Chapter Twenty Five

"I have a proposition for you," Angelo said, standing over the table at the Diner where Charlie and Joey were having lunch.

Both women looked up, rather alarmed. It had been a couple of weeks since they'd last spoken to him and they had both been relieved that he had started to avoid them instead of continually causing trouble.

"Sorry, what?" Joey replied, looking behind her. "Who are you talking to?"

"You," Angelo said, sitting down without being asked.

Both Charlie and Joey looked offended.

"Why are you sitting at our table?" Charlie wondered.

His behaviour seemed far too strange and after everything they had been through since his return to the Bay, Charlie couldn't quite comfortably trust him.

"You're bumming around town with no direction," Angelo told Joey rather bluntly.

Joey continued to look irritated.

"And you're sitting on millions," Angelo continued. "So, why don't you do something useful with it instead of keeping hold of it in a bid to keep hold of her?"

He jerked his head in Charlie's direction. She wanted to punch him.

"And what do you suggest I do with it?" Joey wondered.

"Why don't you invest in the restaurant?"

Joey stared at him.

"I couldn't think of anything worse than having any sort of connection with you," she replied.

Undeterred, Angelo ploughed on.

"You wouldn't have to invest a lot," he said. "Quite frankly, the less I have to do with you, the better. I don't want you having any kind of say in my business and I still hate you. But you could earn a bit of a profit from your percentage and you never know, it might galvanise you into doing more than sitting on your arse drinking coffee."

Joey shook her head.

"This isn't actually serious, is it?" she asked. "I mean, I can't think of a more ridiculous way to spend even a cent of my cash."

"Business failing, is it, Angelo?" Charlie asked curtly.

He glared at her and then focussed back on Joey.

"Will you at least think about it?"

"I've thought about it," Joey said. "And the answer is never. Goodbye."

Angelo sighed and stood up, storming away from the table. Charlie and Joey exchanged confused glances.

"What on earth was that all about?" Joey wondered.

Angelo arrived back at the restaurant where his brother was waiting for him.

"Well?" Paulie asked hopefully.

"I just humiliated myself for you," Angelo snapped. "I hope you're happy."

"I'll be happy if you got the money," Paulie replied.

Last night, they had cooked up a plan together to raise the funds to pay off the debt collectors that had been chasing Paulie for months. Angelo had applied for an extension of his bank loan but unfortunately, after everything that had happened with Charlie and Joey recently, a lot of people had been boycotting the restaurant. Takings were down almost as soon as the business had taken off and subsequently, the bank was not prepared to shell out any more money.

"Well, I didn't," Angelo snapped. "I told you it was stupid idea!"

"Well, last time I checked, Joey was the only millionaire either of us know!" Paulie snapped back. "I should have just cut out the middle man. Of course she wasn't going to give anything to you. I'll take care of this myself!"

With that, he stormed out.

Next time… Joey figures out why Angelo asked her to invest in the restaurant…