Chapter Five

On Charlie's orders, Ruby had moved back into the house where she could be efficiently mothered. Charlie had expressed her gratitude to Irene for being there but she was determined to step up as a parent now. Last night, Ruby had drunkenly revealed the mess she was in. It was all rooted in her crush on Liam and now that he was dating new girl, Bianca Scott, Ruby's stability was spiralling out of control.

"I called you last night," Charlie said by way of greeting when she arrived at the restaurant before work.

"Yeah, sorry," Angelo said vaguely.

As usual, he was busy doing goodness knows what with the restaurant. He never seemed to stay still these days and it was very irritating. Still, after last night, she could hardly claim to be perfect partner material. She just about managed to supress a smile when she pictured Joey.

"I needed you," Charlie said.

It was sort of true. She had needed someone to help her move Ruby back into the house. In the end, Leah had gone to the trouble of helping her out. Ideally, Charlie would have asked Joey but she felt it might have been a bit too soon. For starters, she had to break up with Angelo before she proudly showed Joey off. And that was exactly what she was planning to do that morning.

"I was too tired to talk," Angelo said. "I figured you would have left a message if it was that important and then I could have decided whether to call you back or not."

"Wait," Charlie said. "Were you with your phone? Did you deliberately ignore me?"

He looked immediately guilty.

"It was late and I was tired," he said in his own defence.

"It was nine thirty," Charlie snapped back.

She looked at him and suddenly wondered what she had ever seen in him in the first place. She could hardly believe that they'd spent the best part of a year trying to make their dysfunctional relationship more functional.

"Well, you've just made this ten times easier for me," she said.

The words were out of her mouth before she had consciously decided to say them.

"What are you talking about?" Angelo asked. "And whatever it is, can you hurry up? I'm opening soon."

Charlie offered him a look of disgust.

"I'm leaving you," she stated.

He just looked confused.

"What?" he managed. "Like for work or…?"

"No, for good," Charlie said. "I'm breaking up with you. It's over. You and I are no more. Do you understand?"

"All because I didn't pick up the phone one night?" Angelo asked incredulously.

"Because you're a terrible boyfriend and I dealt with it and even tried to fool myself into thinking I was in love with you but I can't do it anymore," Charlie replied.

He looked genuinely wounded. She felt guilty but she had come too far to go back now. He reached across the bar and tried to take her hand but she stayed away from his grasp.

"Charlie, I'm sorry I've been busy with work and stuff but…"

"It's not that," Charlie replied, her voice quieter and less stern.

"Well, what is it?" Angelo wondered, his voice also small. "I mean, whatever it is, we've come through too much to throw the towel in now…"

Charlie sighed and shook her head.

"Joey's back in town," she told him.

He looked surprised and then angry.

"So you're sleeping with her behind my back and now you're blaming me for the demise of our relationship?" he snapped bitterly.

Charlie forced herself not to think about the bad behaviour she had engaged in with Joey the previous day.

"I'm not sleeping with her," she said. "And if things were actually good between you and I then it might have been a harder decision. But she's back, she loves me and she wants us to try again. And I want that too. I'm sorry."

Angelo swallowed a lump in his throat as he battled middle ground between grief and fury.

"How can you say that things aren't good between us?" he asked. "Things finally are good!"

"Maybe for you but not for me," Charlie told him.

"Oh, what, because you're not the only thing in my life now?" he snapped. "Because I've found something that I love that hasn't got anything to do with you? Because you're not the centre of the whole damn universe?"

"Angelo, when on earth have I ever been the centre of your world?" she snapped back. "For the last year, every single thing we've said and done has been about you. It's about your redemption, your cases, you losing your job… Hell, even the things that were meant to be about me were about you!"

"Like what?" he demanded, raising his voice a little.

"Oh, I don't know," Charlie mused. "How about I got hit by a car and you dumped because I hadn't revealed the gender of my previous partner? How about the man that raped me came to destroy my life and it was all about how it made you feel? How about the fact that whenever I've needed you, for anything big or small, you haven't been there because the only person you ever care to satisfy is yourself?"

"That's not fair," he protested.

"Really? I'd say it was pretty damn accurate myself," Charlie replied.

"Oh and you suddenly feel this way?" Angelo mocked. "If those feelings were real, you would have expressed them at the time. But no, you expect me to think that that ex of yours rolls into town and isn't responsible for you dumping me?"

Charlie shrugged.

"You can think what you like," she said. "The only reason I put up with all those things was because I didn't have anywhere else to go. I tried so hard to hold onto the good things about you but I just can't do it anymore. Not when I have someone who genuinely loves me standing there with open arms. It's not really a choice. I'm sorry."

Without waiting for a reply, she left the restaurant.

Next time… Charlie goes straight back to Joey…