Geoff confronts Tam after seeing her steal money from someone’s purse. Sally comes to a sad realisation. Is there more between Viv and Ric than he is letting on?
Extended Summary
Geoff confronts Tam after seeing her steal money from Viv’s purse, insists that she give it back. But Tam tells him he doesn’t understand and leaves him unsure of what he should do. When Tam goes to give the money to her mother she finds out Heather won it all back. She explains her situation when Geoff comes looking for an explanation, but refuses to return the money, scared she’ll be caught out if she does.
Geoff agrees not to dob, but when he finds out how much she took, Irene can’t help noticing his reaction, and in the face of direct questioning, already struggling under the weight of this deception, he buckles. Irene, though she understands the power of addiction, is left with no choice but to fire Heather. Heather and Tam go to Ric, they explain their situation and ask him to return the money for them without telling Viv who took it, and he reluctantly agrees.
Brad is taken aback by how quickly Sally has arranged a counselling session for them, but he agrees to go. But while she is confessing her excitement to Cassie, Brad is having second thoughts, it all feels too rushed. When he is forced to deal with the problem Tam and Heather have gotten themselves into, he misses the session, leaving Sally to come to the realisation that perhaps there’s no way back to what they had.
After a double booking leaves Viv without a venue for her birthday party, Ric agrees to organise one at the Surf Club. Matilda and Cassie are not impressed, especially when her incessant texting has Ric run off his feet all day for a woman he’s not even supposed to like. When the party starts, Ric is surprised by how hurt he is when Viv treats him like nothing more than a serving boy. And when she bumps Matilda, sending a tray of drinks cascading all over her Matilda’s dress, with no more than a half hearted apology, Ric is not impressed. But when Ric finds Viv alone and upset after a phone call from her husband, who can’t make it, he can’t help but soften, especially when she tells him she’s been behaving that way for him, to prove to his girlfriend that there’s nothing between them.
That is not the picture Matilda gets when, arriving at Summer Bay House to change, still dripping, she finds Ric’s phone full of messages from Viv. She returns to the Surf Club looking like a million dollars, and blows Ric away. He maintains his argument of innocence, but Matilda is unsettled. And when she spots Ric on the beach with Viv, there to give back the money Tam stole and tell her he can’t see her again outside of work, she gets the wrong idea, and is devastated when she sees Viv give Ric a kiss in thanks.