and pointed out the cracks in your marriage. I should have been more respectful.
DES: No arguments there.
NICOLETTE: I should have given you two the chance to make your own decisions instead of ripping up the carpet and causing you two to argue. You guys have been friends forever. Don't throw away all that history because of me.
JANE: It would be good to talk things through.
DES: That's why I'm here.

Number 32
Pierce walks through the kitchen from the back door, surprised to find Chloe in the house instead of at her yoga class. Chloe tries to act subtle and tells Pierce she's there to feed the fish, but Pierce says that's why he's there too. He then asks why she's not at yoga but Chloe says the instructor called in sick.

PIERCE: And they couldn't find a replacement?
CHLOE: What are you, the yoga police?

Pierce raises an eyebrow and asks if Chloe's okay. Chloe replies that she's just frazzled because her class was cancelled, but now she's free to help out Pierce at work. She hustles him out the back door, but not before throwing a sly look to the other side of the house where something mysterious is afoot.

Number 28
Jane and Des sit across from one another in the lounge room to have their chat sans Nicolette. Jane says she was surprised he took Nic's call in the first place, but Des explains he didn't have her number saved in his phone so he didn't know it was Nicolette. Des admits he's glad Nicolette got in touch, though, because he hated the way things ended with Jane.

DES: It knocked me for six when Nicolette said you weren't in love with me.
JANE: I never actually told her that.
DES: But she could pick it. And deep down maybe I knew it too.
JANE: I cared for you deeply. I still do. And, well, that can grow into love.
DES: Sometimes. But you've got to be ready for it. It's okay, Jane, I feel the same way.
JANE: (relieved) Really?
DES: When things went kaput I had a lot of time to think and I realised I was rebounding. Being on my own for a bit without someone complaining about my smelly socks - that's what I need. If we're really meant to be together, we'll find our way. But not now. The time isn't right.
JANE: You know when we were in Perth I thought I was hanging on because part of me couldn't bear another failure. But truthfully, it's losing your friendship that I couldn't bear.
DES: (putting his hand over his heart) That I promise will never happen.

Harold's Café
Rose asks Toadie if preparing invoices is included in billable hours, which alarms Toadie a little more as that's a no-no. To cover, Rose again blames it on something her old workplace did so she thought she'd better ask. She heads out to collect the mail, passing Karl on the way. Karl asks Toadie if that was another potential PA, but Toadie says Rose is actually on a trial placement. He tells Karl of his worries, stating that Rose's CV was impressive, and she handles the phone like a boss, but he didn't get around to checking her references. Karl's like, 'mate, rookie mistake', but Toadie says they were getting along really well. Their conversation is interrupted when Toadie gets a phone call from Shane. When he hangs up, he fills Karl in on the chat.

TOADIE: Shane wants me to come into one of his therapy sessions.
KARL: That sounds promising.
TOADIE: Yeah, well, he's not up to discussing it with Dipi yet so I'm it. It just means that I have to reschedule my meetings and re-jig the rest of my week.
KARL: Okay, and can your new PA hold the fort?
TOADIE: I guess we're about to find out aren't we.

Number 28
Things are more settled between Jane and Des now, and they're able to reminisce about their fake wedding day. Jane says it was lovely that little Nell was able to stand in for her nan. And Des adds they got some good presents too - but Jane still doesn't know who got them the solar powered duck fountain. Nicolette walks in and is pleased to see how well they're getting along. Jane tells Nic that they both agreed the timing just wasn't right for the both of them.

NICOLETTE: Timing? So you haven't ruled something out later down the track?
DES: Who knows how we'll feel in another thirty years.
JANE: If I could only get used to your snoring.
DES: Snoring? And I have to cope with you turning up the heater so high!
JANE: (laughing) In any case, for now, friends it is.

Des nods and smiles back at Jane.

