Chapter Two Hundred and Forty Two
"For fuck's sake," Joey said to herself when she arrived at work the next morning to find the bait shop had been vandalised again.
She had only just cleaned everything up properly. Unlocking the door, she pulled out her phone and called Charlie to report it.
"Look, why don't you just make up with her?" Leah tried.
She and Aden were working side by side in the Diner kitchen but her new employee wasn't budging when it came to Joey. If he was being honest with himself, he didn't really know where his anger was coming from. He loved Joey and he wanted to be happy for her. He was sure that his anger was coming from a place that had nothing to do with her really. But his stubborn nature was taking over and the more people such as Leah and Aden hassled him about it, the more intent he was to dig his heels in.
"She's really upset," Leah continued. "She was so down over dinner last night."
"Leah?" Colleen squawked, poking her head around the doorframe. "Reverend Johnson is here to see you."
Pushing Charlie's earlier comments to the back of her mind, the Diner owner almost skipped towards him.
Charlie and Angelo arrived at the bait shop to take a statement and gather evidence.
"Why would someone vandalise this place twice?" Joey wondered.
"It's not just here," Charlie said. "The same person is tagging the whole town. We've had so many reports this week."
"That's classified information," Angelo pointed out sourly. "You can't just spread confidential information because she's your girlfriend."
"What is your problem?" Joey snapped.
She was already on a short fuse and she was liable to explode at Angelo at any moment. They hadn't spoken since he had been rude to her at the party. And although she hadn't consciously taken any notice of the crap he'd been spouting, she privately wondered if her distraction since then had been related. She hadn't realised that she had been holding Charlie at arm's length until her girlfriend had admitted it. Joey couldn't help but worry that her behaviour had been less than loving lately although things very much seemed to be back on track now.
"I'm just obeying the rules," Angelo told her. "Even if my Sergeant doesn't seem inclined to."
Joey was about to argue with him but Charlie intervened. Telling Angelo to take his bad mood out on someone else and reassuring Joey that they would find the graffiti artist, she arranged to meet her girlfriend for lunch.
"I look forward to it," Joey said. "But... not the Diner?"
Nodding, Charlie kissed her goodbye. Joey watched Charlie and Angelo leave with Angelo wondering what Joey's problem with the Diner was.
"Sorry to have to cancel our first lesson," Elijah apologised.
"Oh, that's fine," Leah said, although she was deeply disappointed.
"But we'll arrange a time at the weekend?"
Leah readily agreed. Even if she had denied it to Charlie, she was attracted to the Reverend. And although she couldn't help but find it completely inappropriate, she couldn't quite drag herself away from his company either.
"I'll call you," he promised, turning to leave.
"Hey, um, can I talk to you about something?" she asked.
He turned back.
"Of course."
"It's about Joey, you know, one of the girls who came to class with me the first time?"
Charlie arrived early at the Surf Club where she was meant to be meeting Joey for lunch. Spotting Martha and Rachel at a table nearby, she approached and asked if she could wait with them.
"Sure," Martha said, gesturing to an empty chair. "We were just fretting about the world and everything in it."
"What's up?" Charlie asked.
"Well, I've had a big fight with Tony because he's decided to sell the gym to John," Rachel explained.
"Oh, I thought they were just going to become business partners?" Charlie said.
"They were but they can't work together and rather than fighting for something he loves, Tony's giving in and selling up," Rachel said unhappily. "I can't believe he'd do this."
"And I'm fighting with Liam," Martha put in. "He walked out on me – hopefully temporarily – after I told him I might be pregnant."
Charlie's eyes widened in surprise.
"I don't have confirmation yet," Martha added quickly. "I'm going to take a test this afternoon but I've missed my period and I'm a bit anxious."
"I'm not surprised!" Charlie said, worried about her friend. "Is it Liam's or...?"
"It could be his or it could be Hugo's," Martha sighed. "I don't even know which would be better. Liam doesn't exactly have a good track record of relationships or fatherhood. And Hugo... well, I don't even need to explain that one, do I?"
Charlie shook her head. Several bad memories hit her. She was relieved what Joey approached, looking rather more cheerful than she had earlier in the day.
