Chapter Forty-Nine
The following day, Charlie and Angelo set to work on Lou's boat. News of his death and Irene being held in custody had shot through the town like wildfire. Of course Angelo had caught flack for it. Everyone had assumed that Angelo was out to get her. Little did they know that well after Charlie and her colleagues had finished their shifts, even with their excessive overtime, Angelo had worked long into the night, trying to find some clue to fit Irene's story. She was claiming that she'd gone to bed early, heard some strange noise that she thought now might have been a gun shout and the next thing she knew, in the morning, Lou was dead on the deck of the boat. Frightened and alone, unable to drive a boat, she had panicked and drunk alcohol after many, many years sober until finally, several days later, she had managed to call for help.
"Hey, um, Angelo?" Charlie ventured.
"Yeah?"
Angelo stopped and looked round at his colleague and ex-girlfriend. He couldn't fail to notice that she was still as beautiful as she always had been, perhaps more so now.
"I was wondering if you wanted to come round for dinner tonight," she offered.
He looked elated.
"Really?"
"Yeah," she said with a smile. "Joey said she'd cook and I thought it might be nice."
Angelo's heart flooded with disappointment. With all the time Charlie spent at work these days, he didn't have to face a lot of time seeing her with her girlfriend. He'd almost forgotten about this Joey girl, although he had met her a couple of times. She was pretty and seemed sweet enough, although he had to admit that he'd been utterly bewildered when Charlie had told her that nugget of information. He smiled again.
"That'd be really nice, Charlie," he said. "Thanks."
"Great. I'll text her and confirm."
***
Joey skipped lunch and headed straight into town after work so that she could do some shopping. If she had to cook for and endure dinner with Charlie's ex-boyfriend then she was damned if she was going to do some half shot job. No, this was going to be an impressive meal with all the works. She was going to make sure that both Angelo and Charlie knew that she was a keeper.
***
Charlie and Angelo both silently agreed that they deserved a lunch break. Entering the Diner, Angelo froze when he spotted Martha eating with Hugo. Charlie grimaced when she saw her friend's companion. She glanced at her colleague who said he'd wait outside. Grabbing a takeaway for both of them and ignoring the look that Martha gave her, feeling sad that her friend seemed to hate her so much for spending time with an obviously regretful man, Charlie headed outside. Still, she supposed she could hardly blame Martha. If Angelo had killed Joey instead of Jack, she wouldn't feel so forgiving of him, she knew. Outside, the two police officers sat down on the beach together, aware of the time. Both of them wanted to hurry their lunch and get back to work. Neither of them wanted Irene to stew in her cell any longer than she had to.
"Things are still pretty awful for you, hey?" Charlie said, feeling bad for her friend.
"Pretty much, although surprisingly not with Tony."
"Really?"
"Yeah, he's being really friendly. Says he wants to bury the hatchet. Reckons Jack would have wanted that."
"Well, that's good. And I agree."
"Even suggested going fishing this weekend."
"Wow!" Charlie said, feeling stunned.
"I don't really know what to make of it to be honest but I'll take what I can get. I just want to find some kind of peace, you know?"
"I know," Charlie said softly.
They began to eat in silence.
"So, how long have you and Joey been together?" Angelo asked, wondering all the while if he really wanted to follow this line of questioning.
"We met in March," Charlie explained. "It feels like we got together immediately but really it was only a month ago. We've just kind of been inseparable since the first moment we laid eyes on each other."
"That's nice," Angelo managed. "She makes you happy?"
"Yeah, she really does. She's the sweetest person."
"I have to say that I never ever imagined you being with a chick," Angelo said.
While he struggled with the idea of Charlie being with anyone but him, the idea of girl on girl action wasn't totally horrific to him. Charlie laughed and smacked him playfully on the arm.
"You're such a guy!" she accused.
"Sorry!" he chuckled. "What can I say? It softens the blow."
She looked at his face, her smile fading. Then she looked away.
"Do you ever think about us, Charlie?" he asked.
She focussed on her food, unsure of what to say.
"It's okay if the answer's no," he added.
"I did for a while," she admitted.
"But then you met Joey," he concluded.
"Yeah."
"And you love her."
"I really do. She's my soul mate."
"Well then I'm happy for you. I'm devastated for me but I'm happy for you."
They smiled at each other again.
