Chapter One Hundred and Seventy Eight
"Shit!" Aden bellowed, kicking a wooden post down on the wharf so hard that his foot hurt.
His pride prevented him from showing it though. Joey sighed heavily and sat down on the floor. Geoff hovered over her, reading the notice they'd found on the trawler over and over again, hoping that somehow, the letters might rearrange themselves to tell them something they wanted to hear.
"I just can't believe they they're actually getting rid of us," he sighed, reading the notice again.
The council had voted the day before to cancel two berths down at the marina and one of them was theirs.
"All because he doesn't like us?" Geoff wondered. "I mean, what is his problem?"
"He's an arse," Aden replied, still feeling sorry for his foot.
"So, is this it?" Geoff asked. "We just don't have jobs anymore?"
"I guess so," Joey sighed.
Ten minutes later, all three workers trooped into the Diner. As soon as Leah saw their faces, she knew what had happened.
"Trawler?" she asked.
Joey nodded. Leah immediately offered them breakfast on the house and bustled them off to a table while they debated who had the unfortunate job of telling Irene. Sitting down, Joey finally pulled out her phone and called the number Irene had left for them to contact her on. She anxiously explained the situation and was glad that they had at least prepared their boss in advance.
"It's not your fault, love," Irene said on loud speaker.
Aden bit back a retort that if only Joey hadn't voted for Martha then none of this would have happened. But he knew it wasn't fair and that if he wasn't now homeless as well as unemployed then he might not be feeling quite so bitter about it.
"Look, you guys just focus on yourselves for now," Irene said. "The important thing is that you're okay."
"What about you?" Joey asked.
She apologised again.
"I can live without it," Irene assured her. "Don't you worry about me, love."
She was disappointed of course. Losing the trawler was to lose a connection to Lou. But she had never really understood the business and it was never something she had been very involved with. But she felt terrible that Geoff, Aden and Joey had all lost their jobs. Geoff was like a son to her and in a lot of ways, through the connection with Belle, so was Aden. And she thought Joey was wonderful. The way that she'd stuck by Charlie and Ruby throughout all the chaos that had ensued recently was remarkable. And she had supported Aden no end. She was a good girl who had built herself up from a very difficult position, back when Charlie had rescued her from all the trauma she had been through with her colleague and then with her brother.
"Thanks, Irene," Joey said sadly.
She felt utterly depressed.
Ruby was glad when lunch time rolled around. School continued to be lonely these days without Annie and Jai. Xavier no longer spoke to her and Nicole had finished her exams and was just waiting for the results. Escaping to see Geoff between lessons felt like all she had. She found him in the Diner with Joey and Aden. All three looked utterly miserable.
"Did your trawler sink or something?" she joked.
All three looked even more miserable. Ruby's eyes widened.
"Shit! Did your trawler sink?"
"Language," Joey scolded.
"Sorry Mum," Ruby replied cheekily, sitting down between her and Geoff.
Joey looked mock horrified at the thought of being a parent to a teenager at the tender age of twenty five.
"You'd better get used to it," Ruby said. "Mum."
Joey poked her tongue out.
"Very mature!" Geoff laughed, putting his arm around his girlfriend.
"I'm having a bad day!" Joey protested.
"Seriously, what happened?" Ruby asked, genuinely concerned.
"We lost our berth at the marina," Aden explained unhappily. "So we're all officially unemployed."
"Oh, that sucks! What are you going to do?"
"I can't even begin to answer that question," Joey sighed.
Charlie had arrived half an hour later and quickly decided to take some of her overtime off for the afternoon in order to take Joey out and try and cheer her up. They'd caught a taxi into town and ended up at a bar where Joey was intent on both of them drinking all their troubles away.
"I hate John Palmer so much!" Joey slurred.
"I've told you before," Charlie said, not quite so drunkenly. "You're too nice to hate anyone."
"No I'm not!" Joey pouted. "You know, I should charge right round there and... and..."
She struggled to think of something terrible to do to him.
"I should um... I should... shit in his bed!" she declared triumphantly.
Charlie snorted with laughter and suggested that that wasn't the best idea. Joey nodded, pulling a face.
"It could get messy," she conceded. "But I could totally glare at him every time I see him."
Charlie chuckled and pulled her in for a hug.
"We'll make it better," she promised.
"How?" Joey wondered sadly.
Aden trudged back round to his former home, hoping that Nicole might be there without Liam. He had texted his friend and asked to meet. She opened the door a couple of seconds after he knocked.
