"Doesn't look like it has changed much at all," Joey noted on her first sight of Summer Bay in years.
"When was the last time you were here?"
"When I was about 10," she said, then she smiled sheepishly. "My one and only visit."
"You are kidding me, right?" Charlie said. "I thought you said you knew this place well and that it would be safe."
"I may have exaggerated slightly as to my level of familiarity with this town," she said. "But look around Charlie, this place just screams be welcome and be safe."
Charlie had to admit, that as they drove through the town, it did look very welcoming and the beach especially, looked clean and inviting.
"I suppose it should be fine for a couple of days," Charlie said, eyeing off that surf. Those waves looked to die for and she almost couldn't wait to put on their newly purchased swimsuits and dive in. "Where are we going to stay?"
"No idea," said Joey with another sheepish smile. "I didn't exactly have a chance to plan ahead accommodation wise, but I'm sure we'll be able to find somewhere to stay," she said.
"Ok, there's a caravan park just up the hill," Joey said when she returned to the car. "The lady in the Diner is part owner and she said they still have some vacancies available."
"Oh goodie, a small, cramped caravan," mumbled Charlie.
"Yeah, because the car has been so spacious and luxurious to sleep in," Joey pointed out with a smile.
"Fair point," said Charlie. "Do we have the money?"
"Yes, I have enough to cover the costs," Joey replied, knowing that her faux girlfriend was still curious about that account and how much money she had in it. Joey wondered what Charlie would think if she knew that there was more than one secret account which she had.
"I just wanted to thank you again Pippa for arranging that job for me," Casey said to the older woman. "I'm not sure how long I'll be sticking around for, but Mr Stewart said I could stay in the room at the back of the bait shop for as long as I needed it," he said.
"Alf's a good man as long as you do right by him."
"I will," he said. "Is Ruby around?"
"She's cleaning the vans," she replied.
"I'll just go say hi before I head back to work," Casey said and Pippa watched the young man walk away. It was just like her daughter to have brought home a stray, though this was the first of the two-legged variety. Casey seemed a nice enough young man, no more than a boy really. She didn't know what his story was, but she'd seen enough runaways, had even taken some into her home, to recognise another one. What was Casey running from? There had been times in the last couple of days since he'd arrived, where she'd caught him looking over his shoulder, as if expecting to find someone there. Was he in danger? Pippa didn't want to pry too much into his life if he wasn't ready to speak about it, but she'd rather her daughter not become too enamoured with this young man, just in case he was in some kind of serious trouble. If he was, she'd help him if she could, as long as Ruby didn't end up hurt in any way.
Casey patted his pocket where his new licence, which had just arrived by courier today, rested in his wallet. Kyle had come through again with the licence and new name, but he knew he couldn't rely on his brother forever. It wasn't fair to expect Kyle to keep lying to their other brothers, and it would be too risky for Kyle to keep sending money, so Casey knew he'd need to keep finding work, even if it was in a smelly bait shop. At least the rent was free, which meant he could save up and then move on quicker, so that he could stay ahead of anyone Brax sent after him.
"Shit! Shit! Shit! Bugger! Shit!"
Casey shook his head with amusement. It sounded like Ruby wasn't enjoying her task. He'd better go help her. With his thoughts elsewhere, he didn't take any notice of the car that just drove past him.
"This place looks comfy," Joey said as she parked the car in front of the big house that rested atop the hill. "Nice and secluded, yet very inviting."
"And it's not the car," Charlie said and they both grinned.
They'd met the owner of the house and caravan park, a lovely woman called Pippa. She hadn't batted an eye when they'd asked for a caravan, preferably one with a bed to share, which made a nice change after some of the looks they'd gotten during their journey this far. Then Charlie had seen the photos of Pippa and her family, and her enthusiastic welcome had made sense. Instead of a caravan though, Pippa had rented them a cabin with a double bed. A smallish double bed that Charlie was looking at right now.
"We'll have to share," said Joey. "I can't handle another night sitting up sleeping in a chair of any kind," she explained.
"Sharing is fine," mumbled Charlie, still staring at the bed. So much for keeping a physical distance from Joey, she thought. If they shared that bed, they'd be right on top of each other. She knew they had to act like a loving couple in order to pass this ruse off, but sleeping together was another thing. Sleeping in a smallish bed in which they'd be touching. Sleeping with a woman when she hadn't had sex for some time. Sleeping with a woman she found attractive. Sleeping with… oh quit your bitching Charlie and suck it up, she told herself. Neither of them really wanted this, but sometimes you were forced into doing unpleasant things, so just do it. Yeah, because sleeping in the same bed with a beautiful woman was a totally unpleasant thing to be doing.
"I don't bite," Joey said. She was standing so close to Charlie, she could feel her breath on her ear. "Unless you want me to," she whispered and Charlie shivered.