"You'll meet someone better than me, Angelo," Charlie said certainly.
"I doubt it," he replied even more certainly. "I just... We got each other, you know? I think I fell in love with you the first moment I met you. I know we were joking around and you were dating Roman even though he treated you like total crap but I loved you. I really did. I thought it was the happiest day of my life when you finally agreed to go out with me that first time and then I was gutted when I realised your heart was still with him. And then when we got it on properly, I tried not to get in too deep because I didn't think it was real. You broke me when you regretted it but then it kept happening and I was so happy."
Charlie's mind was reeling as Angelo poured his heart out. He'd never done that before. And now was the most inappropriate of all inappropriate times.
"And then my life went to hell and it was over. I guess I hoped that by coming back here, if I could make up for what I did, start again that maybe... maybe you and I could..."
"Angelo, we could have. If it wasn't for..."
"Joey."
"Yeah. I care about you a lot. If all that stuff hadn't happened... and I need you to know that I've let it go now. I know how terrible you feel and I know it was an accident. I don't think you should keep being punished for it. I don't think Jack would have wanted that to happen. It's not about that and it's not about you. All it's about is that I've met the love of my life now. Once upon a time I wanted that to be you. And I really, really don't want to hurt you but I have to be honest. It's Joey. She's my world. I love her so much that I can't even breathe sometimes. She means everything to me and I could never do anything to betray her or put our relationship in jeopardy."
Angelo nodded sadly. Then he forced a smile.
"Guess I'm uninvited to dinner now, hey?"
"No," Charlie said. "I still want to be friends, Angelo. All I ask is that you keep your feelings to yourself and we don't talk about this again, okay? I just want the past to stay in the past. I don't want anything to make Joey feel threatened or uncomfortable or unhappy. That's the most important thing to me. Can you do that?"
"Yeah," Angelo promised. "Whatever you want."
***
Joey had finished in the shower and dressed in tight black trousers and an equally tight black halter-neck top. She just hoped that she didn't spill anything on it as she began to organise dinner. She was surprised by a knock at the door.
"Aden!" she said, happy to see her friend.
"Wow!" he commented. "Look at you!"
She
blushed, hoping that she would get the same reception from her
girlfriend.
"What's the occasion?"
"Nothing," she lied.
"Joey..."
"It's just dinner."
Aden waited expectantly.
"With Angelo."
Aden looked disgusted. He didn't like the guy any more than Joey did, also not entirely because of Jack's death.
"Have fun," he commented.
"Yep," Joey said glumly.
"Mind if I sit?" he asked.
"Of course," Joey grinned.
Deciding she had a spare five minutes, she came to sit beside him.
"So how come he's coming round?"
"Charlie feels sorry for him and wants to cheer him up," Joey explained. "At least, I hope that's all it is."
"What do you mean?"
"Oh, nothing," Joey sighed. "I'm just being paranoid."
"You're worried that Charlie's got feelings for him?"
"Not really. I don't know. Maybe that he has feelings for her or... that there's a spark there or... ugh! I just don't know."
"So, you're making yourself as hot as possible and the perfect wife to make sure Charlie knows exactly what she'd lose if she so much as look at him, right?" Aden grinned.
Joey nodded confirmation.
"Well, if you weren't gay and I wasn't in love..." he teased.
She swatted him on the arm and blushed crimson.
"If you're staying," she said, standing up. "You can make yourself useful."
She handed him a chopping board, knife and a pile of carrots.
***
Later in the afternoon, Charlie and Angelo had parted company. Angelo had stayed on the boat and on her way back to the station, Charlie had pulled a vile man in for speeding. He'd made some kind of sleazy pass at her and generally made her skin crawl. Back her desk, she'd received results from samples she and Angelo had sent off from Lou's boat and then excitedly called Angelo back to work so that he could deliver the good news to Irene.
"It doesn't really mean anything," Angelo frowned.
"It means there must have been someone else on the boat," Charlie insisted. "It's enough to let her go, at least for now."
Angelo didn't look convinced.
"It's enough to give Irene her freedom and encourage people to cut you some slack," Charlie added.
Angelo headed to Irene's temporary cell. Charlie followed behind him.
