Chapter One Hundred and Eighty Five
Morning came too soon and Charlie desperately wanted to stay asleep. She had to work at eleven and wasn't looking forward to another long day after such an extended shift the day before. She smiled when she felt soft lips brushing her cheek. Her eyes fluttered open as Joey continued to kiss her mouth and neck, running her hands up and down her spine. Charlie smiled, welcoming Joey in for a firmer kiss.
"Morning," she said.
"Morning," Joey replied, smiling sweetly. "Sorry I was crashed out by the time you got back."
"Sorry?" Charlie remarked. "I was glad."
Joey pouted.
"You being able to sleep without me and not having nightmares can only be a good thing," Charlie explained. "It means you're healing."
Joey beamed at her, pulling her in for another kiss. She stroked her girlfriend's hair.
"I have a confession," she ventured. "I did something bad."
She had decided to get it all out of the way from the beginning of the day. Honesty was always the best policy.
"Aw, those texts weren't that bad," Charlie teased. "I rather enjoyed them!"
Joey giggled but then shook her head.
"I kind of gave Ruby some advice," she said. "By accident though."
"So? You're Joey. You always give good advice. That's why people come to you," Charlie replied, not understanding what all the fuss was about.
Her girlfriend shook her head before blurting out that Ruby was going to sleep with Geoff.
"What?" Charlie screeched, sitting up sharply.
Joey blanched.
"What do you mean she's going to sleep with Geoff? What the hell did you say to her? Why? What? Why? I'm going to tell her not to..."
Charlie leapt out of bed and hurried towards the door, pausing only when Joey called her name rather desperately.
"You're only wearing a thong," Joey pointed out.
Charlie looked down at herself, sighed and then climbed back into bed.
"What happened?" she asked. "How did you even get onto the subject? And why is she talking to you about this kind of thing and not me?"
Joey felt bad for how hurt she sounded. She pulled Charlie into her arms and explained that it had been Nicole asking for advice, not Ruby and she hadn't even realised that she was contemplating sleeping with her boyfriend.
"All I said was that you shouldn't sleep with someone unless you really mean it," Joey said. "That if this is the person you think you might be with forever, and if you're happy about that, then yes, if you think you're ready, then go for it. But if you think they're just going to be another partner, then don't."
She sighed.
"So while Nicole was deciding that she didn't want to sleep with Liam, Ruby was secretly deciding she did want to sleep with Geoff," she concluded unhappily.
She gazed at Charlie who looked utterly miserable and apologised.
"It's not your fault," her partner said.
She reached out and stroked Joey's face, smiling lovingly at her.
"I guess she's growing up," she said. "I wish she wasn't but..."
She sighed and flopped back on the pillows. Joey curled into her, apologising again. Charlie smiled and began to play with Joey's hair.
"Is that how you felt about me?" she suddenly asked, her voice tinged with hope.
Joey turned to face her, a smile twitching at the corners of her mouth.
"That's exactly how I felt about you," she said.
Once Charlie had very unwillingly gone to work and VJ had even more unwillingly gone to school, Joey completed her housework chores. Then she headed out for a run along the beach. It would be another day of trying to get a job and it was looking more and more like she'd have to start working out of town. Nothing local seemed to be going. Leah had apologised sincerely for not being able to offer her a place at the Diner and Alf had said the same about the Surf Club. She'd even approached Tony at the gym but it seemed that he was having financial problems of his own.
Up ahead, Joey spotted Aden and Nicole having some kind of picnic on the sand. She jogged over and said hello, accepting when they invited her to join them.
"I told Liam no, by the way," Nicole informed her.
"Did you?"
"Yeah," Nicole said, having already explained it all to Aden. "I took what you said about only sleeping with someone if you think it's forever and so I told Liam I wasn't ready yet."
"And how did it go?" Joey asked, accepting the packet of crisps Aden offered her.
"Well, I'm sitting here having a picnic with Aden, so..."
"You didn't break up?" Joey worried.
"No," Nicole said. "He was as sweet about it as he could be. But I think he needs a bit of space."
"Which works out pretty good for me because I get my friend back!" Aden said jubilantly.
"I don't know if I should be pleased or offended," Nicole said.
"Pleased," Joey and Aden said in unison.
Charlie and Ruby met up at home for lunch. Over breakfast, Ruby had expressed interest in spending time with her mother and Charlie didn't know if she was pleased or horrified that the chances were she wanted to talk about Geoff. Now, sitting at the kitchen table with their sandwiches, Charlie waited for her daughter to start speaking.
