I'm having a really bad day so all reviews are appreciated! I caught a virus last week and have been laid up with it all week. Now it's developed into a bacterial infection and I'm having all sorts of problems with my heart beating too fast and my blood pressure being too high. I am most cranky. So please be nice! Lol. Love, IJKS xxx
Chapter Two Hundred and Seventy Four
It was Saturday morning and Charlie was less than enthused to have to work. She hated it when work conflicted with Joey not being on shift at the bait shop. She felt like time was being stolen from them. But every time she thought about that, she panicked that she was too dependent on her girlfriend. She worried about the so called 'lesbian urge to merge'. But then, when she thought of the phrase, she laughed and felt better about it all again.
On her morning break, Charlie arranged to meet up with Joey for a juice at the Surf Club. Walking into the venue, she spotted her girlfriend deep in discussion with Alf and Marilyn.
"Hi guys," she said brightly, approaching the huddle by the bar.
Joey turned and beamed at her, slipping an arm around her and kissing her lips softly.
"Hi, Charlie," Marilyn greeted in a slightly higher pitch than normal.
She glanced anxiously at Alf.
"Maybe Charlie's the person to talk to," the Summer Bay stalwart suggested.
"Talk to about what?" Charlie wondered.
"I don't want to get anyone into trouble," Marilyn said doubtfully, nodding at Charlie's uniform.
"I'll be as impartial as I can," Charlie promised. "What's up?"
"It's Miles," Marilyn sighed.
On the green between the Diner and the beach, VJ was happily playing soccer with Elijah. Leah was working and, encouraged by Joey, VJ had agreed to continue spending time with his mother's new boyfriend. And despite his reservations, the ten year old thought he was actually very nice.
"You really like this game, hey?" Elijah said when VJ tackled him.
"It's awesome," VJ said.
"Do you play for a team?"
"There's a team at school," VJ told him. "And sometimes I play with Miles and Joey."
He smiled.
"I like playing with Joey," he said brightly. "But one time when I played with Miles we found a hand buried in the sand."
Elijah looked shocked.
"It had been bitten off by a shark," VJ informed him. "It was really scary."
"I can imagine!" Elijah remarked.
"I wish I had a Dad to play soccer with," VJ mused, changing the subject. "Mum's not very good and Miles and Joey don't always have time. Joey spends more time with me than Miles does but obviously she'll never be my Dad. Nobody will ever be my Dad. I wish I remembered him."
Charlie was puzzled as Marilyn relayed everything she had told Alf and Joey.
"Are you sure?" Charlie asked.
The idea that Miles could be behind all the graffiti in the Bay of late was bewildering to say the least.
"I mean, that doesn't really sound like him."
"He has been kind of erratic lately," Alf said uncertainly.
Charlie nodded and glanced at Joey. They were both aware of that but they hadn't thought it was this out of hand.
"You weren't still dreaming or anything?" Charlie asked.
"I know everyone thinks I'm dizzy and dumb but I'm not stupid!" Marilyn protested.
"I wasn't saying you were!" Charlie said quickly. "You know we all think the world of you, Marilyn. I just need to ask these kinds of questions before I go ahead with an investigation."
Marilyn looked stricken.
"Do you have to do it officially?" Joey asked. "I mean, maybe you could just pop round there and talk to him..."
Charlie chewed her lip thoughtfully.
"I could," she agreed. "I will."
"I'm not sure this is such a good idea, Romeo..." Annie said uncertainly.
Standing on a bin, he reached up to open the small window of the school hall.
"We have to practice," he said. "And I need to be in the right setting if I'm going to get my head around all of this."
"Okay," Annie shrugged.
He turned back and grinned at her.
"Plus it'll be fun," he added. "A little danger never hurt anybody."
Annie was about to retort with all the examples she could think of where danger had hurt people but decided to stay quiet. She was quite enjoying the thrill of misbehaving with the boy she loved.
On her way out of the Surf Club, Charlie bumped into Angelo who had the day off work.
"I was hoping to see you," she said, pausing her step.
"Really?" he asked sceptically.
They were hardly the best of friends these days. He was still shocked to have been invited to her housewarming party.
"Martha told me what happened when you took her home from the party," Charlie ventured.
He blanched and looked panicked.
"I didn't..."
