Number 22
Terese has poured herself a glass of wine, but thus far it's sitting untouched on the bench. Chloe stops by to talk shop about the upcoming Lassiters conference, and Terese is sheepish but relieved to have someone there to stop her from drinking. "Please, just take it away from me," she begs. Chloe promptly pours the wine down the sink and reassures Terese she got through it. Terese tries not to get upset while Chloe pops the kettle on.

The Flamingo Bar Exterior
Roxy is worried that Kyle hasn't arrived home from Frankston yet, but Sheila says he probably just stopped off at his favourite burger joint on the way. Sheila thinks Roxy's anxious mood is just because she's "pining" for Kyle, which Roxy plays along with. Kyle arrives at the bar and tells Sheila the trip home went well and everyone enjoyed their presents - except Aunty Jackie, who didn't understand her air fryer. When Sheila toddles off to make a phone call to Jackie, Roxy tells Kyle off for giving her the silent treatment all morning not answering her calls or texts. "I'm sorry," Kyle replies solemnly, "I just couldn't get into this on the phone."

The 82
Melanie's wrist is giving her grief, but she determinedly informs Toadie that it's because of her cast, not for any other reason. They meet up with Clive out the front of the tram for their lunch date. He tells them Jane won't be joining them because she's busy moving back into #32. Then Toadie 'suddenly' remembers he has a work meeting he rescheduled, so he rushes off leaving Melanie unwittingly about to have an osteoporosis discussion with Clive.

Number 22
Terese tells Chloe she's so disappointed in her herself for allowing Paul to push her to the point of wanting to drink again. Chloe says that's not on Terese, but Terese says Paul's a potent reminder of everything wrong in her life.

TERESE: I see him, and all this pain, it just floods to the surface. Then I come home to this house without him and it's just - all I could think about was all of the warnings I got from Paul's ex wives. This cavalcade of wronged women who came through before the wedding. Each and every single one of them, they told me that I'd regret marrying him, and they were right. And so was Harlow: I knew what I was getting myself into by marrying him.

It's all a bit too much for Terese to handle, but Chloe reminds her a lot of "stress bombs" have been piling up lately. Chloe also feels bad for going to Adelaide and leaving her in the lurch, so from now on she's going to lighten Terese's workload. When Chloe floats the idea of taking a walk to the Community Centre to see if any AA meetings are on, Terese declines and says she'll look into it later. For now, she just wants to get stuck into work. A sudden text message troubles her, though.

CHLOE: What's wrong?
TERESE: It's Lucy. She wants Paul and I to present together at the conference.
CHLOE: Paul's not going to the conference.
TERESE: Oh he is if Lucy wants him to. I couldn't think of anything worse.

Terese apologises for getting Chloe's hopes up about attending the conference, but Chloe says it's fine; they'll figure out a way to make things less stressful for Terese.

The Flamingo Bar Exterior
Toadie finds Kyle and tries to start up some banter about his fishing expedition in Franga, but Kyle's in no mood for joviality and ends up crankily telling Toadie he's tired. Finally taking the hint, Toadie leaves him be, but he also observes a few things. First is Roxy looking upset and going to Kyle for a hug, then he notices the couple try and pretend everything is fine when Sheila goes over for a chat. Toadie is very curious about the rollercoaster of emotions he's just witnessed.

The 82
While Melanie hacks one-handed into a pie with her bamboo fork, Clive engages her in a conversation about Madame Zolga in the hopes she might have mentioned any "tests" in the future.

MELANIE: Exams or cricket?
CLIVE: Either.
MELANIE: Neither.
CLIVE: Well, help me out. I don't know what a psychic would say. Would she talk about facing your demons?
MELANIE: I hope not, last time she did that we ended up with the 'Great Punt Poonami of 2021'.

