Will the truth set you free?

Things have really been hopping in Genoa City this week. How will Sally and Tara react when their scheme is revealed? Who has kidnapped Mariah and why? Will Rey be able to find Mariah? Can Jack forgive Sally and Tara? Has Phyllis figured out Tara's shoe company's financials? Join our columnist who has questions, opinions to offer, and perhaps a speculation or two, in Two Scoops for this week.

Good grief, what an exciting week in Genoa City. Tara spills the tea about forcing Summer out of Genoa City, and deflects blame to Sally and Phyllis. Summer has also confessed that Tara had forced her to leave town. She admitted that Tara had threatened to take Harrison away from Kyle if Summer didn't comply by taking the job at Marchetti in Milan. Summer found it strange that Tara knew about the job before it had even been offered to her.

Phyllis' determination to find what Tara has been hiding regarding her financials paid off, and Phyllis did it legally. Even Lauren had become suspicious of Sally and Tara, and she decided to join Phyllis' crusade in bringing Sally and Tara down. These two schemers were so smug. They really believed they could outsmart everyone, but the truth always prevails.

Even after seeing the photo of Phyllis with Eric Forrester and Angelina Marchetti, Sally still believed she could come up with a plan to explain her conversation with Eric, but she never counted on Phyllis donning her "Mama Bear" determination to protect Summer and to discover the truth of why Summer had abruptly left town, nor did Sally count on Tara becoming a turncoat and deflecting the blame to Sally and Phyllis.

From the previews for next week, it looks like Sally will lose the job she coveted. Sally had stepped over cold bodies to get Summer's job at JCV, and she did it without remorse. Sally obviously didn't waste any time in searching for a new job. She cuddled up to an unsuspecting Chloe. This should be interesting. If Chloe does hire her, it will become even more interesting when Chelsea returns to Genoa City and joins Chloe in her online business venture.

Sally has a very strong personality, and I can see a clashing of wills. If Chloe hires Sally, I believe Sally will try to take over the online fashion venture, but she will discover that the duo team of Chloe and Chelsea is a force to be reckoned with. Sally has no idea what Chloe and Chelsea are capable of, but, then again, who knows, this could just wind-up becoming a powerhouse business with the three of them collaborating.

I was worried that Jack would give in to Sally's pleas of giving them another chance, but, even though Jack has a big heart, he saw through Sally, and he knows he can't trust her. I don't believe he will ever resume that relationship again. Sally has only herself to blame for this. I think she overplayed her hand. Did she really believe all her scheming and manipulating would remain hidden? Silly girl. You would think she would have learned her lesson after all her wicked actions in Los Angeles had forced her to leave that city. I guess some people never learn.

I'm not sure who is worse, Tara or Sally. Friday, Tara removed her sweet face mask and exposed the evil-faced Tara. I think everyone noticed her evil expression when she demanded that Kyle keep his voice down or he would upset Harrison. Who did she think she was? Perhaps she'd forgotten she was a guest in the Abbott home. How presumptuous of her. I would have told her to take a hike, but Jack, being the kindhearted soul he is, let it slide. In my opinion Jack would do anything to keep Harrison under his roof. This is not a good plan, Jackie.

Tara spilled the tea. She told tell Jack the truth, mostly, but with a little spin. She tried to save face by blaming Phyllis and Sally for the situation, saying that she'd agreed to go along with it because she thought it would be the best for Harrison. She wanted to provide him with a happy home and living with a father and mother. Sure! Blame it on doing it for the kid. I guess Sally must have really twisted Tara's arm to go along with her scheme. Tara tried to discredit Phyllis by claiming that Phyllis had lied about her all along, but Jack had already realized that Phyllis hadn't lied. Phyllis kept warning him about Sally and Tara, but he'd refused to believe any of it. Tara tried to come off as the innocent victim. Nothing innocent about this broad.

I got so sick of hearing Tara say that everything she did was what was best for her son. She used Harrison as leverage to get what she wanted. She loves her son, of course, but she didn't go along with Sally's plan for Harrison. Let's call a spade a spade. She went along with it because she wanted Kyle, and Summer was in her way. Tara could have had Kyle in Harrison's life as a co-parent and living close by. Did I believe her when she told Jack she'd wanted Harrison to live in a home with a mother and father? Hell no! Shared parenting in this day and again and in two different homes works out fairly well for kids.

Poor Kyle. He was beside himself when he discovered the reason why Summer broke up with him. Okay, I admit I was wrong about Kyle and Summer. I believed Summer was in love with love, selfish, and self-centered, but look what she gave up to make sure Kyle didn't lose his son. That was such a selfless act on her part, and it showed how much she really loves Kyle. Who knew Summer was capable of such an act? It would have been so easy for her to tell him what Tara had done, thrown caution to the wind, and married Kyle in spite of the fact he would lose his son. But Summer chose to keep Kyle's relationship with his son intact, and she set him free. I am so happy she finally told Kyle the truth.

