Chapter Three Hundred and Fifteen
Showered and smelling fresh again, Joey went with Charlie to knock politely on Martha's door. With her favourite bottle of wine as an offering, they desperately hoped to be permitted entry into her home. Then, that would be proof enough that she had nothing to hide. After a few moments, when nobody answered, Joey knocked again. It was not looking good.
Inside the house, Martha and Hugo leapt into a panic. They had been living in bliss for a few days now, conveniently forgetting about the world and the reality of the situation they were in. Nobody who didn't know the truth had been to visit and they were enjoying their hibernation from the rest of Summer Bay.
"Get rid of them," Hugo requested as he hurried into the back to hide.
"Maybe she's not here," Joey said hopefully when Martha still didn't answer.
"Her car's here and the lights are on," Charlie pointed out.
"She could have gone for a walk?"
They stopped speaking when Martha finally pulled open the door.
"Sorry," she said. "I was in the bath."
Charlie and Joey chose not to comment that, fully dressed and without a hair out of place, she certainly didn't look like she had been bathing.
"Can we come in?" Joey asked. "We brought wine."
Charlie waved the bottle and grinned.
"Sorry," Martha said awkwardly. "I'm just... not really up for company tonight."
"Sometimes that's the best time to have it," Joey pointed out.
"I know," Martha said. "Just... I really want to chill out by myself."
"Okay," Joey said, sighing dramatically.
Despite the situation, Martha laughed.
"Hey, um, could I use your bathroom?" Joey asked, just as she and Charlie were about to turn away. "I think my bladder's about to burst because someone insisted we come here straight away in her eagerness to spend the evening with you."
Charlie couldn't help but be impressed. Joey had hit Martha with a double whammy – manners and guilt. She really should have been a cop, she mused, trying not to get overly excited at picturing her girlfriend in the uniform.
"It's... broken," Martha said hurriedly. "Sorry. Bye."
Without giving them a chance to respond, she slammed the door in their faces. Charlie and Joey exchanged unhappy glances.
"There is no way she isn't hiding something," Charlie concluded.
"And there's no way it isn't Hugo," Joey agreed.
Elijah had gone round to spend the evening, as planned with Leah. VJ was at a sleepover and with Charlie, Joey and Ruby no longer living at the house, the couple had the place to themselves.
"Leah, there was something I wanted to ask you," the Reverend ventured anxiously.
Joey's warnings plagued his brain but he felt far too strongly that getting married was the right thing to do. Granted, he wasn't all that experienced in romantic relationships but everything felt so right with Leah and he wanted it to last forever.
"More questions?" Leah teased. "I hope you're going to explain all of this somehow!"
She grinned to show she didn't object.
"Well, um... this question might be the answer," Elijah ventured.
"Well, I'm all ears," Leah said.
"Will you marry me?" he blurted out in a hurry.
Charlie and Joey drove away from the farm deep in thought and pondering their next move. Charlie used her hands-free kit to called Angelo and arrange to meet him at the Surf Club. Joey was les than enthused at the thought of spending so much time with a man she detested but she knew it was for the greater good. If nothing else, they had to catch Hugo and bring him to justice to stop Charlie's nightmares.
"What do we do now?" Joey wondered when Charlie had hung up.
Charlie sighed heavily, pausing at a stop sign and looking out into the road.
"I'll get on at my superiors to get some proper help with this case," she said. "We have to solve this thing once and for all. I might be concerned about Angelo's tendency to get obsessed with things but at the heart of it, he's right. We can't let this thing fall apart, not after all the damage it's done."
Back at the farm, Hugo had come out of hiding. Standing in the kitchen, he embraced the woman he loved.
"They know," she said fearfully.
Hugo stroked her hair and kissed the top of her head.
"They're probably just worried about you," he assured her. "I mean, they've visited lots over the last few months, haven't they? They've really proved that they're your friends."
Martha drew away and gazed into Hugo's eyes.