Clive's not exactly being subtle, especially when Melanie's flimsy fork breaks and Clive comments on things being "more fragile than they seem". Melanie figures out she's being set up and can't believe Toadie roped Clive into the cause. Clive tries to tell Melanie that the osteoporosis test is nothing to be scared of, and she'll get the results in thirty minutes. But Melanie firmly states she's fine and walks off on Clive. "Thanks for ruining a lovely lunch," she huffs.

Lassiters Hotel Office
Terese is nervous about the meeting she and Chloe have organised with Paul. "You've got this," Chloe reassures her. "Just tell Paul what you've decided, drop your mic and split. You're in control." Paul arrives with Harlow in tow, who gleefully notifies Chloe that her granddad asked her to attend. Terese tells Paul that she's planning on calling Lucy to let her know they're separated, but is surprised when Paul says he's already done it. It's still not great news, however, as Paul says Lucy still wants them to present at the conference together. The opportunity to attract more investors to Lassiters worldwide is too important to pass up.

CHLOE: Despite knowing you're separated?
HARLOW: She doesn't want their personal issues to get in the way of their work.
PAUL: I'm really sorry, Terese. I'll just stay at the conference for the first day. As soon as the presentation's over-
TERESE: That's well and good, but what about the prep? I'm not going to work with you.
PAUL: We'll prepare separately. Any collaboration can be done over email.
HARLOW: I'm happy to act as go-between.

Chloe doesn't look impressed with Harlow's suggestion. Terese isn't comfortable with any of it either, but she says she'll do what she has to do.

The Flamingo Bar Exterior
Kyle and Roxy are trying to act normal while Sheila keeps chatting to Kyle about the family and Frankston. She wants to have a welcome home dinner tonight for Kyle, but Roxy convinces her to hold it tomorrow night so she can have some time alone with Kyle first. Acquiescing to the request, Sheila heads off. Roxy and Kyle get one second to drop their happy facade before Toadie approaches them and it's back to pretending everything's fine. Toadie takes Kyle aside for a quiet word, though, because he's just heard some 'interesting' news from his mum.

TOADIE: She invited me up to Colac for a big gathering for Georgia. Apparently she's got some big news and she wants all the family there.
KYLE: (playing it cool) Oh yeah.
TOADIE: She also told me Georgia's been in Frankston for the last few days. Did you know that?
KYLE: Yep.

Over the nonchalance, Toadie tells Kyle to drop the act. He knows something sketchy is going on, but before he can dig deeper, Melanie finds them and angrily tells "Ratbag Rebecchi" she wants to have a few words with him. Kyle's off the hook for now.

The Waterhole
Toadie says he hates going behind Melanie's back but he was desperate because she wasn't listening to him about the scan. But Melanie says she's listened to every word he said - he just doesn't appreciate that she doesn't agree with him. Melanie adds that it's "my body, my choice", which Toadie says he respects, but Mel points out he's got a funny way of showing it.

MELANIE: Please Toad, I don't want you to get in a tizz about all of this. I really, really don't want you to worry about me.
TOADIE: Okay if you don't want me to worry, then please just get the scan. Early detection is so important. If Sonya discovered her illness sooner - I hate the thought of you robbing yourself of time to get ahead of something that could turn so ugly down the line. So please just get the scan. If nothing else, just to please me.

The Sonya take on things looks as though it's resonated with Melanie.

Lassiters Hotel Office
Harlow walks through the door where Chloe is waiting. "You summoned me?" she says loftily. Chloe tells Harlow that she needs to take it easy on Terese. Chloe understands Harlow wants Paul and Terese back together, but forcing things isn't going to help anyone. Harlow asks where this has all come from, and gets her hackles up when Chloe states that she cares about Terese.