In my opinion, Sally and Tara deserve a lot of rotten tomatoes thrown at them from every direction. Sally wanted Summer's job at JCV, and Tara wanted Kyle, so they manipulated, schemed, and used every underhanded means possible to get what they wanted. I love payback when it's so richly deserved, and did we ever get a delicious dose of that!

When Phyllis and Lauren showed up at the Abbotts', Phyllis accused Tara of syphoning off money from her business account and tucking it away into her personal account. Tara accused Phyllis of hacking into her business account to get that information. She claimed Phyllis would be arrested for doing that. I loved how Phyllis smiled and said that Tara's accountant, who didn't like Tara very much, had provided her with all the information she needed. Tara was finally speechless. How yummy was that?

Things got even yummier. Lauren told Tara she was relieved she hadn't signed a contract with her because Tara obviously saw it as a great way to syphon off money from Fenmore's. The most delicious part was when Lauren opened the front door to allow the police in to arrest Tara. She was handcuffed, read her rights and about to be taken to the pokey. What a joyous moment when Tara asked if Phyllis was proud of herself because Harrison had recently lost the father he'd known his whole life, and now he was losing his mother. That attempted guilt trip was completely lost on Phyllis because Phyllis smiled and told Tara that she was extremely proud of herself for exposing Tara and the dirty little schemer she was.

It looks like Kyle is going to go to Italy and get his happily ever after with Summer. It would be Hunter King's and Michael Mealor's exits from The Young and the Restless. I wasn't a huge fan of these two characters, but they added a lot to the show. I'm sorry to see them go, but I believe we all wish Hunter and Michael all the best in the future, and hope that someday they will return and grace our screens as Summer and Kyle Abbott, and Harrison will have become part of their little family.

Where is Mariah? Who has taken her? She is in a room with no windows, and this leads me to believe Mariah is in the Chancellor mansion in that soundproof room Esther had told Nina about. My first thought was that maybe Ian Ward was back and that he might be involved, but as far as I know, he is still in prison. So, I'm thinking it's one of only two other people who would have done this, Nina or Stitch, but I can't figure out why either one of them would do that. If I'm right about that room, then Nina knows about it, but does Stitch?

Nina has been negative to any suggestions about trying to locate Mariah, and Stitch has lied about being hired as chief of surgery at Memorial, since we know that Nate has been hired for that position. In my mind, that makes them both suspect. This leaves me asking, who, why, and to what end. This is a head scratcher, and I don't even have any guesses.

I'm rarely at a loss for words, but this mystery has done it to me. I'm going to do a little speculating. What if Stitch wants to keep Mariah locked up until she has the baby. Perhaps he is hoping that Chance won't return, and he would reunite with Abby and raise the child as theirs -- a replacement for the baby they had lost because of Max, so to speak. Why did he lie to Abby about being hired at Memorial as chief of surgery? Why is he staying in town? Oh, boy, that's really a stretch, but people have been known to do strange things.

If Nina squirreled Mariah away, why? I can't even speculate on any reasonable scenario for this. She has been very negative about suggestions made to locate Mariah, but is that enough to believe she might have kidnapped Mariah? My mind has slipped into neutral on this one. Could it be that Nina doesn't see this baby as Chance's because Devon had been the donor? These are really wild speculations, but, as mentioned above, people have been known to do stranger things, so I'm just throwing it out there, as silly as it might be.

Tessa seems to be the most concerned about Mariah's disappearance, Abby to a lesser degree. Tessa wants her partner back, and she is willing to hire a detective to find Mariah. She seems to be the only one who doesn't believe that the text messages are being written by Mariah. Why isn't Sharon more worried about her daughter? She knows Mariah almost as well as Tessa, yet she hasn't questioned these generic text messages. Sharon seems to think that because the pregnancy has caused so many changes in Mariah, it's the reason she is staying away. Did Sharon fall down and bump her little head on something? She should know Mariah better than that. Then there's Nina, who appears to say very little, and she stays in the background, propping up Abby and Tessa, more or less.

When Tessa asked Rey to investigate, Rey claimed he couldn't do an official investigation because Mariah left voluntarily. That being the case, as Sharon's husband, wouldn't he want to investigate on his own time and try to help as much as he could, since he has resources others don't. Rey seems unconcerned and nonchalant about Mariah's disappearance. You would think he would show more concern about his wife's missing daughter. In my opinion, Rey has become a very bland character. Sharon deserves someone better than bland, just not Adam.

