For a while now, The Young and the Restless writers have been dropping hints that Claire (Hayley Erin) would likely become Harrison’s (Redding Munsell) new nanny.
When they first met at Crimson Lights, he instantly took to her charm, which is notable considering he was in a foul mood at the time due to the departure of his former nanny. Kyle (Michael Mealor), Summer (Allison Lanier) and Victoria (Amelia Heinle) commented on Harrison’s connection to Claire, and it’s been said time and time again how good Claire is with children.
However, the notion of her looking after Harrison came to a screeching halt when Summer found out how her new cousin once conspired with Jordan (Colleen Zenk) against the Newmans. Then Jordan kidnapped Harrison and made it appear Claire had some involvement in the crime. Although it was proven that Claire was actually a victim of her great-aunt, Summer has not relented on her belief that Claire is not to be trusted and shouldn’t be around her young stepson.
Then in The Young and the Restless episode airing on May 17, Kyle threw down the gauntlet with Summer and declared he was offering Claire the nanny position. This left Summer fuming of course, and the two got into a heated argument. Despite all of Summer’s huffing and puffing about being Harrison’s mother (which we have to think Harrison’s birth mother Tara [Elizabeth Leiner] may have her issues with), Kyle was adamant that he knew what was best for their son.
In the episode airing on May 20, Kyle calls Claire over to the Abbott Mansion and offers her the job as his son’s nanny. Claire is initially thrilled about the proposition, but she then learns that Summer isn’t on board with the idea. That leads Claire to make the very considerate decision to turn down the offer. Despite how awful Summer has been to Claire, the latter still feels compassion for her cousin as a concerned mother and doesn’t want Summer to be uncomfortable.
After telling Kyle "no," Claire actually meets up with Summer to tell her why she turned down the job offer. And yet again, as nice as Claire is to Summer, and despite most members of the Newman clan welcoming Victoria’s oldest daughter with open arms, Summer continues to reject Claire and see her as an ever-present threat.
With all that being said, Summer may find some satisfaction that Claire isn’t Harrison’s nanny, but she may soon hit the roof anyway should she find out Kyle takes Claire on a date.
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see the writing on the wall in terms of Kyle and Claire. The two have chemistry and have had some great conversations one-on-one that just spell out a future romantic pairing. They even exchange those flirtatious googly eyes with one another.
So we think it’s only a matter of time before Kyle asks Claire out, which we suspect will be soon as the young Abbott is feeling rather confident these days, especially with his plot to undermine Diane (Susan Walters) starting to work. Claire would probably love to start dating Kyle and the two will likely become fixtures at Society.
Now once #Kylair becomes a thing, you better believe Summer will be kicking and screaming about it. In fact, don’t be surprised if her genes from Phyllis (Michelle Stafford) kick in and Summer actively tries to sabotage the budding relationship. If we’re proven right in our hunch, we have another bad feeling that Summer’s sabotage may come at a great cost to her. Could she tank her relationship with Chance (Conner Floyd)?
New episodes of The Young and the Restless air weekdays on CBS. Episodes become available to stream on Paramount Plus the next day.
