Thomas and Hope's Path to Love

Credit: Howard Wise/JPI (4)

Three’s a Crowd
Don’t be fooled by the smile. The year 2011 was a toughie for Hope Logan (then Kim Matula). Though she was madly in love with Liam Spencer and vice-versa, he was also madly in love with her stepsister, Steffy Forrester. (The only kind of love Liam is ever in is madly.) And thanks to the machinations of Steffy’s old flame — Liam’s father, Bill Spencer — hers was the finger on which the waffling bachelor slipped a wedding band.
Flirting With Disaster
While Hope was doing her damnedest to Scotch-tape her broken heart back together, Thomas (then Adam Gregory) was focused on seeing that his Taboo fashion line at Forrester Creations outsold her Hope For the Future designs. His winning strategy? He shocked a gaggle of reporters along with stepmother Brooke Logan by planting a kiss on her during a press conference.
Beach Bummed
Putting aside his attraction to Hope’s mother — for the best, heaven knows! — Thomas turned his attentions toward Hope. She was pretty. She was nice. She was vulnerable. And, in time, he was sure that she would forget all about Liam and fall for him. But being Ridge’s son, Thomas couldn’t be bothered to wait, much less wait long enough, so he proposed to Hope during a vacation in Cabo. Big mistake. She said no.
If You Can’t Be With the One You Love…
… love the one you’re with. That was Thomas’ motto following his split from Hope. And since Bill’s niece Caroline Spencer shared a lot of the qualities that Thomas had liked in Hope — blonde, pretty, breathing — he began pursuing her. Although, it bears mentioning, not so ardently that he didn’t let himself by manipulated by stepbrother Rick Forrester into stealing a kiss from Hope.
‘No, Son, When Forresters Wear Black, It’s Never Basic’
By 2019, we were dealing with a whole new Hope and Thomas (literally, since by then it was Annika Noelle and Matthew Atkinson playing the parts). He’d moved to New York with Caroline and their son, Douglas, but returned to L.A. with only Douglas. Caroline, conveniently enough, had croaked. In no time, Thomas was circling Hope anew, and since she was mourning the “death” of daughter Beth, it was…
A Match Made in Hell
Despite the fact that Hope was grief-stricken and married to Liam, Thomas chased after the object of his affections… or obsession, some would (rightly) say. After becoming Hope For the Future’s head designer, Ridge and Taylor’s son “weaponized” Douglas, using his fondness for Hope to reel her in, and kept from her the fact that her “ill-fated” baby was alive and well — and had been adopted by an unwitting Steffy.
Who Could Say No to That Face?
By the summer of 2019, Thomas had done such a number on Hope and Liam’s marriage that the schemer was ready to pop the question. This time, to ensure an answer of yes, he had Douglas do the asking. But when Thomas wanted to celebrate his and Hope’s engagement horizontally, she took a hard pass. Maybe it wasn’t too late to book two rooms for the honeymoon.
Not So Fast!
After Douglas learned that Steffy’s adopted infant was really Hope and Liam’s “deceased” child, he naturally wanted to tell the former marrieds. “Don’t you dare,” said Thomas, threatening to abandon his little boy if he blabbed. (Eesh.) Undaunted, Douglas, perhaps the most honorable character on the show, filled in Liam, who immediately reunited with Hope and baby Beth.
Guess She Didn’t Know Her Own Strength
Thomas, bristling at being declared persona non grata everywhere, convinced himself that Hope would forgive his whopper of a deception if only he could get her alone to explain. Too late, he realized that a cliff might not have been the best spot for this conversation, as during it, he was “helped” over the edge by a protective Brooke.
Making a Splash
Though Hope had zero interest in being with Thomas, she did still want to be a part of Douglas’ life. This was fine and also dandy as far as Thomas was concerned; in his warped mind, he believed that he could trade joint custody for sex. When he found out that nookie wasn’t on the table, not now or (cough) ever, he confronted Hope, who sent him tumbling into a vat of what she thought was acid.
Bride and Doomed
In an effort to con everyone into believing that he was over Hope, Thomas became engaged to model Zoe Buckingham. Little did he suspect that, by the time their wedding day rolled around, she was in cahoots with Hope, Liam and Steffy to expose his continued obsession. When he dumped Zoe at the altar, thinking that Hope wanted to tie the knot — as if! — the jig was up, and he was renamed L.A.’s Worst Person Ever.
‘Everyone Else in L.A. Is Just So… Plastic’
Chagrinned at not being welcomed back to Hope For the Future — imagine that! — Thomas sulked with “Fauxpe,” a mannequin that looked just like Hope. A mannequin that looked just like Hope and, um, sometimes talked to him. And that he sometimes made out with. And… Yeah, Thomas was not doing well. Eventually, he underwent surgery to remedy the bleeding in his brain that was making him crazy extra.
