Episode 3667 (20th February 2004)

Plot
Aaron begins to warm to Chas but things go down hill rapidly after she hears him on the phone to his dad, describing her a ‘nutter’, who’s not as good as Sandra. Trying too hard to impress Aaron, Chas attempts to bake him a cake. Things don’t go well in the kitchen at first but she eventually cracks it and Aaron’s phone conversation is the last thing she needs to hear as she takes the cake to show him. Hurt by Aaron’s remark about Sandra, Chas argues with Aaron and slaps him when he tells her she’ll never be his mother. To make matters worse, Louise walks in just as it happens. Scott convinces Zoe to make Carl manager of Tate Haulage, despite her reservations about his ability to do the job. Carl doesn’t mess about. On his first day in the job, as soon as Scott and Zoe’s backs are turned, he rifles through the filing cabinets. It looks as if he’s up to a spot of industrial espionage. Short on patience as usual Zoe is frustrated with Scott’s failure to nip the problem with the Dingles in the bud. It hasn’t dawned on either of them yet that there could be somebody else behind the problems affecting the business. Lisa ‘pushes the right buttons’ and Zak shows up for work at the factory. Despite reservations that he’ll be a ‘disruptive influence’, Steph says she’ll give him a week’s trial. Lisa tries to help Chas out with her problems with Aaron, but finds it difficult to get through to her while Chas remains convinced that she doesn’t know how to be a mother. Chas returns to work at The Woolpack and it looks like there’s trouble brewing as Louise is still very disapproving of the way Chas deals with Aaron.