Chapter Four
"Well, that wasn't awkward," Aden remarked.
Having deposited Leah and a frantic Miles, who, they had established had been dating Joey's former housemate for a few months and was indeed the father of her baby, the two best friends were back in their ambulance.
"I don't know what you could possibly mean," Joey smirked. "Are you referring to the Leah, Miles and Elijah situation?"
Aden rolled his eyes and hopped into the driver's seat of their vehicle. They had established en route that while Leah had indeed been dating Elijah by the time Aden had left town the previous year, he had moved to and from Africa and got married in the meantime to provide his wife and her son with a visa so they could get free medical care in Australia. And somewhere along the way, Leah had briefly been interested in a city Detective called Robert but was now dating Miles. Apparently he was now living in the house with her, Charlie, Ruby and VJ and they were excitedly looking forward to the birth of their child. They had hung around the hospital long enough to receive the good news that the baby was fine but everyone had been worried for a while there.
"Yeah, that," Aden remarked, waiting for Joey to settle in the passenger seat, relieved to be out of the wind and rain once again. "You didn't even look at Charlie."
"I looked!" Joey protested as Aden headed back to the temporary headquarters set up at the Surf Club to await their next shout. "I saw every frustratingly beautiful feature on her frustratingly beautiful face."
She wrinkled her nose as if there was a foul smell in the air.
"Yep," Aden said. "You're every bit as over her as you say you are. I totally believe you now."
During the time that the two friends had been reunited, both had been trying to deal with their own personal heartbreak. Aden was still grieving for his late wife, Belle Taylor, who had died of cancer just after Joey had left town in 2009. And he still felt guilty for how he had left things with his next girlfriend, Nicole. Since then, he had dated a few girls on and off but nobody was ever going to come close to stepping into the shoes of the love of his life. And as for Joey, she had lived a life of one night stands for the past couple of years. She'd tried to convince the world that she wasn't a 'relationship kind of girl' and that she didn't want the hassle of entwining her life with another person. But those who knew her well, namely Aden, were aware that she was just terrified of getting hurt.
"I am over her," Joey lied. "I don't give a flying fuck about her anymore."
"Oh, it's a flying fuck now, is it?" Aden laughed. "You've upgraded."
Joey merely shrugged and looked out of the window as they headed to the Surf Club.
"Wait!" she called. "Is that Xavier?"
She and Aden both craned their necks to look out towards the beach, although visibility was more than a little difficult.
"I think so," Aden said.
The young man appeared to be arguing with some girl.
"Duty calls," Joey sighed. "Stupid kids. Don't they know it's not a good time to go swimming?"
"So, that was... a shock," Watson remarked.
They had taken Elijah, VJ and April to the evacuation centre at the school and with the weather getting worse, they had opted to hide out a little themselves until they were called back out into the storm.
"What was?" Charlie asked, feigning innocence.
"Oh, come on, you know what I'm talking about," Watson said.
Charlie continued to look blank, although in reality, she hadn't been able to remove Joey from her mind since the moment she had seen her again. Not to mention for the past two years.
"Joey!" Watson finally exclaimed.
"What about Joey?" Ruby asked, appearing as if from nowhere.
Charlie sighed. She needed to process the situation before she talked about it but now, she would have no choice. Ruby came to sit beside her at one of the tables in a classroom.
"She's in town," Charlie explained.
Ruby's eyes widened in shock.
"Are you serious?" she squeaked. "Did you come to see you? What about Br...?"
She trailed off and clapped a hand over her mouth, horrified to have put her foot in it with Watson.
"Yes, I'm serious," Charlie said calmly. "No, she didn't come to see me. She and Aden appear to be working as paramedics or something. And I don't know about Brett. I haven't seen him."
Sometimes she was horrified about how easy it was for her to lie. But right now, it didn't matter. The last thing she needed was for Watson, or any other colleague for that matter, to know about her relationship with Brax. They weren't even technically together anymore. She had already confessed to her superior, Inspector Joyce and he had advised that no good could come of her telling the truth, especially as the relationship was over, albeit simmering.
"Wow," Ruby said. "And Aden's here too?"
"Yep," Charlie confirmed. "I gather that they came in from the city to help us out with casualties from the storm."
Ruby nodded thoughtfully.
"Where did you see her? How did she look?"
"We saw her at the Diner, taking Leah to hospital."
"Leah's in hospital?" Ruby cried in sheer alarm.
"She was bleeding," Charlie explained.
"Oh my... Is the baby okay?" Ruby asked worriedly.
Charlie nodded, explaining that Miles had called to let them know that all was well.
"Joey and Aden were on the scene," she added. "And she looked really well. Joey, that is, not Leah."
She pictured Joey in her mind and tried not to swoon. It hadn't exactly been the homecoming Charlie had envisioned all this time but my, she looked good in uniform.
Next time… Aden finds out about Angelo and Nicole while Xavier attempts to stand up for Charlie…