"If they didn't know when they knocked, I'm sure they do now," she said worriedly. "I totally screwed everything up."
Hugo bent his head and kissed her.
Angelo left work in a state of stress, arriving quicker than was legal at the Surf Club car park. Pushing through the door, he glared at Alf and then came to sit down with Charlie and Joey who looked like they had only just arrived.
"What happened?" he asked immediately.
"Hi, Charlie, hi, Joey," the girls said in sarcastic unison. "How are you? Have you had a nice day?"
Angelo rolled his eyes but couldn't help but feel a little amused.
"You two spend way too much time together," he told them.
Leah continued to stare at Elijah as if he was a Martian who had just landed in Summer Bay from outer space. She tried several times to speak but no words came out.
"Okay, this isn't going well," Elijah mumbled.
Joey's warning rattled in his brain again but he tried to push it away.
"Elijah," Leah said gently. "I love you. I really do. For a while there, I didn't think it was even possible to feel about someone the way I feel about you right now. You mean everything to me and I am so looking forward to spending my life with you, to being a family with you and VJ. But..."
Elijah hung his head but Leah refused to let go of his hands.
"But this is all so new," she continued. "I do hope that one day, we might get married. But... but right now, I just... I think it's too soon. Don't you think it's too soon?"
"Well, um... obviously not," Elijah said, in the same downhearted tone.
"Elijah..."
"Look, let's just forget I said anything," he said brightly. "We can just go back to the way we were."
"Are you sure?" Leah asked.
She failed to believe that their relationship wouldn't now have changed for good. How could a couple come back from one turning down the other's proposal?
"We could come with you for a little while," Joey offered a little hesitantly.
Angelo looked genuinely surprised and rather touched at her response to him staking out the farm.
"Thanks," he said. "But you guys go and enjoy your evening. I've got a book, a flask and a cushion. I'll be fine."
He smiled, said a polite goodbye and then headed out to watch the farm for as long as he could stay awake. When he was gone, Charlie looked utterly bewildered.
"Did I just walk into an alternate universe or did you and Angelo actually get along for the past thirty minutes?" she wondered.
"At the risk of hell freezing over and I beg you not to get carried away but I actually enjoyed his company," Joey admitted. "I must be coming down with something."
Charlie smirked, leaning in a little closer.
"Does that mean I have to take you straight to bed?" she asked, brushing her warm lips against Joey's neck.
Joey giggled and blushed.
"Shenanigans?" she asked hopefully.
"Shenanigans," Charlie confirmed.
Forgetting all about Hugo, Martha and Angelo, they skipped hurriedly towards the door, halting when they heard a thud behind them. Turning around, the couple saw Alf trying to help a very inebriated Jill to her feet. She appeared to have tumbled off her bar stool. Exchanging glances, Charlie and Joey silently debated if it was acceptable to go home anyway but looking at the stress on Joey's boss's face, they knew that in good conscience, they couldn't leave him to it.
"Do you need help?" Charlie asked as Alf struggled with Jill.
Joey took her other hand and the propped her back on the stool.
"I spilt my drink," Jill complained, slurring excessively. "Pour me another, would you, barman?"
"I don't think that's such a good idea," Charlie objected.
"And who the hell are you?" Jill demanded.
"I'm a police officer and it's an offence for someone to serve drinks to someone who's so drunk they can't stand up," Charlie told her.
Jill merely glared.
"I'm definitely not serving you," Alf confirmed. "And considering you've only technically had three drinks, I'm convinced you've been topping yourself up on the sly."
"How about we take you home?" Joey suggested.
"I don't want to go home!" Jill protested. "My son's there. And he's so ashamed of me!"
Charlie bit back a retort as she and Joey negotiated Jill out of the Surf Club and over towards the car. Romeo would be thrilled.
Next time… Romeo is ashamed of Jill, Angelo rattles Hugo and Martha and Charlie and Joey finally get their 'shenanigans'…!
