Kat and Tomás Reignite Their Spark, While Three Other Couples Are Headed for Splitsville
We begin another week of Beyond the Gates with Dani and Pamela still trying their luck at Joey’s casino, where the boss man is still making threats about using Vanessa’s real estate business to launder money.
The ladies are smart enough to know when to walk away from the table, but Doug isn’t in the mood to catch up with them on their way out; he’s too focused on Joey arranging a meeting with Vanessa at Uptown.
And that isn’t the only drama happening at Uptown. Vanessa spots Diego, who rubs it in her face that he’s out with a woman who’s actually willing to be seen with him. And who is that woman? Why, none other than Pamela, who’s very happy to get a big kiss from Diego upon her arrival.
“I’ve been trying to make this woman I’m seeing jealous,” Diego explains to Pamela, who reminds him that Vanessa is extremely married… before asking if he’s ever considered modeling.
Joey then arrives with Doug following closely behind. That means Vanessa’s husband gets to watch Joey shamelessly throw himself at her from a distance, eventually interrupting them when he notices Joey stroking her arm.
Doug makes up a story about their daughter being in emotional distress, explaining to Vanessa that he was just trying to get her away from Joey. Vanessa admits she’s been seeing other men, and she hopes that Doug is also seeing other women, but he says she’s mistaken.
“I have no intention of leaving you, I don’t think you want to leave me, and we will always come home to each other,” she says. “There, I can breathe. It feels good to have all of our cards finally on the table.” (Oh, Vanessa, you’re not even close.)
Ted Celebrates Eva, While Dani Hides Andre
Over at Orphey Gene’s, Ted is confiding in Andre about wanting to do right by Eva, who is thrilled to receive a birthday gift upon her arrival to the table.
A text message (aka a booty call from Dani) takes Andre away from the diner, leaving Ted and his daughter to celebrate her birthday on their own.
Ted gifts Eva with a framed photo of herself, but she isn’t happy about it. She says the girl in the photo is someone who lied her way into the family and had to borrow a dress from a half-sister who hates her.
After Andre and Dani’s afternoon delight, he suggests they head over to Uptown, but Dani doesn’t want Pamela to see them together. She says it’s because she wants to tell Pamela herself, but Andre thinks she just doesn’t want anyone to know they’re together.
Dani insists she isn’t ashamed of him, but she needs them to keep things on the down low for now, while she figures out who she is after her divorce.
Is Ashley and Derek’s Relationship Doomed?
Ashley and Derek’s domestic issues take a hopeful turn when she returns home to find her man… cleaning?! Yep, yellow gloves and all.
She’s grateful for the effort, and it finally seems like their tense times may be behind them — that is, until she notices that he scratched up her refrigerator by using the incorrect tools.
And things go from bad to worse when she realizes that Derek threw out her lunch, mistakenly assuming that it went bad.
Derek does his best to pull Ashley out of her panic spiral, suggesting once again that they look for a bigger place they can share. He even works hard to buff out some of the scratches in the fridge, but she’s still furious with him.
“I don’t want a new place,” she says. “I like my place. That’s not the problem. You can’t just buff the scratches out on me. I’m not the fridge or the Bronco.”
Derek asks Ashley if she thinks it was a mistake for him to move in, since everything he does seems to annoy her. She doesn’t deny that living together may have been a mistake, but what about their relationship in general? Is that also a mistake?
In desperate need of some alone time, Ashley heads over to Uptown, but she’s far from alone. There’s Andre to offer a shoulder to cry on!
Leslie (Sort Of) Answers for Her Crimes
Following Kat’s accusations, Jacob brings Leslie downtown for questioning about Laura’s supposed accident. But rather than being her usual evasive, unhelpful self, Leslie cuts right to the chase.
“Nicole’s little bitch of a daughter ratted me out, didn’t she?” she asks a gobsmacked Jacob. Leslie says Kat’s word can’t be trusted, as she’s had it out for her and Eva for some time.
Then Jacob plays the conversation Kat recorded, prompting Leslie to panic. She tries to accuse Kat of entrapment, but when Jacob explains that it’s legal to record a conversation as long as one party (aka Kat) agrees, Leslie is forced to face what she said.
“I was just messing with little Kit-Kat,” Leslie says. “Eva’s incapable of hurting anyone.” In the absence of proof, Leslie tries to leave the station, but Jacob has a few more questions for her.
“I took advantage of the situation, I didn’t create it,” she tells him, claiming that she was having lunch with Mona and Jan at Orphey Gene’s on the afternoon of the day Laura was attacked. Of course, that only accounts for her whereabouts at lunch, not during the actual incident.
Leslie saunters out of the station, but not before Jacob reminds her how committed he is to his job. “It might take a while, but I will find my man… or woman,” he says.
Kat and Tomás Reignite Their Spark
Meanwhile, Kat is more focused than ever on uncovering the truth. Maybe a little too focused? She runs right into Tomás at the country club, totally unable to pay attention to anything that isn’t Eva-related.
Kat expects an apology from Tomás for being “all over Eva” at Uptown the other day, but he doesn’t give it to her. He says Eva was incredibly upset, and he couldn’t just let her sit there uncomforted.
That’s when Kat clues Tomás in on her conversation with Leslie, assuming that he’ll feel differently about Eva after hearing that she could be responsible for running Laura off the road.
Without listening to the tape, Tomás says that he believes Leslie said what she claims, but accusing someone of attempted murder without absolute proof is reckless. But this tension doesn’t last. Within seconds, Kat and Tomás are making out for the whole club to see.
Kat also takes the opportunity to get to know Tomás better, asking him about one of his (many) tattoos. He explains that he got it in the Navy, which was a transformative experience for him.