"I was surprised to hear from you," she said.
He followed her inside, glaring when he saw Liam on the sofa.
"I'm here to ask for my room back," Aden admitted, getting right to the point.
Ruby had skipped school in order to spend the afternoon with Geoff. They'd gone for a walk along the beach and then driven out to nowhere in particular, just to listen to music and spend some time together. He'd talked a lot about the trawler and expressed his disappointment. He felt like he had just been getting to grips with the trade when it was taken away from him and he now had no idea what he was meant to be doing with his life. Everything felt so up in the air.
"Well, what do you want to do?" Charlie asked, having got them another round of drinks.
"I want to work on a trawler," Joey replied flatly.
Charlie sighed. They had already established that this wasn't possible. Joey couldn't bear the thought of being so vulnerable with a new crew again. She'd had such a bad experience with Robbo and she'd struggled with her next job. But she'd found a home with Aden and Geoff and she didn't think she could cope on board without them.
"Anything else?" Charlie asked.
"Do you think I could make a living by doing naughty things to you?" Joey wondered with a smirk.
Charlie kissed her.
"I'm not sure how moral that would be," she said.
Joey pouted and sighed heavily. Charlie leant in and kissed her again.
"Is there any single thing in the whole world that you might want to do?"
Joey shrugged.
"Anything?" Charlie pressed. "Even if it's crazy."
"Well, when I was a kid I wanted to..."
She sighed heavily and downed her wine before looking longingly at the bar for another.
"What?" Charlie asked, keeping her attention.
"I had this stupid idea that I could be a chef," Joey ventured. "When I was a kid I had this dream of running my own restaurant or something. But it's silly."
"Why?" Charlie asked seriously. "You're an amazing cook. You could easily be a professional chef."
"No..."
"If you want to do it, you could," Charlie insisted.
"You can't just walk into a restaurant," Joey sighed. "I haven't got any experience. And I've barely got any qualifications. I mean, I did a bit at college but..."
"Like what?"
"Health and safety, practical skills," Joey ventured.
"So you really were serious about it then?" Charlie asked, surprised.
"Well... yeah," Joey admitted. "I got a couple of certificates and I was going to get some work experience but then my parents died and..."
She sighed, lifting her glass and frowning to find it empty. Charlie hugged her, drained her own glass and then headed back up to the bar. Joey sat back in her chair thoughtfully, wondering if Charlie might actually be onto something.
"As long as you apologise to me," Liam said smugly from his chair.
Nicole told him to shut up. So did Aden.
"Why the sudden turn around?" Nicole asked her friend.
Aden sank onto the couch and explained what had happened to the trawler. Nicole felt bad for him.
"So, can I move back in?" he asked.
"Of course you can," Nicole said. "If you and Liam can be civil to each other."
"I can," Liam said confidently.
Aden nodded with a little more reluctance. The last person in the world that he wanted to live with was Liam but he knew it was a sacrifice he had to make.
In the front seats of Geoff's car, he and Ruby had embarked on a heavy make out session. Things were growing increasingly passionate between them these days and Ruby thought she actually felt stronger for him than she had felt for Xavier. And back in the day, before everything had kicked off with Charlie, she knew she had truly loved her ex-boyfriend.
Charlie returned to the table with more drinks for herself and Joey. She too was feeling a little tipsy but she was determined to solve Joey's problem of unemployment.
"So, a chef," she said.
"I can't do it, Charlie," Joey insisted. "I'm not qualified."
"You could go back to college and get qualified though," Charlie replied.
Joey shook her head, pointing out that if she wasn't working, she certainly couldn't afford to study.
"Joey, if that's what you want to do, we'll afford it," Charlie said firmly.
Joey gazed at her, a smile curling her lips at the though of how much of a 'we' they were.
"It's definitely an idea," Joey admitted. "Maybe we could get a prospectus or something from the college? Just... you know, to have a look."
Secretly, the idea was becoming very attractive.
"But in the meantime," she said very firmly. "I'll get any old job."
"And I'll support every decision you make," Charlie promised.
Joey finished her next drink far too quickly.
"To get completely trashed?" Joey asked hopefully.
Charlie also downed her drink.
"Abso-bloody-lutely," Charlie agreed, wobbling back up to the bar.
Next time... Charlie and Joey endure some teasing from Leah and Ruby and Riley forces VJ to misbehave...
