Chapter One Hundred and Fifty Nine
It was Election Day and Martha was particularly excited. Hugo was trying to encourage her but at the same time, he was nervous about anything from his murky past coming out if his girlfriend were to be elected. One of the main reasons for moving to Summer Bay was so that he could slip into obscurity and fade into the background. He and his team were anxious that the police could have had a tip off so they were trying to play things down as much as possible for the time being. The discovery of the dead cargo really hadn't helped. Hugo was sceptical to say the least about Angelo. He hated the guy anyway for being responsible for Jack's death but he seemed to be intent on causing him hassle. Hugo was just glad that at least Charlie was back at work now so he could hopefully deal with her in future and not Angelo. He still worried that Angelo thought he had something to do with the people who had died on the boat and that secret was something that could never ever come out.
Many of the locals had gathered in the Community Centre to await the results. Colleen and Leah had gone to the trouble of putting a few nibbles out and Hugo had bought a bottle of champagne in the hope for a win. Ruby had opted to stay away from the event, knowing that Xavier would probably be there even though neither of them could vote, but Charlie and Joey had headed on down to see if Martha had won. Joey desperately hoped she would. After turning it over in her mind repeatedly, she had decided to go with her heart instead of her head and she'd voted for Martha. It just didn't feel right to vote for John when she didn't want him to win, even if it could cost her the job she loved. She just hoped that the boys had done the same and that their risk would pay off.
Across the room, John Palmer gave Martha the evil eye. Joey caught the tail end of it, shuddered and held Charlie's hand. Everyone looked up as the speaker got up to announce the winner.
"Hi everyone," the speaker said. "Thanks for coming. Well, I won't delay things any further but I'm pleased to announce that with fifty one per cent of the vote, the new elected council member is... John Palmer."
A round of applause rang out. Joey's heart sank and Martha tried not to cry.
"Congratulations, Mr Palmer," the man said. "We're glad to have you on board."
Looking very smug, John made his way up to the stage.
Ruby and Geoff had the house to themselves. They'd enjoyed dinner together and she had just about put up with his fussing over her. Now, they were happily making out on the couch and Ruby very much hoped that Charlie, Joey or Leah wouldn't be back for a while.
"Are you feeling okay?" Geoff asked when they pulled up for air.
"I'm fine," Ruby said.
Geoff ran his hands through her hair.
"Are you sure? You look a little pale."
Ruby pulled away, immediately in a bad mood.
"Way to kill the mood, Geoff," she said sourly.
"I just care about you, Rubes," he insisted.
"I know," she replied. "But there's a time and a place and I can assure you that this isn't it."
Geoff sighed and apologised, pulling her back into his arms and kissing her again.
"Bad news, hey?" Aden sighed.
Martha and her friends had retired to the Diner in commiseration. Joey nodded, equally as disappointed.
"Listen, Jo, who did you vote for?" Aden asked awkwardly.
Joey studied his expression, wondering what the right answer was.
"Martha," she finally admitted. "You?"
Aden cringed.
"I take it from your expression that you didn't swing the same way I did," she said.
"And I'd feel terrible about it except if Palmer finds out that you voted against him, we could lose our jobs," Aden said.
Joey folded her arms, not liking the criticism.
"I had to do what I felt was right," she said.
"Right or wrong, the trawler could be over for us now," Aden said. "And not all of us have a nice partner in a good job who can take care of us when we've lost everything."
"Sorry, are you having a go at me for not betraying my friend?" Joey challenged. "Because, you know, if you'd bothered to vote for Martha in the first place, maybe she'd be the one in charge now and our jobs wouldn't be under threat at all."
The two friends glared at each other.
Gina approached Martha who was drowning her sorrows.
"I'm sorry you didn't get in," she said.
"Are you?" Martha challenged.
Gina looked stunned.
"Of course," she said. "I was rooting for you."
"Then why did I see you congratulating John Palmer?" Martha snapped.
A few people turned to look. Martha was angry and Gina was awkward. Hugo quickly approached, hoping to diffuse the situation.
"I congratulated John because he had nobody else," Gina said reasonably.
"Well, he had fifty one per cent of the vote so he must have had a few people on his side," Martha pointed out.
"Voters, yes," Gina replied. "But friends? It didn't look like it. And I felt sorry for him."
Across the room, Joey watched them interact. She glanced at Aden again and then tugged on Charlie's hand, asking them to go home.
"Sure," the police officer replied. "Are you okay?"
Joey nodded but she was eager to leave as soon as possible. Out in the fresh air, Joey headed straight for the car.
"Joey?" Charlie asked, following her. "What's up?"
"Aden and I just had our first argument," Joey sighed, strapping herself into the passenger seat.
"What about?"
Unhappily, Joey began to explain the whole scenario.
Aden left the Diner and went for a walk along the beach. He felt bad for mishandling the situation with Joey and he felt guilty about Martha. Looking out across the beach, he grimaced when he saw Nicole and Liam strolling along the sand hand in hand. He stormed home alone.
Geoff and Ruby broke apart rather awkwardly when they heard Charlie and Joey arrive home.
"Hey guys," Joey said, spotting the pair on the couch. "Hope we're not interrupting."
Charlie paled. She definitely hoped they weren't interrupting.
"I was just leaving anyway," Geoff said brightly, leaping to his feet and stumbling towards the door.
He was flushed and so was Ruby. All thoughts of her daughter dating an 'innocent' boy flew out of Charlie's head and she didn't like it. Things had been hard enough when Ruby had got more serious with Xavier. She didn't want it to happen with Geoff too.
"I'll see you out," Ruby said, escorting Geoff back through the kitchen.
Joey turned and held both of Charlie's hands, silently telling her not to panic. Charlie merely nodded. Ruby reappeared, still flushed.
"How did the vote go?" she asked.
"Martha lost," Joey said, sighing dramatically and flopping down onto the couch.
Charlie came to sit beside her.
"Oh, that sucks," Ruby said, also coming to sit down. "She would have been great."
"Yeah," Joey sighed. "I just hope my vote doesn't have any repercussions."
"Repercussions?"
"I went against John and voted for Martha and now Aden is panicking that John will get wind of it and not renew our trawler berth," Joey explained. "But I just had to do what I felt was right."
Charlie put her arm around her.
"And that's why I love you," she said, kissing her cheek.
"Will you still love me if I'm an unemployed undesirable?" Joey worried.
"I can assure you that you'll never ever be undesirable!" Charlie grinned, kissing her again.
Next time... Charlie and Joey celebrate seven months together and Ruby sneaks out to spend the night with Geoff...