"Thank you for not taking advantage," Charlie interrupted. "That would have been a really damaging move. So thank you for respecting her."
A little surprised, Angelo merely nodded. Charlie walked past him and out to her patrol car. Angelo entered the Surf Club and hesitated over approaching the bar where Joey was in an animated discussion with Marilyn and Alf.
Having abandoned their game, Elijah and VJ were sitting on the beach together, looking out to sea. Elijah's heart broke a little as the young lad opened up to him about having never really known his father. Vinnie had been long gone by the time VJ had been old enough to wonder where he was.
"Do you think he's in Heaven?" VJ asked.
"Absolutely," Elijah replied without hesitation. "He was obviously a very good man, VJ. I'm just sorry you never got to meet him properly."
VJ nodded.
"Me too," he said quietly.
Angelo was about to take his drink and move away from Joey.
"You can sit here if you want," she said.
He looked sceptical, wondering why Charlie and Joey were being uncharacteristically nice to him today.
"I thought we'd agree to not like each other in a polite fashion," Joey reminded him.
"Yeah, we did," Angelo agreed, pulling up a stool beside her.
Joey waited for Alf to get distracted.
"Thanks for being good to Martha," Joey half whispered.
Angelo nodded, still feeling unsure.
Charlie hesitated in the middle of the caravan park where Miles was busily cleaning up one of the vans. It had been tagged with typical orange spray paint. And he was most definitely talking to himself. She glanced around just to make sure but aside from her, nobody seemed to be around. Stepping closer, she studied her friend to see if maybe he was talking on the phone on a hands free kit or something. But no, she couldn't see any wires or a headset. She paused when she heard him refer to the 'other person' as Rabbit. Suddenly Marilyn's dreams were starting to connect the dots.
Joey had gone to play some video games with Aden and Justin on her day off and Marilyn had an appointment over in Yabbie Creek. This left Angelo with Alf for company.
"It's good to see you getting along better with Joey," Alf said.
Angelo nodded.
"We've agreed to be civil," he said. "Hopefully it will stay that way."
"Well, if you don't fall out of trees while following Charlie around again then it'll be fine," Alf said bluntly.
Angelo looked down and sipped his juice.
"I need to talk to you about Martha," Alf told him.
Sitting on the edge of the stage in the school hall, Romeo leant in and kissed Annie. She smiled into the kiss, feeling closer to him than she ever had before. They'd rehearsed, laughed and shared all their secrets. All in all, it had been a perfect date. And both Annie and Romeo were thrilled with their progress.
"Who are you talking to?" Charlie asked, approaching Miles at last.
The curly haired man turned around, clearly flummoxed.
"Um... you?" he said.
Charlie chewed her lip before reminding him that he hadn't known she was there.
"Right," Miles sighed.
He glanced anxiously to his right and mouthed something. Charlie's concern grew.
"Miles, what's been going on with you lately?" she asked.
"Nothing!" Miles said. "I don't know why you're here and I don't know what you want but everything is fine!"
He turned to hurry towards the house but promptly tripped over his bucket and sprawled onto the floor in a clumsy heap.
"You cannot tell Martha that Hugo is alive," Angelo hissed urgently when Alf had finished voicing his concerns about his granddaughter.
"But she's a mess, Angelo!" Alf insisted. "How can I carry on lying to her when...?"
"How will telling her the truth help the situation?" Angelo challenged. "It'll just mess her up more. Alf, you just need to leave things the way they are."
"That girl has already lost so much," Alf sighed. "I feel like I'm just making things worse."
"You will make things worse if you tell her the truth," Angelo insisted. "Now, I'm relying on you to keep your word. We'll help Martha get through all of this but I'm telling you now that her knowing Hugo is still alive is not the way to do it."
Charlie just about managed to help Miles into her car. He was in agony and she didn't think she'd forget the sound of his ankle snapping in a very long time.
"Why did you do this to me?" Miles asked thin air.
"I didn't do anything to you," Charlie insisted.
"Not you!" Miles sighed.
Puzzled, Charlie carefully closed the door and hurried round to the driver's side of the car, ready to take her increasingly bewildered friend to hospital.
Next time... Miles opens up about Rabbit, Charlie connects Larry to Justin's car accident and Aden and Nicole struggle to communicate...
