Just to warn you, tomorrow will be my last update until next Saturday as I am going away with some friends next week. I hope you enjoy the chapter. Love, IJKS xxx

Chapter Ten

"I thought you called me back because you were finally finished!" Joey complained as Nate led her back into the shoe shop.

"I needed your advice," her husband replied.

Joey looked sceptically between him and the sales assistant.

"Yes, he's gay and yes, he likes you," she replied bluntly.

Both Nate and the attractive blonde man coloured.

"So, why don't you exchange numbers and promise to call so that I can get on with my day? There was a reason I was right behind this little one when he made a bid for freedom."

She grinned to show she was joking.

"Here's my card," Nate said, forgetting all about shoes and taking Joey's advice.

The salesman, whose badge read 'Jamie' accepted it and then froze.

"Are you married?" he asked, noting Nate's ring.

"Um..."

Nate looked helplessly at Joey who shook her head.

"Only to me," she told him.

Jamie looked increasingly confused.

"It's a complicated situation," Joey said. "But we're both gay as rainbows so if you take his card and call him, you can arrange a date where he can explain everything to you. Now, I'm really hungry so can we please, please go?"

She looked plaintively at her husband who grinned, said goodbye to Jamie and then followed her out of the shop.

"So, who was that girl you were talking to out there?" he wondered.

"I need to sit down before I explain that," Joey replied.

"I can't believe you've been seeing Joey all this time and you didn't even tell me," Ruby said, sitting back in her chair and shaking her head.

Mother and daughter were waiting for their meals to arrive. For now, they were sipping smoothies.

"I'm not seeing her," Charlie corrected. "She just happens to run the support group Bianca and I go to."

"And did you know this before you suggested it?" Ruby asked.

"No!" Charlie denied. "I was stunned to see her there. And well, it hasn't exactly been going well."

She sighed heavily and had some more of her drink, stirring it with her straw.

"What's the deal with her having a husband and kid?" Ruby wondered.

Charlie shrugged.

"I have no idea," she said. "But they must have got started pretty quickly after she left me."

She pulled a face and began to idly destroy a napkin.

"You're hardly one to talk, Charlie," Ruby said bluntly.

She expected Charlie to retort but she only looked more depressed. Losing Joey was one of the worst things she'd ever done.

"I just don't understand," the cop admitted. "I feel like I don't even know her anymore."

"Well, I guess you don't," Ruby pointed out rather bluntly. "But if you ask me..."

"I'm not asking you."

"If you ask me, you're handling it all wrong," Ruby continued, unfazed. "Laying into her about her choices isn't exactly going to win her back, is it? Unless you don't want to?"

"Of course I want to."

"What about Brax?" Ruby asked.

"We've broken up," Charlie reminded her. "And as fun as it was, we should never have been together in the first place."

She sighed, wondering when she had stopped caring about herself. When Joey left, she realised. She downed the rest of her drink a little too quickly and looked around for the waitress to provide her with another.

Nate sat back in his chair, pushing his lunch plate away. Joshua was also seated at the table making a very big mess of his food. Joey had barely touched her own meal and had been very quiet all the way home.

"I can't believe I actually missed out on meeting the Charlie Buckton," Nate said, shaking his head. "I mean, all this time..."

"It's not a game, Nate," Joey sighed. "Why did she have to come back in my life? I'd just got everything sorted and under control and now..."

She sighed and folded her arms unhappily.

"I knew I should have stayed on the trawler," she said. "I never would have run into her if I'd done that."

"You can't really raise a baby on a trawler," Nate pointed out.

Joey glared at him for stating the obvious.

"Why did she have to come back in my life?" she asked again. "I was happy without her. I'd moved on. And now..."

"Now?"

"Now I realise that I never moved on at all."

Next time... the group discuss raising children and Charlie discovers the truth about Joshua...