Lassiters Hotel - Toadie's Office
Rose thanks Toadie for emailing her the job contract. She then asks a question about locking up in case she stays late some evenings, so Toadie says he'll look into organising a keycard for her. He then says he'll have to duck out for the morning to attend a business matter and then he has a family priority. Toadie asks Rose to contact his clients for the day to reschedule his meetings - all except for Ted Tatum that is. From what Toadie says, Ted sounds like a right piece of work, so he'll reschedule that meeting himself so Rose doesn't have to face his wrath. Rose asks if Ted's worth all the hassle, but Toadie explains that Ted has been coming to him for ten years so he gets a lot of business.

The Waterhole
Paul finds Jane, Des and Nicolette having a drink together and comments on how friendly everything appears. Des jokes that Paul just missed all the arguing and fireworks. Jane says she's glad Paul told Nicolette everything because it all turned out for the best. Paul's just happy he did the right thing for once, although he'd love to have that in writing to show Terese when she gets back.

DES: Come on big fella, I'll shout you a drink.
PAUL: No way, you're not going to buy me a drink in a pub I own.
DES: Beauty! You can shout me one. I like the way that worked out.

While the boys are at the bar, Nicolette looks extremely guilty and blurts out a confession to Jane.

NICOLETTE: I was getting back at you. When I came between you and Des.
JANE: I'm sorry?
NICOLETTE: I saw a chance to even the scorecard and I took it. I'm really sorry, mum.
JANE: (upset but forgiving) I just hope we can put all this business behind us now.
NICOLETTE: Yes. That's gone now, except for all the horrible memories.
JANE: My memories aren't all rosy either. But I do know there's no point in holding on to all of that. And I hope you can find a way to let go too.

Nicolette nods at her.

Lassiters Hotel - Toadie's Office
Rose plays nice when an angry guy bursts into the office, demanding to see Toadie. She finds out that he's Ted Tatum, the one Toadie warned her about earlier. Obviously Toadie forgot to reschedule his meeting like he mentioned, so Ted cracks it and says he's done with Rebecchi Law.

ROSE: That would be a mistake.
TED: What did you say?
ROSE: I think you heard me. You've been with Rebecchi Law, like, what? Ten years? If you weren't happy with the results you were getting here you would have left ages ago. Mr Rebecchi knows your business backwards. It'd cost you a bomb in set-up fees, plus hours of time you don't have just to get a new firm up to speed. But yeah, sure, throw it all away for one missed appointment. Or stop being a baby and just push your meeting back a couple of hours.

Ted has well and truly been put in his place.

Number 24
Chloe is chatting with Nicolette about whatever mysterious thing she was doing in Number 32 earlier, and Nicolette is totally on board with it, whatever it may be. Pierce arrives home and wonders what they're chatting about. Nicolette pretends it was about making amends with Jane.

PIERCE: Guess that means you'll be spending a lot more time with your mum then.
NICOLETTE: Let's not get carried away.

Pierce leaves them be so he can write up some reports in his room. Nicolette tells Chloe that it's "so cloak and dagger lying to your husband." Chloe says Pierce almost busted her earlier at David and Aaron's, but what Pierce doesn't know won't hurt him. "And it'll be fun for us," she grins, waggling her eyebrows.

The Waterhole
Toadie is stunned that Rose was able to get Ted to see sense. But Rose says she's had years of experience dealing with people like Ted.

TOADIE: You're amazing! You've just got yourself the employee of the month award now.
ROSE: Woah! I, like, don't even have a speech prepared.

She thanks Toadie for sorting out her keycard so quickly and heads back to the office. Susan walks in and asks Toadie if he's conducting meetings in the pub now, but Toadie explains that Rose is the best PA he's ever hired. He's so relieved he's got someone he can rely on. Plus she's a Bombers supporter!

Lassiters Hotel - Toadie's Office
Meanwhile, good old amazing, reliable Rose lets herself into the office and promptly locks the door. She scurries over to Toadie's desk and sits down before opening his laptop. Her fingers hover over the keyboard. What will her next move be?