Chapter Seventy-Eight

Joey looked at the clock and sighed. She and Charlie were meant to be leaving home in twenty minutes and Charlie hadn't even got home from work yet. She had been due back an hour ago and Joey had cooked dinner but she'd not received so much as a phone call explaining that she would be late. She also hadn't answered Joey's calls.

***

"Shit!" Charlie muttered when she realised the time.

She'd been so caught up in work that the idea of actually leaving for home had fallen out of her brain. Now she was late, she had three missed calls from Joey and she was certain that she'd be in trouble. Her phone rang again as she waved at Watson while hurrying through the door towards her car.

"Joey, I'm so sorry..." she began.

"It's not Joey. It's your Dad."

Charlie's heart sank.

"Dad, I really can't talk right..."

"I know. You're busy. You're late. You're pretty much able to fit anyone and anything in except for me."

Charlie jumped as she heard his voice not just through the phone but directly behind her. Whirling around, she saw her unhappy father gazing at her.

"I'm sorry," she said hurriedly. "I'm really late. Joey's going to kill me."

"Yes, and I'm sure it'll be some other excuse tomorrow," her father said sadly.

"It's not an excuse!" Charlie insisted. "We're going to be late for our last dress rehearsal."

"Did you get me a ticket to the play?" he asked.

She furrowed her brow in confusion. What did the play have to do with anything?

"No, I..."

"Charlie, why are you so intent on shutting me out of your life? Ever since Ruby left it's like... it's like you're blaming me."

"I'm not," Charlie lied. "I just... I'm late."

"What have I done that's so terrible?" Ross asked. "I mean, you've even forgiven that lowlife, Angelo. What's so wrong with me?"

"Nothing!"

"You're lying. Charlie, what have I done?"

"Nothing..."

"What have I done, Charlie?"

"You haven't..."

"What have I done?"

"You let me down!" she finally snapped.

They both swallowed and looked uncertain. Charlie chewed her lip and checked her watch. She was running ever later for Joey and she needed to get away from her father immediately.

"How did I let you down?" Ross asked meekly.

"Dad, I can't talk about this now..."

"Please?"

"You didn't press charges against him," Charlie said. "I told you everything that happened and you just... you just let him go free. You were a cop and even you didn't want to try my case."

"Charlie, it was four months after the fact," Ross attempted to explain. "There was no evidence of rape. I didn't want to drag you through..."

"But I wanted to be dragged through it! I wanted him to pay for what he did to me and you let him wander off and live his life without ever having to apologise or live with what he'd done to me. He probably went on to attack other girls. He even told me that it wasn't his first time. And you just let him get away with it."

"That's not how I meant you to see it, darling," he pleaded. "I thought I was protecting you. I didn't want you to have to go through the courts, be called a liar, be made to relive everything you'd already suffered. I just wanted it..."

"Hidden. Shut away like a dirty little secret," she accused tearfully.

"No..."

"You made me feel like it was my fault."

"Charlie..."

"Right now we're waiting for a court date for Joey to tell the whole truth about what Robbo did to her. There's a lack of medical evidence because she hid it and the chances are he'll only go down for attempted murder, for the thing we can prove. But he raped her. He destroyed her. And as soon as I found out, I dragged her to the hospital and to the police station. Because to know what had happened and not encourage her to press charges... well, it would have made her feel like she was in the wrong. And I'd never do that to her or to anyone who'd been violated in that way. Because I know how it feels."

Charlie wiped her eyes hurriedly, excused herself and jumped in the car. Ross just stared as his broken daughter departed.

***

Ruby and Geoff had been at Michelle's for nearly a week. The three of them had discussed Charlie at length and Ruby was desperately attempting to forgive her. She loved her and she felt bad for rejecting her after everything she'd been through. But too big a part of her was holding onto her own pain.

"It's Charlie and Joey's show tomorrow night," Ruby said over dinner.

"Show?" Michelle asked.

"They're in Romeo and Juliet," she said with a hint of a smile. "Joey begged Charlie to join a drama class with her after she was... well, you know. She wanted to join in order to build up her confidence again. They weren't even dating at the time but they'd pretty much already become an old married couple. Charlie was horrified when she accidentally scored the lead. She's Romeo."