A Hamster Would’ve Been Less Chatty
Weirdly determined to give Thomas another chance with Hope, his pal Vinny Walker threw himself in front of a car in which Liam was driving Bill home. Rather than tell the truth, Bill staged a coverup that got both him and Liam put in prison. When Thomas finally received Vinny’s suicide text — better late than never? — he was caged by Bill’s treacherous henchman Justin Barber before he could go to the police. Which he actually wanted to — so he is at least capable of doing the right thing, Hope had to acknowledge.
The Great Fashion Designer Shortage of 2023
After framing Brooke for calling Child Protective Services on him — what better way to reunite his and Steffy’s Mommy and Daddy? — Thomas was ousted from Forrester Creations. For about five minutes. As soon as Hope For the Future’s sales declined — and how fast could that happen, anyway? — he was allowed to return to work. Could he possibly behave himself, though? That was the question.
Employee of the Month
Finally, Thomas seemed to have moved past his fixation with Hope… just in time for her to develop one with him. As Liam grew ever more suspicious of the tag team’s collaboration, Hope’s desire, outta nowhere, increased exponentially. She admitted to Thomas that she found him hot and began having fantasies about the two of them hooking up. Eventually, “it” happened.
Kiss and Tell
On a business trip to Rome, Hope surrendered to passion and pulled in Thomas for a searing smooch. As coincidence would have it, Liam just happened to have followed her overseas and was on hand to get an eyeful. Ever the master of the measured response, he immediately kissed Steffy — never mind her marriage to Finn Finnegan — and told Hope that he wanted a divorce.
Then the Sheet *Really* Hit the Fan
Hope begged Liam to forgive her lapse the same way that she’d forgiven him for sleeping with Steffy when, not that long ago, he’d thought he’d seen her kissing Thomas. (It was “Fauxpe” with whom he’d actually been locking lips.) But as her pleas fell on deaf ears, she concluded that there was no reason not to act on her impulse to jump into bed with Thomas.
But Seriously…
At Beth’s birthday party, Liam seized the opportunity to remind Hope that Thomas had let them believe that their daughter was dead. In response, she immediately cut her new lover loose and implored Liam to give their marriage another go. Instead of jump at the chance to not be the biggest [bleep]hole ever, he reminded viewers, if not Hope, why she should consider herself well-rid of him.
Close Encounters
Rejected by Liam, Hope explained to Thomas that she wasn’t as in love with him as he was with her. Or, really, in love with him at all. She was, however, keenly interested in resuming their clothing-optional play dates. “No problemo,” he replied, “I’ll just chuck my self-respect in the corner next to my pants.”
Stephanie Would Be So Proud
As Thomas and Hope doubled and even tripled down on their relationship, the queen bee’s granddaughter Steffy did exactly what she would’ve. In other words, she inserted herself in an affair that was none of her beeswax!
‘Gee, I Was Hoping for Earrings’
Undaunted by the naysayers, Thomas proposed to Hope but couldn’t be sure whether he was bursting his own bubble by popping the question. Not until he got his answer, anyway.
‘Can You Cure… Murder?’
At the same time as Thomas was performing his bended-knee workout, Steffy’s husband Finn Finnegan was getting an earful from Xander Avant about the starring role that the reformed schemer had played in the death of Emma Barber.
‘What Can I Say But I Told ’Er So?’
After Thomas confessed to Hope, she made the grievous mistake of expressing her concerns to his biggest destractor, Brooke. You can well imagine how that went. Would Hope ever wear Thomas’ engagement ring on anything but her neck?
If at First You Don’t Succeed…
Already on Team “Thope,” Thomas’ dad Ridge Forrester managed to sway Brooke. “Who among us hasn’t hastened someone’s demise?” So Hope’s favorite designer was pretty sure that he’d get a yes the next time he asked her to marry him.
‘Yes, I… Want to Wait a While’
Being a Forrester and therefore used to marriages taking place every other week, Thomas was as shocked as horrified when Hope said that after her split from Liam, she wasn’t ready for another long-term commitment so soon. Hissy fit commencing in three, two…
Oh, Crêpe!
With Steffy egging him on every step of the way, Thomas ended his relationship with Hope, packed up Thomas and said au revoir to L.A. as the two them embarked on a father/son trip to Paris. Which begs the question: Can escargot really mend a broken heart?
Quelle Surprise!
Hope was horrified, we tell you, horrified when Thomas returned to L.A. not to pick up where they had left off but to announce his engagement to Zoe’s sister, Paris. Hope pleaded with Douglas’ dad to reconsider his rush, but he was adamant about saying “I do” — that is, unless Hope was ready to accept his proposal.