HARLOW: And you think I don't? You have no right to tell me what to do when it comes to my family. None of this is any of your business.
CHLOE: Actually it is, both work-wise and friend-wise.
HARLOW: Chloe, Terese is a grown woman. She can fight her own battles, she doesn't need you running interference for her.
CHLOE: I need you to work with me to make this presentation as painless as possible. Starting with me being the liaison between her and Paul while they prepare.
HARLOW: Actually that position's filled. I'm perfectly placed for it.
CHLOE: It wasn't a request.
HARLOW: Okay, you've got a lot going on, and this is my family so I can liaise.
CHLOE: This might be a family thing, Harlow, but we're also at work. And while we're at work you do as I say, not the other way around. Are we clear?
HARLOW: Just trying to help.
CHLOE: The same way you tried to help by fudging the rosters last week? Go and do your job.

Unimpressed with the dressing down, Harlow barely contains her eye-roll as she turns and leaves.

The Flamingo Bar Exterior
Roxy doesn't know how they're going to handle Toadie if he keeps asking questions, but Kyle's a bit over it and says right now he doesn't care. Getting upset, Roxy can't believe how things can be perfect one day and then the next everything is so different and uncertain.

Erinsborough Hospital
Melanie chatters away nervously while she waits with Toadie for the results of her bone density test. She notices that he's being really quiet and gets worried, but Toadie promises her he's not stressing about her results, he's just got other things on his mind. Melanie asks if he needs to talk about it, but Toadie says nothing else matters in this moment but her. David returns with the results and it's not the news Melanie wants to hear - turns out she does indeed have osteoporosis. Shocked, Melanie protests that it can't be true: she still feels the same way she did twenty years ago.

MELANIE: I'm in tune with my body, surely I would know if something like this was wrong?
DAVID: It's obviously come as a shock, but this condition isn't as rare as you might think. We know a lot about it and there's so much we can do.
TOADIE: Especially since we caught it so early right?
DAVID: Yeah, we can start treatment pretty much straight away.

Community Centre Exterior
Paul thanks Harlow for talking him into sorting through his clothes to donate to the community centre. But Harlow isn't paying attention, still fuming about Chloe. She says she's sick of Chloe ordering her around and patronising her. Paul understands Harlow feeling that way, but he also thinks Chloe was right about taking things easier on Terese.

HARLOW: I get that, obviously. It's just every chance she gets she has to remind me she's in management. But when it comes to family she needs to sit down and shut up.
PAUL: (laughing) I like seeing your fiery side, particularly when it's not aimed at me. But you know shouting into the wind isn't going to get you anywhere. Actions speak louder than words, so if you don't like something, do something about it.

Meanwhile, Terese has arrived to see if there are any AA meetings on. But she gets one glimpse of Paul and Harlow standing out the front and quickly turns on her heel and leaves before they see her.

Lassiters Hotel Office
Chloe asks Terese how the AA meeting went and Terese lies and says it was a great help. Chloe then asks if Terese wants to join her at the pub for their special parma night, "rumour has it there are four cheeses involved". But Terese says she's decided to work on both her and Paul's presentations tonight so she can avoid communicating with Paul. Chloe knows that's way too much work for one person and offers to help. Although Terese is grateful, she says she wants to do it on her own.

The Flamingo Bar Exterior
Toadie strolls along with Melanie, trying to comfort her about her diagnosis. While Melanie is upset, she's also pretty glad Toadie convinced her to have the bone scan. She'll be fine once the news has sunk in properly. Toadie agrees: once they get the treatment plan it'll be all good. Melanie then says she's going to give Clive a call to apologise for earlier and let him know the news.

When she steps aside, Toadie sees Roxy and Kyle sitting by the fire pit and goes over to them. He acknowledges he might be pushing his luck, but he knows something's up with them and he's worried and just wants to help. In an attempt to politely get Toadie to back off, Kyle agrees something is up but he and Roxy just want to sort it out alone. But Toadie believes he knows what's wrong - the last time Kyle saw Georgia was ten months ago, and now she has big news to share. "Georgia's had a baby, right?" he states.

KYLE: Toad you couldn't have got it more wrong. (Conflicted) I don't want to tell you because it's too close to home.
TOADIE: What, for me?
KYLE: Sonya. (He takes a moment before continuing) I have cancer.