Chapter Thirty-Two
Joey had only been home from work for a few minutes when there was a knock on the door. She opened up and was stunned find her brother standing there looking sheepish.
"Hey, Joey, how are you?" he asked.
Joey stared back at him blankly for a few minutes before she found her voice.
"I'm… I'm okay. Thanks. How are you?"
"I'm good, yeah. I… I was hoping that we could talk," he said.
She stepped aside and let him into the kitchen, busying herself with making coffee and rummaging around looking for biscuits.
"So, how is it living here?" he asked, looking around the room.
"It's great," Joey said stiffly, suddenly very aware of why she was living there. "It's fine. I get on really well with the others."
"And they treat you well?" he asked.
"Yeah, they do. Leah owns the house and she's lovely. I get on great with her little boy."
"What about the cop?" he wondered, pulling a face.
"She's amazing," Joey said firmly. "She's looked after me ever since Robbo…"
"Is she still corrupting you?"
Joey glared at him.
"I'm not corrupted," she snapped.
"Sorry," he apologised. "I just… I don't understand why you're like this. I mean, since when have you been…"
"Gay, Brett. The word is gay. And the answer is 'always'," Joey told him.
He was sitting at the table. She was hovering uncertainly.
"Well, how come I never knew about it until now? Until you met her?" he asked.
"Because I was too afraid to tell you. I thought you'd react badly. Witness me being correct. And Charlie has nothing to do with any of this. I don't understand why you're blaming her. All she's done is support me. And thank goodness she did because if she hadn't, I wouldn't have had anybody," Joey told him.
"Jo, I'm sorry. I want to make things right between us."
Accepting his sincerity, Joey sat down at the table.
"I've got a proposition for you, actually," he ventured.
"A proposition?"
"Why don't we get away from here?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, move away and start afresh. So much has happened to us since we moved here, Joey. With Mum and Dad dying and this whole thing with Robbo and now you and I falling out," Brett said sadly. "We could get a boat up the coast. We could run it together. And you know I'm not as good as you at that kind of thing so you could be in charge. You could run your own boat, Joey, just like you've always wanted."
She smiled, picturing it. Running her own boat really was her dream. But moving up the coast meant moving away from Charlie. She couldn't do that. Charlie meant more to her than any boat or job. Besides, Joey knew full well that she wouldn't be allowed to be who she was with Brett. If she met someone, it would all kick off again and she'd be back to square one, except she wouldn't have Charlie with her anymore.
"I can't," she told him.
His eyes sparked. Obviously he had been expecting a different answer.
"I've got a life here now, Brett. Once upon a time, I would have jumped at the chance but not now."
"Why not now?" he asked. "What have you got keeping you here? You're living off some woman's charity."
"No, I'm not. At least, I won't be as soon as I get my pay packet at the end of the month," Joey told him.
"You're working again?"
"I got another job on a different boat. It wasn't easy to go back but I managed. And once I've got regular money coming in, everything is going to be fine."
"And you're staying in this house?"
"They've said I'm welcome."
Brett shook his head.
"You shouldn't be here, Joey," he told her. "You should be at home with me."
"This is my home now, Brett," she replied. "And besides, we're adults now. We shouldn't be living together forever."
"You really want to stay here?"
"It's fun. I like sharing a house with friends. And I feel safe here, Brett."
"Safe?"
"After everything that's happened, I'm still not completely recovered. It's still hard sometimes but living here makes it easier. Charlie and Ruby and the others get me through it."
"I heard that Robbo came after you again…" Brett ventured.
He didn't think he would ever forgive himself for not believing her. Her words made him feel sad and ashamed. It was him that was supposed to protect her, not a bunch of strangers and some lesbian cop.
"Yeah," Joey said. "They've charged him with abduction and attempted murder as well as… as the other thing."
"I hope he never gets out," Brett said. "I'm so sorry that I didn't support you the way I should have."
"It's okay," Joey told him. "It's done now. I hope that maybe now we can try and rebuild something between us?"
Her tone was hopeful. Despite what they had been through, Brett was all the family she had. She didn't want to lose him.
"I hope so too."
He got to his feet, ready to leave.
"And if you change your mind…"
Joey nodded.
"Thank you."
***
Charlie came home from work to find Joey vacuuming. She took a few moments to check her out, enjoying the way Joey's jeans hugged her bottom as she bent over. She glided across the room and slipped her arms around Joey's waist. Joey jumped in fright, realised who it was, kicked the off button on the vacuum and leant back in Charlie's embrace. They kissed softly. Joey relished Charlie's touch and moaned into Charlie's mouth as their lips caressed each other.
"So, how was your day?" Joey asked, settling them both on the couch.
"Normal. Drank a lot of coffee, caught some bad guys, waded through some paperwork, booked a hotel for a night…"
"Booked a hotel?" Joey squeaked.
"I thought maybe we could do with some time together where we weren't sneaking around and pretending not to be in love," Charlie said. "Would you like to?"
"That sounds perfect," Joey said.
"It's in the city on Saturday night. The only thing is that we'll have to pop in and see my Dad on the way home. Would that be okay?"
"Um… yeah, if you want me to. I mean, if you don't want me to meet your father then I could wait in the car."
Charlie reached out to hold her hand.
"I'd like you to meet him. I think it'd be nice for you to meet him as my friend before we tell him about us."
Joey smiled at her.
"Do you really think one day we'll tell people?" she asked.
Charlie nodded and rested her palm on Joey's cheek.
"It'll take some time for us to feel ready but… someday in the near future, I want to come out and tell people. I love you. I want to be brave enough to admit it."
They kissed tenderly and wrapped their arms around each other. Both were looking forward to their future together.
***
"So, you never told me about your day," Charlie said as she and Joey cooked dinner together.
"It was interesting," Joey told her.
Charlie stopped chopping vegetables and eyed her curiously.
"Brett came to visit me."
"Are you okay?" Charlie asked, immediately alarmed.
"Yeah," Joey promised. "I'm fine. He was actually pretty nice."
"Nice? Really?"
Charlie looked sceptical. Joey chuckled.
"What did he want?" Charlie asked, returning to her vegetables.
"He wanted me to move down the coast with him so that we could run our own boat together."
"Ow!" Charlie bellowed.
She dropped the knife and snatched her hand away from the chopping board, gripping her finger in pain. Joey rushed over, full of concern.
"Charlie!" she exclaimed.
Charlie looked helpless as blood trickled down her finger. Joey took her over to the sink and gently washed the blood away, grabbing some kitchen roll to stem the bleeding. She looked into Charlie's face, wondering why she had been so clumsy.
"You're not going to leave me, are you?" Charlie asked worriedly.
She looked like she was about to burst into tears. Joey was overwhelmed with love for her.
"Of course I'm not going to leave you," she said gently.
Charlie mostly looked relieved but there was still fear in her eyes.
"But you've always wanted to run your own boat," she said weakly. "Boats are your first love."
"No, you're my first love," Joey corrected her. "Boats come second."
"Are you sure?" Charlie asked. "Because I don't want to hold you back from something you want to do."
Joey removed the tissue, satisfied that it had stopped bleeding. She rummaged around in a drawer for a plaster and placed it on the cut, which wasn't as big as she'd feared.
"Charlie, you're everything I want."
