Will Ridge Throw Taylor Overboard on B&B?

Ridge, Brooke, and Eric have returned from their unexpectedly near-fatal business trip to Italy, which means the clock is ticking on whether or not Tridge will survive on The Bold and the Beautiful. Taylor sent Ridge off with trust in her heart, but she’s not blind to her fiancé’s undying feelings for his ex-destiny Brooke. That’s why she enlisted Nick’s help in keeping the blonde focused on a future without Ridge. But fate, and a faulty steering wheel, had other plans.

Ridge dove into troubled waters after Brooke, but will he leave Taylor drowning in a sea of uncertainty? Wednesday, August 13’s episode set the groundwork for a difficult conversation between the couple.

A Heart Divided

Brooke (Katherine Kelly Lang) left for Italy with high expectations, but she returned to LA without a clear picture of what would happen next in her love life. This is because, despite assuring her that he’d “make things right,” Ridge (Thorsten Kaye) didn’t seem to come home with the intention of ending his engagement to Taylor (Rebecca Budig).

Ridge fielded Kelly’s (Sophia Parras McKinley) excitement over his upcoming wedding to Taylor while notably lacking the same sparkle in his eye that his fiancée had. Still, he warmed at Taylor’s retelling of their first engagement. He smiled as she enchanted their granddaughter with the tale of a treasure hunt in St. Thomas and the ring he gave her.

When Kelly ran off to draw them a surprise, Taylor and Ridge had a heart-to-heart about Brooke’s boating accident. Taylor acknowledged the terror Ridge must have felt, thinking he could have been witness to Brooke’s death. She sympathized with the emotions that it must have brought up. But she stopped short of allowing Ridge to let them influence him.

While Brooke hasn’t yet used Ridge saving her as leverage to get him back, Taylor is trying to head her off at the pass. She urged Ridge not to let what happened be used to manipulate him into falling back into his toxic cycle with Brooke. Taylor also reminded him that he said he wanted to choose better for his life. But will he listen?

B&B May Surprise Us

Ridge has been adamant that he’s not with Taylor because he feels guilty for going between her and Brooke for decades. He’s insisted that her broken heart syndrome isn’t the reason why he’s not going back to Brooke. Eric (John McCook) believes Ridge is trying to give Thomas (Matthew Atkinson) and Steffy (Jacqueline MacInnes Wood) the unified family they didn’t have growing up. However, that doesn’t seem to be the case this go around in Tridge’s story.

It would be foolish to ignore the way Ridge lights up when Taylor enters the room or to sidestep the very real commitment he’s made to her, which includes the sentiment that the ring he gave her should have never left her finger. B&B is prone to having Ridge and Brooke walk off into the sunset together, but that doesn’t mean it’s going to be so simple.

Taylor isn’t going to give him up without a fight. It’s possible the same will be true of Ridge. He may not be so willing to walk away even though his feelings for Brooke haven’t waned.