Charlie walked Joey back to the bait shop, knowing that her girlfriend was feeling a little lonely at work now. Strolling across the sand, hand in hand, Charlie couldn't help but enjoy the sunshine. She loved her job but she couldn't think that it must be lovely to work out on the beach every day like Joey was able to.
"I feel so sorry for poor Martha and Rachel," Joey admitted. "I'd hate it if we fought like that."
Charlie nodded.
"I don't know about Martha and Liam but I reckon Rachel and Tony will have made up by the end of the day," she said. "They're pretty solid."
"Yeah," Joey smiled.
She stopped and pulled Charlie into her arms.
"Sorry if I haven't been very attentive lately," she said.
Charlie kissed her, dismissing her concern.
"Everything's fixed now," she said. "We made up. Or did you forget? Because I'm totally open to a repeat of that particular night!"
Joey laughed and hugged her.
"Repeat requested," she said, continuing to walk towards the bait shop. "I'm fairly certain I can manage that."
Joey was busy restocking shelves when she heard a movement behind her. Turning, her heart sank when she saw Elijah hovering nearby.
"How can I help you?" she asked professionally.
"I've been speaking to Leah," the pastor ventured. "And I was wondering if we could have a chat?"
"I'm working," Joey said hesitantly.
"I won't take up much of your time," he promised. "If you didn't mind?"
Sighing, Joey nodded. She hopped up on the counter and invited him to come into the shop.
"Well, Leah told me that you had a bad experience with the church when you were younger," Elijah ventured. "Because of your sexuality."
Joey nodded. She folded her arms, feeling vulnerable and a little defensive.
"And subsequently, you haven't been very sure of me..."
Joey nodded again.
"But I wanted to reassure you that I have no problem at all with homosexuality," Elijah said. "You would be more than welcome in my parish if you wanted to be part of it."
"What, if I dumped Charlie and became celibate?" Joey asked sceptically.
"No," he said quickly. "Not in the slightest. Obviously there are a lot of politics about this kind of thing and it's something the church struggle to budge on. But my personal belief is that homosexual relationships are just as valid as heterosexual ones. I firmly believe that God made each of us in His own image and if some people were born gay then who am I to correct Him? Who am I to make judgements and tell people that who they are and how they live is wrong?"
Joey dropped her arms, eyeing him still suspiciously but she couldn't help but want to believe what he was telling her.
"So, you don't think I'm going to hell for being gay?" she asked.
"I think it takes a lot more than that to go to hell," Elijah replied.
"And I'd really be allowed to be part of your church if I wanted to? Not that I want to. But I could?"
"You would be more than welcome and there's nothing you'd be excluded from," Elijah assured her. "I'm very new and I'm building up the congregation again here. I'd love for you to join us, Joey, if that's what you'd like to do. I hate to think of you being pushed away from God like you have been. Please don't think it was His fault. God has always loved you, even if His representatives get the message mixed up sometimes."
"Thank you," Joey said quietly. "I'll think about it."
"Good," he said with genuine smile and a nod.
Joey hopped back off the counter. Feeling much more at ease, she extended her hand. Elijah shook it and said he hoped to see her on Sunday if she was willing to give them another chance
That evening, when Charlie brought Joey home from college, the couple relaxed in front of the television for a little while.
"Who was that?" Joey wondered when Charlie's phone beeped and she smiled over the message.
"Martha," Charlie explained, showing the message which read: 'Negative. Yay!'
"Hey, um, I spoke to Elijah today," Joey ventured.
"I thought you didn't like him," Charlie said, shifting to rest her head in her girlfriend's lap.
Joey immediately began to play with her hair. It was a relaxing position for both of them.
"He said that he doesn't have a problem with gay people," Joey said. "Maybe I was just unlucky with the people running that church when I was a kid."
"Yeah, maybe," Charlie said.
Religion and its conflict with alternate sexuality had never been something that had concerned her. She had been surprised to hear about Joey's history the previous evening.
"And he invited me to join them at their service on Sunday..."
"Do you want to go?"
"Will you come with me?"
Charlie gazed up at her.
"If you want me there," she said. "Then there's nowhere else I'd rather be."
Joey smiled. She leant down to kiss her, thanking her for being so supportive.
Next time... Joey and Charlie give church a try, VJ is upset to learn of Charlie, Joey and Ruby's moving plans and people discover the truth about Mink...
