When Heather (Vail Bloom) returned to The Young and the Restless to help Phyllis (Michelle Stafford) with her latest round of legal troubles, we’ll admit, we were a bit shocked. She hadn’t been seen in Genoa City for a while, and considering the rocky ending to her marriage to Daniel (Michael Graziadei), we didn’t expect her to lend a hand to assist his mother.
However, Heather rose above the past and aided Phyllis in once again avoiding prison. For those that thought Phyllis’ freedom meant that Heather would soon leave town again to be with her father Paul (Doug Davidson) offscreen in Portugal, think again.
In The Young and the Restless episode that airs on August 21, Heather sits down with Daniel at the Genoa City Athletic Club and tries to get a sense of his feelings about her sticking around a little longer. Her law firm back in Europe is closed during August, so she wanted to stay in town with Lucy (Lily Brooks O’ Briant) at least for the rest of the month.
Daniel welcomes the news and pretty much applauds the idea. Now on the surface, that doesn’t signal he and Heather will reunite romantically. Especially considering he’s in a relationship with Lily (Christel Khalil) at the moment. However, reading between the lines, it becomes quite clear that Heather has lingering feelings for her ex.
For starters, in the conversation between Daniel and Heather, she seems a bit awkward and nervous. She behaves almost like a girl with a crush on a boy but doesn’t know if the boy likes her back. Additionally, she appears rather impressed by his ability to turn his life around since their time together, and him running a gaming division at Chancellor-Winters. We also can’t fail to mention that toward the end of their one-on-one discussion, he grabs her hand. A friendly gesture or a romantic reflex?
Then in the same episode, Heather has an interesting conversation alone with Lily, and it’s laced with hints and foreshadowing. For starters, after Heather informs Lily that she’ll be in town for a little longer, they pivot to Phyllis.
It’s no secret that Lily can’t stand Phyllis and tolerates her for Daniel’s sake, but when Heather expresses her hope that his mother is a changed woman and how much good that could mean for Lucy and Daniel, Lily isn’t receptive to the idea. Lily doesn’t believe Phyllis can change. Such a strong position could certainly drive a wedge between Lily and Daniel later on if he ultimately sees his mom transforming and he embraces her more.
No matter what’s happened, Phyllis is the only mom Daniel has and he’s drawn to her, so it wouldn’t be a great feeling to have his girlfriend at odds with her.
Lastly, we have to point out that when Lily inquires about whether Heather’s boyfriend cares about her extended stay in Genoa City, Heather simply glosses over the topic and says, “It’s not a problem.” Heather’s answer makes it sound as if it’s not a problem because she has no partner back in Portugal.
So when you combine the hints that Heather and Daniel are bound to see each other more, Lily’s sentiments about Phyllis can potentially be problematic for Daniel and Heather is single and likely still in love with her ex, it would seem a Daniel and Heather reunion could happen.
By the way, keep your eyes on Phyllis as it pertains to this scenario. While we have to wait and see if there really is a new Phyllis, we know that the old one wouldn’t take lightly to anyone she thought was a threat to her building a relationship with her children. The mother would even go as far as to sabotage a romance. In this case, Lily and Daniel.
Brand-new episodes of The Young and the Restless air weekdays on CBS. Episodes become available to stream on Paramount Plus.