Abby is so shallow. She always makes everything about herself. She runs to Devon to get her ruffled feathers smoothed out. She believes Mariah has run off with her baby. Yep, that would be the first place that Abby would go. I would be worried about my surrogate, if she was all right, if she'd been hurt, and how I could find her. Abby seems to be more concerned about Mariah running off with her baby than Mariah's welfare. Abby claims she has been too rigid with Mariah, and she'd put too much pressure on her to eat healthy, take her vitamins, and exercise. She cried on Devon's shoulder that Chance should be home helping her cope with the situation. Oh, you poor damsel in distress. It's time Abby grew a backbone and relied on herself. She knew what she was getting into when she married Chance, and now she is crying a river because he isn't there. Abby is too wrapped up in Abby.

It's adorable how Mariah keeps taking to the baby. She has even named him Bowie, as in David Bowie. She liked Bowie better than Freddy as in Mercury or Bruno as in Mars. She is trying so hard to stay calm for Bowie, but you can see it's becoming more and more difficult. This storyline needs to end sooner than later. It's becoming a drag, and there haven't been any developments in locating her or a reason for kidnapping her. Let's hope she is found really soon.

How about that handsome devil, Ashland, proposing to Victoria? I love it. It's about time Victoria had someone in her life who cared about her and saw her for who she really was. I never believed that J.T. was a good match for her, and in the end, he proved he wasn't good for her when he physically abused her. There was a solid love between Victoria and Billy, but there was always too much drama in their lives because of Billy's womanizing, drinking, and gambling.

Ashland is a refreshing change for her, and as an added bonus, he is her equal in business, and he treats her like royalty. Victoria admitted she'd never been in love like that before. I want to see these two stay together and live a long and happy life.

There has been a slot of scuttlebutt about Ashland plotting revenge on Victor -- and wooing Victoria was his way of payback for Victor -- and taking over Newman Enterprises. I'm not getting that sense at all. With only months to live, Ashland has merged his company with Newman, but he wouldn't have time to run this merged company. As for his love for Victoria, I don't believe he would have proposed to her if this was part of the revenge. What would that prove?

What do you suppose Victor and Nikki's reactions will be when Victoria tells them she and Ashland are getting married? I can't wait to see their faces. They might surprise us.

Is Adam's reform beginning to show a few chinks? What happened to the benevolent Adam? He was certainly determined to convince Victor that the Locke merger wasn't complete yet. There were holes in the merger, and they could take parts of the company for themselves. He claimed it wasn't personal, only business, and it would really enhance Newman Media. Now that's the old Adam I know. Thankfully, Victor wouldn't allow Adam to undermine Victoria's merger. He told Adam how proud of Victoria he was and that she'd scored a major coup with the Locke merger. He said she was the right person to run Newman Enterprises, much to Adam's chagrin.

Adam was very unhappy with Victor's decision. How do you suppose Adam is going to get around Victor? I wonder if he will go behind Victor's back and syphon off some of Locke's company for Newman Media. That would be in keeping with the old Adam. I guess we will have to wait and see if he will maintain the Adam 2.0 persona or if he will slip back to the original Adam, dark and evil.

Billy and Lily are a very cute couple, but I got quite a dose of sugar overload from all the sweetness, sucking face, and telling each other how great they were in the most recent episode. I love Billy and Lily as a couple in the work environment and at home when they discuss things going on in their personal lives. I love how Lily is able to keep Billy grounded and on the right track. But, please, that scene when Lily returned from her trip was too much.

Billy had the place lit up with so many candles, I was afraid it would go up in smoke. It must have smelled like a funeral home with all those flowers. All those sweet nothings in each other's ear had become nauseating. These scenes felt out of place for me because everyone was wondering if Phyllis would be able to expose that Sally and Tara had forced Summer to leave town.

I love how Lily reels Billy in and points out the pitfalls when he plunges in with both feet without considering the consequences. I love this couple together. Lily admitted she enjoyed having Billy's kiddos living with them and that she was sad her kids had become adults. I know how she feels. I felt the same way, as I'm sure we all do when our babies become adults.

Amanda is on a mission. She is determined to bring Sutton down, and she has Imani in her corner. I shed a tear or two when Amanda tearfully told Imani how grateful she was to have connected with her sister and mother. I understand how she feels about having her father taken away, virtually moments before they were to meet. I am in Amanda's corner. I'm all about bringing Sutton down.

Amanda knew that Sutton was a smooth operator, and he knew how to exploit the vulnerabilities in people. Sutton has always struck me as a very devious and slimy politician who never gave a damn about his family. Imani admitted that it would take time for her and Naya to separate the reality from the misconceptions they'd been raised with.

As cute as Devon and Amanda are, I'm still not on board with this relationship. It's too much like Devon and Hilary. How can Devon be in love with his dead wife's twin without her being a constant reminder of his life with Hilary? I'm hoping they will grow on me, but for the moment, I'm sitting on the fence post.

I hope you have enjoyed my thoughts about what has been happening around our favorite town recently. I would love to read your comments and opinions, and perhaps you might like to offer up some of your own thoughts. In the meantime, it's a wrap for me. Until next time, stay safe!Nel

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