"I presume Joey's already spoken to you," the teenager ventured.
Charlie nodded quietly and sipped her juice. She wondered why it was that she could handle all manner of incidents at work but when it came to this kind of thing, she felt completely lost.
"Well, um... Geoff and I want to... to sleep together," Ruby said. "Tonight. And I... I didn't want to do anything behind your back so... I'm asking your permission to spend the night with him."
Charlie felt her heart lurch. She was desperate to say no but she didn't want to be overbearing.
"Um... well, I... just... are you sure? You haven't been together for very long."
"We love each other though," Ruby said.
"But..."
"I love Geoff like Joey said she loved you."
Charlie sighed.
"I don't like it," she said honestly. "But if this is what you want to do then I guess I can't stop you."
She twisted her fingers together on the table top.
"Geoff and I are the real thing, Charlie," Ruby said. "I can see us staying together forever. I want to, anyway. And he... he wouldn't even be considering it if he didn't feel the same."
Charlie nodded, forcing herself not to remark that for a boy who didn't believe in sex before marriage, he sure had slept with a lot of girls.
"I hate how quickly you're growing up," Charlie admitted. "I want to protect you from the world but I..."
"You can't," Ruby said gently, placing her hand on Charlie's arm. "You need to let me make my own choices."
"I will but... Ruby, I don't want you to make the same mistakes I have."
"What do you mean?" Ruby asked.
"I made so many bad choices," Charlie ventured. "I slept with people I shouldn't have slept with. I got hurt. I made mistakes. And I didn't do it for the right reasons. It was only when I met Joey that I had any idea what love really was. I don't want you to..."
Ruby squeezed her hand.
"I'm with Geoff because I love him," she said. "It's not about anything bad that's happened. It's not about anything but wanting to share my life with him. And I know you think I'm not old enough to understand this kind of thing but if you'd have met Joey when you were my age, you would still have felt the same, wouldn't you?"
Charlie nodded.
"So, can you be happy for me?"
"I can try," Charlie said. "Is that good enough?"
Ruby grinned and pulled her into a hug. It was strange talking about this kind of thing with her mother instead of her sister but she supposed they were muddling through their relationship together now and that could only be a good thing.
Joey left Aden and Nicole to it and caught the bus into Yabbie Creek to hand her CV into every shop and restaurant she could find, hoping to find work. As she walked along the streets, she pondered Charlie's college suggestion. It was definitely attractive and although she hadn't decided to do it yet, the more she thought about it, the more she was leaning in that direction. It would be fun. It would give her a purpose. And it could even provide her with a career. She felt lucky to be with a partner who was so supportive and thoughtful. Never in her life had she ever thought that she could ever be in this kind of position. But it was definitely a wonderful position to be in.
Charlie was sitting in her office when Angelo appeared looking stressed.
"What's happened?" she asked.
Angelo entered the room, hovering over her desk. He sighed and shoved his hands in his pockets.
"The charges against Donna have been dropped," he said.
"What?" Charlie said, leaping to her feet.
Donna had been charged with the murder of her husband, Lou, months ago. It had been the suspicion of her guilt that had helped put Irene Roberts, his girlfriend at the time he'd died, in the clear.
"They just called," Angelo said. "She's not being charged. She's a free woman. And that means we have to go right back to the damn start to figure out who killed Lou."
He surprised her by thumping his fist on the wall in anger.
"Okay!" she said a little shrilly. "Calm down."
"This is undoing everything, Charlie!" Angelo hissed. "I've already got enough to deal with without my superiors telling me I got the wrong fucking person for Lou's death!"
"Well, perhaps rather than thinking about how this affects you, you should start looking for Lou's actual killer," Charlie said more reasonably. "Yes, this is bad news. But it's not the end of the world. And if Donna didn't kill Lou, it's better that she's not being punished for it."
"I just thought it was all wrapped up..."
"Well, it's not," Charlie said. "Get over it. And get cracking on finding the real killer."
Sighing heavily, Angelo sank into a chair.
"Can you stay late and help me tonight?" he asked.
"No," Charlie said firmly. "I've got plans. Sorry."
"You always ditch work in favour of your precious girlfriend," Angelo accused bitterly.
"No, I don't, actually," Charlie snapped back. "If anything, I do the opposite."
He glared at her.
"I miss the time when you actually cared about your job, Charlie."
"I do care about my job," Charlie replied. "But I also have a personal life. Maybe you should think about getting one too."
