Several months had passed since Charlie had visited both Brax and Ruby. Life in the bay inevitably moves on in one way or another. Ruby was still angry about the circumstances surrounded Charlie's death but had grown sympathy for Brax who had lost his way terribly, drinking heavily and sleeping rough on the beach many a night. She and Casey had tried on many occasions to get Brax help but he'd always resisted. This particular day, Brax was once again hitting the booze on the beach. His beard now long overgrown, his hair was knotted and dried out and his clothes were stained and dirty. He sat, gazing out into the sea, lifeless and careless. Heath approached him from behind, dressed smartly in a shirt and tie he called out to his brother,

"You alright mate?!"

Brax didn't turn round. He took another swig of the whiskey from the bottle. Heath edged closer and was soon piercing down besides him.

"Mate I've just been to yabbie creek, see if the bank will give us an extension on the loan but I'm not hopeful. You know I'm no good at this stuff" Heath said to Brax. Angelo's had descended into trouble since Brax hadn't been around to man the ship. Coupled with the recession in the coastal Australian areas the town was hard hit and Angelo's was finding it hard to compete with the Diner.

Brax remained unresponsive and seemed as though he didn't care.

Heath continued, "look I know you've had it tough these last few months and yeah I've said this before but I think we should sell the place, and put the money somewhere else, the cheeses at the bank reckon it's the best thing for us. You're the boss though"

Brax responded with a very quiet "leave it alone"

Heath sighed and looked up. Ruby was heading over from the other side of the beach. He got up and went over to her.

"How is he?" She asked.

"As always. Look will you try talking to him about Angelo's for me? He won't listen" begged Heath.

"I don't think I should get involved" Ruby proclaimed. "Although if you need a bit of custom, Leah was talking about getting everybody together for my birthday next week, something low key, I could recommend Angelo's. Might put some much needed dollars in the cash register?"

"That would be awesome!" Said Heath with excitement "I know it's tough but you have to move on with life at some point. I'll get the details off Leah and we'll sort the rest out."

The next week came round very fast and it was the evening of Ruby's birthday. Most of the bay had descended on Angelo's. It hadn't been this busy in a long time, there was a buzz about the place, everyone was enjoying their food and drinks. Ruby was sat at a table with Leah, Marilyn, Roo, Alf and Morag. She was dressed up in beautiful right fitted black knee length dress, her hair long and wavey. She hadn't made this much effort in a long time and she was finally smiling again.

"You look so happy tonight" said Marilyn as she clasped Ruby's hand on the table, "it's nice to see you smile again Ruby"

"I quite agree!" Said Norag in her usual diplomatic way. "In fact, you should make a speech and thank everyone for coming."

"Ok" Ruby reluctantly agreed as she stood up and tapped her dessert spoon on her win glass " hi everybody, erm, I don't know what to say, other than thanks for the Braxton's for having us in tonight, wonderful food! And long live Angelo's!" Everybody clapped and cheered. "Thanks for all of you, my friends, for taking time out to spend with me today. I know I've been a pain to be around recently and for that I cannot change, because there's one person missing from tonight, although I know she's watching from somewhere, somewhere peaceful and less complicated, she'd be happy that were all together here tonight. Can we raise our glasses for Charlie please"

Everybody picked up their glasses, "to Charlie"

At that moment there was a voice from the entrance. "Don't" it was brax. He was drunk, slurring his words. " don't talk about her Ruby."

Everybody gasped and there were whispers in the room

"Brax don't do this" pleaded Ruby.

Brax had started walking over to Ruby's table, "what's the point? What's the point in all of this? Us? Angelo's? Summer bay? It's all for nothing!" His voice was raised now. Heath had run across the room and quietly whispered in his ear to go outside.

"Everybody out!" Brax yelled "OUT!"

Ruby started to cry "Brax please stop"

Morag jumped out of her seat , her face close to Brax's "are you really going to do this?"

Brax yelled again "OUT!" All the while keeping eye contact with Morag.

The crowd started to leave awkwardly. Ruby picked up her purse of the table. She now had years running down her face. She glanced up to start moving and something caught her eye. She looked again. A figure, long dark hair, it had been the before. Stood by the bar. It was Charlie. Ruby was certain of It. Amongst the chaos Ruby felt time stand still. She stared over. Charlie was looking back and lipped "I'm sorry".

"Charlie!" Ruby said out loud.

Alf grabbed Ruby's arm "come on love let's et you out of here" Brax was still screaming in the back ground being held back by Heath.

"Charlie!" Ruby was getting more emotional. She looked again towards the bar but Charlie was gone

"Let's get you home this has been stressful love" Alf said ushering her out.

...