Jack & Mel: love on the cards?
THEY’RE DRAWN TOGETHER AS SHE PREPARES TO REOPEN THE CLUB…
History repeats itself for Jack this week, as he becomes enamoured of an ambitious blonde who’s taking charge of Walford’s number one nightspot.
Like his late wife Ronnie before her, Mel Owen has big plans for the club, and she’s relaunching it this week with son Hunter by her side. But when she runs into trouble, Jack offers to help, and there’s clearly an attraction…
“The club holds lots of memories for both Mel and Jack,” says our Walford whisperer. “It was her dead husband Steve’s business, as well as tragic Ronnie’s. It’s high time it reopened, and Mel believes she can make a big success of it in Steve’s memory with her son’s help. But they have a lot to learn about running a club nowadays.”
Jack steps in when Mel has trouble courtesy of the building’s dodgy alarm system. She’s at her wits’ end with the equipment, but Jack knows how to fix it. At first, she doesn’t want to accept assistance, yet Jack soon makes her see how silly it is not to allow him to show her the ropes.
Jack is being neighbourly, but Hunter is not impressed at all by this new bloke sniffing around his mum. With Mel preparing to open, Jack continues to make his presence known – and when Mel happily accepts his offer of help again, Hunter wants to warn him off. Although the teen is being pretty rude to him, Jack doesn’t take it personally as he knows how tough things must be for Hunter, having just found out the truth about his lost father. So the kindly dad meets anger with compassion, and his actions impress Mel no end.
“They are opening the club on the anniversary of Steve’s fiery death, and that brings up difficult emotions for Mel and Hunter,” shares our spy. “Jack talks to Hunter about grief and shares his own story of loss and heartbreak. Jack wants Hunter to know that he’s there to listen if the lad needs to talk – though Hunter can’t bring himself to open up to a man so clearly interested in his mum.”
However, Mel has more than Jack to worry about when they gather outside the club to unveil the new sign. She’s excited to make her mark on the Square, but as the sign is revealed, Mel’s left horrified. Who has stolen her thunder?
“The nightclub holds lots of memories for Mel and Jack”