She looked at Joey, her eyes dropping to her lips, then up to her eyes. Shit, this was going to be tough. "I prefer nibbling than biting," Charlie fired back, to Joey's amusement.
"Anything you want, girlfriend."
"Can we really pull this off?" she asked in all seriousness.
"Pippa bought it," Joey said. "And I'd say she's a pretty good judge of character and couples." She flipped open her bag and took out a few items. "I'm going to have a proper shower before we see the sights," she said. "What about you?"
"A shower sounds good," replied Charlie.
"Maybe we should share, you know, to help sell that we're a couple," Joey said with a completely straight face.
"Ha ha," drawled Charlie. "Pippa said there were three showers in the shower block, so I'm taking the one furthest from you."
Joey laughed as they headed from the cabin toward the showers.
"Do you think this is a good idea?" Charlie said, speaking of the invitation to dinner Pippa had extended to them on their return. They'd spent the rest of the day getting to know the town or as Joey had put it, doing a reconnaissance of the town to work out the best exit routes if the shit hit the fan. Charlie couldn't blame her for thinking like that. They were taking a risk just by staying here and if someone should catch up to them, then it made sense to know the quickest and safest way out of town. Unfortunately, they hadn't had a chance to go swimming yet, but Charlie was determined to get up early and sample that water. But first, they had to get through the night. "What if they grill us?"
"Pippa and her wife invited us to dinner, not to the bloody inquisition," Joey said with a chuckle. "Besides, this will be a good opportunity to give our story a proper test run," she said.
"That we've been together for five weeks, but work kept getting in the way, so we decided to take a holiday to spend time together and also to get to know each other better."
"Exactly," said Joey. "This way, if either of us slip up about not knowing something about the other, it'll be easier to explain away."
"Laying low and keeping to ourselves would be easier," Charlie told her.
"Maybe if we were in a different town, but this is a tourist town with lovely sunshine and a gorgeous beach," said Joey. "It'd look like we were trying to hide if we don't do the touristy thing and stayed indoors all the time."
"Or maybe we just like staying indoors so we could have a lot of sex."
Joey's brow rose at the suggestion.
"You know what I mean," Charlie said.
"Yeah, I do, but I'm just enjoying the picture now playing in my head."
"You're hopeless."
"No, I'm horny," she freely admitted. "And all this being cooped up and running hasn't helped things."
"Well don't look at me," said Charlie. "If you want relief, do it yourself."
"As long as you don't mind laying next to me when I'm seeing to myself," Joey said and Charlie stared at her. Joey chuckled at her horrified expression. "Relax Charlie, I may be as horny as hell, but I'm not into masturbating in front of a woman who doesn't want to be a part of it."
"Good," she murmured. With the way things were going, she was going to have to find a place to see to herself as well.
"Come on, Pippa and Irene will be waiting for us," Joey said, and before Charlie realised what Joey was doing, her lips were on hers. Rather than pull away, Charlie groaned and melted into the kiss.
"Sorry, it just felt like a girlfriendy thing to do," Joey murmured when the kiss finally ended. She was just as shocked as Charlie had been by what she'd done. It hadn't been intentional at all, she'd just, well, she didn't know why she'd done it actually.
"Kissing is something girlfriends do, even fake ones," Charlie said, willing her heart to stop beating so fast. What was it about this woman that kept rendering her useless so often? Things felt even more precarious now that they'd become more at ease with each other, and at this rate, she was going to be driven to sexual frustration until she burst, if she didn't find a way to keep a physical distance. Then she remembered the bed they'd be sharing. How the hell was she going to survive this?
"Ok, let's do dinner and if either of our hosts look like they're getting suspicious about us, we'll make an excuse to leave, then skulk away in the middle of the night," Joey said, in a vain attempt to regain control by focussing on the task before them. The kiss had left her shaken and confused. Charlie was a beautiful woman, there was no way to deny that, but it was more than that and Joey didn't like it one bit. She needed to be at the top of her game, which meant not allowing herself to being distracted by the vision of beauty she was sleeping with. Oh fuck, this was going to be more torture than anything that Watson bitch could ever think up.
"Any chance you can reach out to Buckton again?" Robertson asked of Nick during their latest debriefing.
"I can keep posting messages in the personals, but I doubt Charlie trusts me enough to contact me again after Angelo's clusterfuck."
"What if we release a statement, saying Rosetta acted alone?"
"I gave her a new partner who turned on her, then I sent my own brother-in-law to meet with her, and he tried to kill her," he said. "Would you trust me?"
"You have a very trusting face," Robertson said, surprising Nick with his attempt at humour. "But I see your point. Anything you do might be mistaken for a trap by Buckton."
"Exactly and I wouldn't blame Charlie for thinking it."
"We have to make a decision on our next move," he said. "We're no closer to bringing Buckton and my witness in or of finding Watson," Robertson said. "It's time to go public, with all of it, including Buckton and Collins' disappearance."