Please don't be too cranky with Joey. She made the suggestion for the greater good! Love, IJKS xxx

Chapter Eleven

Charlie stared at Joey and then at Angelo.

"What are you proposing?" the restaurant owner asked. "You want us to compete or something?"

Joey shrugged.

"If you want," she said. "If that's what it takes for you to understand that I'm the one that Charlie wants to be with."

"You're on," Angelo said quickly. "Don't cry too much when she realises that I'm the one she wants to be with. She's just never had closure with you, you know, when you walked out on her instead of being a grown up and attempting to deal with the situation."

"I did what I had to do," Joey snapped. "And now Charlie and I are both in a place to make our relationship work. And it'll work a hell of a lot better than anything she's had with you."

"I am here, you know!" Charlie interrupted.

They both looked at her but only Joey apologised.

"What do you think?" Angelo nudged. "How about I take you on a date and she can take you on a date and you can decide who you want to be with?"

"I already know who I want to be with," Charlie reminded him as gently as possible.

"Charlie, I know exactly what will happen when you and I go on our date," Angelo informed her. "You'll remember exactly why you fell in love with me in the first place. You're just feeling neglected at the moment and for that, I'm sorry. You don't need to run off with her to get yourself some attention."

"I'm not!" Charlie snapped, much less gently.

"What I mean is," Angelo continued. "You and I work best when we're focussing on each other. You know how good our dates always are. You know how much chemistry we have. I know that all it's going to take is a reminder of that and you can send Joey packing again. I'm the one you want to be with."

"Could you be any more arrogant? Joey remarked.

Charlie just looked helpless.

"So?" Angelo asked. "What do you think?"

"I'm really not comfortable with this," Charlie admitted.

Joey squeezed her hand.

"You don't have to do anything you don't want to do," she assured her. "I just thought this might be a way to get rid of him."

She and Angelo glared hatefully at each other. Charlie couldn't help but feel like a piece of meat.

"I…" she faltered.

All she wanted was to be with Joey. She didn't want to have extra time to change her mind.

"You want me to?" she asked hesitantly.

For a moment, she worried that it could be a test. What if Joey was getting her to prove or disprove her love or something?

"I quite like the idea of getting the opportunity to sweep you off your feet," Joey replied with a smirk.

Charlie chuckled and then sighed.

"Fine," she said. "But Angelo, please don't expect anything to change."

He merely smiled.

"Don't expect it not to," he replied.

"So, shall we set some ground rules?" Joey asked.

"Such as?" Angelo replied.

"A spending limit, maybe?"

"Ah, you're broke, hey?" Angelo commented. "I bet you can't afford to spend more than ten bucks."

"I can stretch a little further than that," Joey replied.

"Five hundred?" Angelo suggested.

"No!" Charlie squeaked. "That's far too much for one date."

"That sounds fine to me," Joey repeated. "You know, if that's all you can afford."

"Call it a grand," Angelo said quickly, regretting it the moment the words left his mouth.

"Sure," Joey replied eagerly.

"No way," Charlie objected. "Neither of you have a grand to spend on one night. That's ridiculous."

"It'll be fine," Joey assured her. "Well, I mean, it might bankrupt him but I can cope."

"What, are you a secret millionaire or something?" Angelo snarled.

"My financial situation has nothing to do with you," Joey snapped back.

"Didn't think so," he remarked.

"Any other rules?"

Charlie shook her head in sheer disbelief.

"Such as?" Angelo asked.

"How about a 'no sex' rule?" Joey suggested, turning to Charlie.

The police officer wanted to snap that she didn't have sex on the first date but they all knew it wasn't true so she stayed quiet. It was strange enough that her ex-girlfriend and her ex-boyfriend were fighting so hard for her honour.

"No way," Angelo said. "Sex is what Charlie and I do best."

His wink made Charlie feel a little unwell.

"Oh, so you want her to sleep with me, do you?" Joey asked.

He immediately looked horrified and changed his mind.

"No sex on the date," he said. "Charlie, we can go at it after you've dumped her."

Charlie looked and felt appalled.

"I really don't want to go on a date with you," she said.

"You'll change your mind when we're there," he assured her.

Joey wanted to punch him. She pulled a coin out of her pocket.

"Call it to have the choice of first or second," she told him, spinning it in the air.

"Heads," Angelo said.

It landed on Joey's other hand, tails side up.

"I choose to go second," she said. "So, how about Friday for you and Saturday for me?"

"You're on," Angelo replied.

Joey immediately turned to Charlie, making eye contact.

"Are you really sure?" she asked. "I don't want to make you do something you don't want to. We can cancel the whole thing right now if that's what you want."

Charlie looked at her and then looked at Angelo. She knew that the only way she could leave Angelo behind was to give him some closure on the relationship. Then she and Joey could be happy together without problems.

"I'll do it," Charlie decided. "It's fine."


Next time… Charlie enjoys being out with Joey in public…