Ruby braced herself to go round to Geoff's house. She was excited but also terribly nervous. After school, she'd gone home to have a nice long shower and get dressed up and ready to impress. She hoped that everything would go well. And she was relieved that she didn't have to lie or sneak out. Charlie knew what she was planning and she had reluctantly accepted it.
When the shops had shut, Joey walked to the police station. She found Charlie packing up her desk and looking very much like she was glad the day was over.
"Long day?" the former deckhand asked.
"The longest!" Charlie said dramatically.
"Are you still up for the Diner or...?"
Charlie nodded, pulling her closer for a kiss. They said goodbye to Watson and Angelo before heading out of the station together. Watson waved cheerfully but Angelo merely glared. He hadn't forgiven Charlie for earlier yet.
"What's he so moody about?" Joey wondered when they were outside.
"I kind of told him to get a life," Charlie admitted, linking arms with her and heading to the car.
Geoff and Ruby sat down to dinner together. Both felt shy.
"This is lovely," Ruby said, complimenting her boyfriend's cooking. "Thank you."
He smiled back at her.
"And thanks for all the effort you went to," she added, gesturing to the pretty, candlelit table he had prepared.
He reached out and held her hand.
"I wanted tonight to be special," he said sincerely.
Charlie and Joey were just sitting down to their meal at the Diner when Leah walked through the door with Irene in tow. Colleen rushed out, flapping over her friend and expressing delighted surprise that she was back. Charlie, who had only just been telling Joey about Donna, glanced at her partner somewhat anxiously. She hadn't been expecting to have to deal with this quite so quickly. Suddenly, she blanched.
"Ruby!" she squeaked.
Joey looked confused for a moment.
"She and Geoff..."
"Call her," Joey instructed.
Angelo sat at his desk, going through the Lou DeBono murder case with a fine toothcomb. He still felt bitter about having to reopen the case he had worked so hard on. Charlie's words echoed in his mind and he wondered if she might have a point about him getting a life. When he had first returned to Summer Bay, his main intention had been to redeem himself. As far as a social life went, all he had wanted was to be with Charlie but she had already fallen in love with Joey. He'd briefly dated May but that had fizzled out pretty quickly. She'd realised how he felt about Charlie and that had pretty much been the end of that. Glancing up, he studied Watson on the reception desk. She was busy doing paperwork and watching the clock. When he had first returned, she had hated him but over these last few months, her attitude had mellowed. Taking the initiative, Angelo stood up and approached her, asking if she would like to go for dinner sometime. She stared at him for a few moments before bursting out laughing.
Ruby and Geoff kissed passionately as they made their way to the bedroom. Closing her eyes, Ruby felt Geoff run his hands over her. Her heart pounded, hardly able to believe that this was really happening. They paused when Ruby's phone rang. Growling in frustration, Ruby pulled it out of her pocket. It was Charlie. She cancelled the call and returned her attention to Geoff. They began kissing again.
"She hung up on me!" Charlie squeaked, clearly offended.
Then she pulled a face, hardly able to bear what her phone call might have been interrupting.
"Try again," Joey said, patting her hand and heading over to see Irene and welcome her home.
She looked to be on her way back out again. Charlie dialled Ruby's number once more.
"Leave me alone!" Ruby protested in irritation.
Geoff pulled back in alarm. Grabbing her phone, she cancelled the call and turned her phone off. Tossing it on the couch, she resumed her kiss with Geoff.
"Way to kill the mood, hey?" she commented.
He chuckled softly but then looked worried.
"Do you still... you know... want to?" he asked.
She kissed him again, taking his hand and leading the way to his room.
"I definitely do," she assured him.
Joey returned to the table, explaining that Irene had just popped in with Leah to get some takeout and was now on her way home.
"Did you get through to Ruby?"
"She's turned her phone off," Charlie said unhappily. "She probably thought I was calling to tell her to change her mind about Geoff or something."
Joey sighed, wondering what to do.
"I could go round," Charlie suggested. "I have to talk to Irene at some point anyway. And Ruby's going to need a lift home."
Nodding, Joey finished her drink. Together, they headed out.
Ruby and Geoff tumbled back onto the bed, holding onto each other and kissing. They froze when they heard a door opening.
"Who...?" Geoff wondered. "Charlie wouldn't have come round, would she?"
"No. No, of course she wouldn't. I told her. She was cool with it. She..."
Righting their rumpled clothes, the teenagers exited Geoff's room and came face to face with Irene.
Next time... Irene gets some bad news and Charlie frets about Ruby...