Michelle chuckled.

"Do you have tickets?"

Ruby nodded uncertainly.

"Maybe going back to support her and Joey in their performance is just the right gesture."

***

"I know I'm late. I'm sorry," Charlie said quickly.

She'd driven home as fast as possible and spent a couple of minutes outside prodding her eyelids, which only helped made them more puffy. Waltzing through the door, she saw Joey leap up with her mouth open.

"I'm sorry," Charlie said again.

She kissed Joey firmly on the mouth.

"Are you ready to go?" she asked.

"I've been ready for ages," Joey said unhappily. "And dinner's ruined."

Charlie's face fell and she quickly apologised again.

"It's fine," Joey said with a shrug.

She took Charlie's hand and led her back out of the door.

"I'm really, really sorry," Charlie repeated.

***

Ross kept his head down as he walked back home. Studying his shoes, he thought again and again about what Charlie had said. He hadn't meant to let her down. He hated himself if he'd made her think that she was to blame for what that evil Grant Bledcoe had done to her. It wasn't her fault. She had been the victim in all of it. She had spent her life trying not to be a victim of circumstances. But he knew that every day that she'd lived as Ruby's sister, her heart had been breaking. It had startled him at first that she had fallen so overwhelmingly and swiftly in love with a girl but Joey had brought out a side to Charlie that he hadn't seen since she was a little girl. Joey brought the love and laughter back into her life. And for a while there, he had been hopefully of everything working out. But now, it felt like everything was ruined. Looking up, Ross immediately panicked. He had no idea where he was.

***

"Joey, please forgive me?" Charlie pleaded when she pulled up outside their destination.

She turned to her girlfriend in the passenger seat of the car and held her hands, gazing into her eyes, thinking as ever, about how beautiful she looked in the moonlight.

"I forgive you," Joey promised.

"I just... I lost track of time and then I had an altercation with my Dad and..."

"An altercation with your Dad?" Joey asked worriedly.

"It's fine. I'll tell you about it later. I just... I'm sorry. Okay?"

"Okay," Joey said with a genuine smile.

They closed the gap between them and kissed for a brief moment before getting out of the car in order to face the music with their teacher. They were now twenty-five minutes behind schedule.

***

Morag sat at home staring at the clock and feeling fretful. Ross had gone out two hours ago and she'd heard nothing from him since. She felt sick with nerves, worrying that something had happened to him. She quickly picked up her phone and dialled, determined not to get ahead of herself when it came to being frantic.

***

"Charlie, would you pay attention?" Ms Harboard demanded angrily.

It was one thing for both of her stars to be late to rehearsal yet again but one of them was doing a shocking job of remembering her lines. Charlie glared at her.

"I'm doing my best," she snapped.

"Well, it's not good enough!"

Charlie bit back a retort and took a deep breath.

"Fine," she said. "We'll start again."

***

Ross jumped in fright when a noise began in his pocket. Recovering slowly, she picked his phone out of his pocket. The name 'Morag' flashed up on the screen but he couldn't comprehend who that might be. It rang again. He jumped. The phone fell from his hands and down a drain by the side of the road.

***

"No, no, no, no, no!" Ms Harboard screeched. "For goodness sake, Charlie! Our first performance is tomorrow night. I'd have thought that Romeo would know what he was supposed to be saying by now!"

Joey winced as Charlie threw her script down and stormed towards their teacher.

"Well, you know what?" the police officer snapped. "Romeo has more important things going on right now. I'm doing my best but if it's not good enough for you, you can stick it!"

Joey's heart sank as she saw her girlfriend grab her bag in order to head out, ignoring the fact that she was still in costume. Charlie paused when she saw Amber's eyes light up. She looked between her and Joey and smiled bitterly.

"Don't bother trying and hide your excitement," Charlie snapped. "You're welcome to her."

Joey fought tears and Amber looked startled as everyone watched Charlie's retreating back.

***

Okay, I apologise for the chapter but alas, you all knew it was coming. And I hope you trust me enough to make things better. IJKS xxx