***
Dinner was cooked and not a speck of it was on Joey's outfit. So far she considered her afternoon a success. Plus, it had been nice to have Aden for company. She'd invited, in fact, she had almost begged him to join them but he'd declined and escaped five minutes before Charlie and Angelo were due to arrive. Now, Joey was waiting for them. For a change, Charlie walked through the door right on time. Angelo was right behind her. The two were deep in conversation. Charlie stopped chatting as soon as she laid eyes on Joey.
"You look amazing!" she said.
She felt totally overwhelmed. Joey was absolutely breathtaking. Suddenly she wished that Angelo hadn't been invited at all. She didn't want to share Joey tonight. She wanted to keep her all to herself. Hurrying forward, she swept her lover up in a hug and a kiss. Aware that they had company, they pulled apart. Angelo looked away, painfully aware that he wanted to be this way with Charlie, not watch her be so wrapped up in another person.
"Hi, Angelo," Joey said politely.
"Hi, Joey," Angelo replied.
"I'm just going to get changed," Charlie said.
She left the room, knowing she needed to be quick.
"Would you like some wine?" Joey offered.
"Oh, yeah, that'd be great, thanks," Angelo accepted.
She gestured for him to sit down.
***
The meal continued nicely. Charlie still couldn't get over how beautiful Joey was looking and what an effort she had made both with her appearance and their meal. She was very much looking forward to helping Joey out of her clothes later.
"Oh, guess what," she said to Joey. "Irene's free!"
"Oh really?" Joey said, her eyes lighting up.
"We found some evidence that there was someone else on the boat and it was enough to let her go, at least for now."
"That's really great," Joey enthused. "Everyone will be thrilled."
"Yeah, it was really hard holding her," Charlie admitted.
"Has there been any more news on the shark attack stuff?" Joey asked conversationally.
"I'm still investigating the second one," Angelo told her. "The 'apparent' second one."
Charlie smirked.
"Angelo is sceptical," she explained to Joey.
"Why?"
"I just don't buy the guy's story."
"He's not a Hugo fan," Charlie informed her.
Joey pulled a face at the name. Angelo perked up.
"You don't like the guy?" he asked.
"I don't tend to like guys that hit on my girlfriend," she said.
She turned back to her chicken, poking at it with her fork. Angelo shifted a little.
"I think he's okay," Charlie said. "I mean, I'm not a fan but I don't see why he'd make up a shark attack story."
"To make himself out to be a hero?" Joey suggested.
"Or to cover up something dodgy he might have been up to out at sea?" Angelo added.
"Or any number of scummy things?"
Joey cursed herself for bonding with Angelo but she really didn't like Hugo and hadn't ever since Charlie had told her about the night they'd been forced apart.
"Okay! Okay! But 'm just trying to give him the benefit of the doubt. That's all."
"Maybe we should talk about something else," Joey suggested.
***
Dinner was over and now the three of them were reclining on the couches in the living room. Despite herself, Joey was having a nice time, at least for the most part. Angelo was safely seated in the arm chair and she and Charlie were curled up close together on the sofa. She liked the fact that Charlie had hold of her hand and seemed comfortable claiming her as her girlfriend. It made Joey relax and not feel the need to be possessive and tense. The only thing that made Joey unhappy was that Angelo was looking at Charlie in exactly the same way that Joey was. It was a look of adoration and wonder. She could hardly blame him. She was surprised that the whole world wasn't in love with Charlie Buckton. Charlie was, after all, perfect. But she was also Joey's and nobody else could have her. She didn't want this good looking cop guy to come in and steal her away. And Charlie was obviously very fond of him. She liked him enough to invite him over after all. And she found him attractive or else she would never have dated him in the first place. And she forgave him for what happened before. She laughed at his jokes and they were interested in many of the same things. She found him engaging. Swallowing as her panic began to set in, Joey held Charlie's hand a little tighter as she began to fret over what could possibly keep Charlie with her instead of with him. Noticing the pressure on her hand, Charlie looked at Joey who looked a little too pale.
"Are you alright, sweetheart?" she asked.
"Yeah," Joey said. "I think I had a little too much wine, that's all."
Charlie leant over a kissed her cheek.
"I'll get you some water," she said sweetly, climbing off the sofa.
Joey smiled gratefully, yet again feeling utterly confused. Charlie was the centre of her universe and she was being so sweet and yet Joey's own insecurities made her fear that Charlie would be better off without her.
