Chapter Seven

Charlie couldn't even begin to describe how she felt, holding onto Joey as the motorbike sped out of town along the coast road. Similarly, Joey fought hard to concentrate on the road ahead. Having Charlie pressed up against her back with her hands carefully placed on the top of her thighs, was rather distracting. But it was thoroughly enjoyable.

The plan was to go to a country park they had once visited when they had been dating the first time around. In it, was a little café that sold lovely sandwiches and hoped to spend the day together outside in the sunshine.

When they arrived, Charlie climbed off the bike a little clumsily and took her helmet off while Joey parked. By the time Joey had got off and turned around, Charlie was shaking her hair out. Joey swore she was doing it in the kind of slow motion they used to have in Baywatch. Except Charlie was far more beautiful than any other girl Joey had ever seen anywhere, including on the television.

Charlie caught her looking and smirked. She was relieved to still have an effect on her after all this time. It gave her hope that they really could rekindle their romance and do it properly this time. There was no way she was going to ruin things again. The only problem she could foresee was Angelo but she hoped that together, they would be able to deal with him.

"Shall we?" Joey asked, gesturing towards the entrance to the park.

She extended her hand. Charlie took hold of it without hesitation. Joey couldn't help but feel pleased and she couldn't resist commenting.
"You do know we're not invisible, don't you?" she whispered.

Chuckling, Charlie assured her that she did. Joey squeezed her hand in return, prompting Charlie to stop and draw her into her arms. Ignoring the world around them, they kissed.

"You really have changed," Joey remarked when they eventually parted.

"That's good, right?" Charlie checked a little nervously.

"I always thought you were almost perfect," Joey told her. "The only thing I ever found hard about us was your fear of people finding out and stuff. If that's gone… well, you really are the woman of my dreams."

Charlie beamed at her. She dropped her hand and wrapped her arm around her shoulders instead.

"Have I mentioned that I'm glad you came back?" she asked.

"You might have inferred it," Joey said. "But I'm more than willing to hear you say it repeatedly."

"I'm very glad you came back," Charlie said. "I hope to prove I can be the person you deserve this time."

"I have no doubt you will," Joey replied smoothly.

Charlie giggled, feeling suddenly like a school girl. She was hopeful that this was going to be one of the best days of both their lives. Breaking up with Angelo that morning was but a distant memory. She already knew that Joey was her future.

Half an hour later, Charlie and Joey were sat side by side with their bare feet dangling into a small lake in the middle of the park. Being a weekday, it was fairly quiet and they had appreciated the chance to talk.

"Why didn't you come back?" Charlie said.

The question had been burning on her lips all day. Well, really it had been there every single day that Joey's return had been overdue. She hoped she had made a good show to her loved ones that she was moving on with her life but all this time, even with Angelo in the bed beside her, her first thought on waking and her last thought on sleeping had always been Joey.

"I wanted to," Joey admitted. "I even travelled partway but… I just… couldn't. I knew I was still to lost to be able to make a go of things with you. And I was terrified that I'd step off the boat and instead of waiting for me for three months, you'd be with some guy."

She looked a little awkward.

"Which you were," she added.

"I would have ended things with him immediately if you'd come back," Charlie said apologetically.

"Well, now I know that," Joey chuckled. "I didn't have quite so much confidence back then!"

"Sorry," Charlie said softly. "You would have had a lot more if…"

Joey touched her hand gently.

"I think we should just draw a line under everything bad that happened and focus on where we'll go from here," she said. "What do you think?"

"I think you're letting me off pretty lightly," Charlie commented.

Joey smiled softly at her, reaching up to tuck a stray strand of Charlie's hair out of her face.

"Once upon a time, all I wanted was answers from you," she admitted. "I wanted to know why you cheated on me, if you'd enjoyed it, if you'd change things if you could go back… I wanted to know how many times you did it and where and… I wanted to know everything. I wanted all the gory details. And maybe one day, I'll want them again but for now, I don't. I don't care about anything other than the fact that even after all of that pain, we're right here, right now… together. The fact that I could just ride into town and win your heart again in a matter of minutes… well, that tells me all I need to know."

Charlie held onto both of Joey's hands and gazed into her eyes.

"Do you think you can forgive me?" she asked.

"I already forgive you," Joey replied. "I wouldn't be here if I didn't."

Charlie smiled. She studied her expression and lost herself in her beauty for a moment.

"Why are you here?" she wondered.

Joey looked a little baffled.

"I mean, here… now… after all this time," Charlie said. "What made you decide you wanted to be with me again?"

"I learnt a really valuable lesson a few months ago," Joey told her.

"And what was that?" Charlie queried.

"Life's too long to spend it unhappy," Joey said.

Charlie chuckled softly.

"I thought life was meant to be too short?"

"It is in some ways," Joey agreed. "But it's also a hell of a long time to exist without being happy. It's too long to waste time being angry with people and letting the gulf between you get bigger and bigger. If there's any way a person can learn to forgive and forget, make peace with the world and the people in it – especially the ones who have hurt you – then you should. And I am."

Next time… Charlie learns more about Joey's time away…