Chapter Twelve

My reunion with Joey did not go as planned. I ended up in hospital again and I'm stuck here overnight. It's so irritating because of all the things I imagined this night to be, this wasn't it. Plus, because I'm in the city, I don't even know this place and I don't know any of the staff. They had to phone through to Sid to get my notes in order to treat me properly. They've hooked me up to so many machines and stuck the usual tube up my nose. It's very attractive!

I guess I should go back to the beginning of the day really. It all started well enough. Ruby and I got up and went for breakfast. I rehearsed my speech for about the millionth time. I swear Ruby knows it as well as I do by now! Then we went to buy the biggest bouquet of roses I could afford and stopped off to buy a box of chocolates I know she likes. Then we drove down to the dock, found out where her ship would come to shore and waited in the car.

When we saw the ship approaching, I braced myself to get out of the car and wait for her. It took a while. All the passengers got off in their hundreds, if not thousands and I was exhausted well before I saw any staff exiting the boat. I'd left my inhaler in the car. I guess I didn't think about how long I would be hanging around for.

Eventually, I saw her. She was in uniform – a black shirt and trousers – and her hair was all loose and pretty. She had a massive bag on her back and she was chatting and laughing with some colleagues. I watched her for a while before she even noticed me. She was busy saying goodbye to people and she seemed really reluctant to part from colleagues she obviously cared about.

For a moment, I was really scared that I'd have to deal with all her mates but fortunately, they parted ways and she headed off towards the taxi rank. I was standing between her and it, clutching the roses and feeling like I was going to die. I knew then that I was struggling with my breathing but I ignored it. There was no way I was going to go to all that trouble to find her and miss out on the opportunity.

She stopped stock still when she saw me. Our eyes locked across the dwindling crowd. I gazed at her and she looked at me like I was an alien from another planet. For a moment, I thought she was just going to run in the opposite direction. Instead, she hurried up to me. When she said my name, I thought I was going to faint, which is ironic, considering what actually did happen.

"Hi," I managed weakly.

"What… um… what are you...? What are you doing here?" she asked.

The rest of the encounter is a bit of a blur, to be honest. My throat went dry and I was privately struggling to regulate my breathing. I believe I thrust the roses into her arms.

"These are for you," I said.

She took them but still looked kind of stunned. I gather I said something really lame like 'Happy Valentine's Day'.

She laughed and I fell in love with all over again. I can't even begin to describe how much I've missed her. I get all teary when I think about it. I've missed everything about her and I felt so overwhelmed at standing so close to her again.

"Happy Valentine's Day, Charlie," she said softly.

I shivered and tried to smile. I could hear my own heart beating and the world was starting to spin a little. I should have gone back to the car and grabbed my inhaler but I was rooted to the spot. All I could do was look at her.

She's even more beautiful than she used to be, which really is saying something. The time away from Summer Bay has done her the world of good. She's tanned and toned and perfect. She's amazing. I'm even crazier about her than I used to be. I don't even know how that's possible. What I do know is that I'm determined to show her exactly how I feel.

"Charlie, I'm happy to see you again," she told me. "But… I don't really understand…"

She trailed off at the point that I gather I turned rather pale.

"I needed to tell you I love…"

I didn't even get to the end of the sentence before everything went black.

Next time… Charlie finally gets to talk to Joey…