Chapter Three Hundred and Twenty Two

"He proposed again!" Leah exclaimed the following morning when she had Charlie and Joey back at the Diner with Irene. "I mean, is it a compulsion or something?"

"Okay, wait," Joey begged. "He proposed again? Are you serious?"

"Well, okay, well he didn't actually…"

"Well, either he did or he didn't, love," Irene pointed out.

"I think he was going to and then changed his mind," Leah said, equally confused. "But when he stood up, he dropped the ring and…"

She trailed off, shaking her head.

"I was rambling about how pleased I was about how we were able to move on from the proposal and… and all the time, he'd gone out and bought a damn ring."

"Was it pretty?" Charlie asked with a smirk.

Leah finally managed to laugh. She nodded. The ring had been gorgeous.


Elijah sat on the beach with Miles, running through the latest disaster yet again.

"Why didn't I just learn the first time?" the Reverend wondered. "She'd already turned me down. What kind of fool persists like that?"

Miles didn't reply. The only thing he wanted to say was 'I told you so' and he didn't think that would be very helpful.


At lunch time, Ruby and Nicole were walking towards the Diner from school.

"What's up?" the younger girl asked.

Nicole sighed heavily.

"It's Aden's birthday today," she said. "I don't know whether to bother texting or not."

"Oh," Ruby replied, suddenly understanding why her best friend was so down. "I don't know."

Nicole sighed again, her frown becoming more and more marked.

"I'd already bought him presents," she admitted glumly. "That'll teach me to be presumptuous."

"Maybe a text would be okay," Ruby ventured. "I mean, it's not like he just walked out on you. Well, he did but he said a proper goodbye and everything. You two made peace, right?"

"Yeah," Nicole agreed, nodding and managing a smile. "A friend can text happy birthday to another friend, can't they?"

"Exactly," Ruby said, sounding suddenly far off.

Nicole craned her neck to figure out what Ruby was looking at. It struck her as no surprise when they saw Liam walking by with his guitar. She might think she was hiding it well but Ruby's crush on her teacher was more than a little obvious.


"Takeaway right at your door," Charlie announced, appearing in the bait shop to surprise her girlfriend.

Joey had sent her a message to say that there was a lunch time rush on so she couldn't close the bait shop and meet up with her as planned.

"You're the best girlfriend ever," Joey said.

"You'd better believe it," Charlie grinned.

Joey checked to see none of her browsing customers were paying attention before pulling Charlie in for a sensual kiss.

"Can I stay or do you really need to concentrate?" the police officer asked when she'd got her breath back.

"You can stay," Joey said, pulling up two chairs in the corner. "Just excuse me for keep disappearing on you."

"That's fine," Charlie assured her, offering out the sandwich she'd bought her.

"Thanks," Joey said.

"Did you speak to Aden?" Charlie asked, aware that it was their friend's birthday.

"Yep, we're all set to visit him as long as you're still up for it," Joey said.

Charlie grinned.

"I cannot wait to go!" she admitted. "I want to get the hell out of Summer Bay as soon as possible."

Joey smiled weakly and squeezed her hand.

"Is it still rough at work?" she asked.

"Yeah," Charlie sighed. "Angelo's driving me nuts. And I know full well he's still spending all his time looking for Hugo when he's not supposed to."

She shook her head.

"I really wish I'd never got involved in the case in the first place," she admitted.

"Me too," Joey said. "I could really have done without you nearly being killed at New Year."

She frowned. Charlie hugged her.

"It wasn't my favourite New Year," she admitted. "Aside from eventually getting to spend it with you."

Joey grinned and kissed her tenderly

"You seem happier today," Charlie remarked.

"I'm always happy," Joey said, smiling as if to prove it.

They were both aware that she had been out of sorts the night before but so far, she had refused to talk about it.

"Jo…" Charlie started.

"Ooh, I think a customer wants me," Joey said, leaping to her feet. "I'll be back."

Charlie sighed and watched her go. What could possibly be wrong that Joey wouldn't talk to her about? She thought they shared everything.


Putting the bins out outside the Diner, Colleen froze when she saw Alf hugging Marilyn. Muttering a few choice words under her breath, she pulled a very grumpy face and stomped back into the Diner. How Alf could fall for the charms of that woman, she didn't know.


Back at work, having not quite managed to get to the bottom of Joey's unhappiness, Charlie wasn't in the best of moods. She was anxious about Joey going through some kind of issue and not being able to discuss it with her. Was she unapproachable or something? Or was it something too awful? What if Joey wanted to break up with her and didn't know how to say so?

Shaking her head, Charlie scolded herself for being so stupid. It had only been yesterday that they'd been discussing marriage. Granted, they had established that it would be some time in the future but the fact that they were discussing it at all must be a good sign. Ordering herself to stop panicking and accept that she was now in a solid and secure relationship, Charlie headed towards her office.

She stopped, her heart sinking when she found Angelo waiting for her.

"It's rude to be in someone's office without permission," she said curtly, sitting down behind her desk.

"I need to talk to you," he said.

"I have nothing to say to you," Charlie replied, switching her computer on and willing it to boot up quickly so that she could distract herself with work and ignore him sufficiently.

"It's not personal," he persisted. "It's work."

"I'm still not interested," she replied.

"But I need help with the Hugo case…"

She looked his square in the face.

"The Hugo case is over," she said. "Forget about it."

"It's not over!" Angelo cried. "It's not over until it's all gone to trial and those monsters have been sent down for the rest of their lives. It's not over until Hugo's been caught and punished just the same."

"So go and find him," Charlie said.

"I can't do this without you," Angelo said sincerely. "Please? Please help me."

Charlie stopped fiddling with her laptop, closed the lid and looked at him again.

"I'm not part of your case anymore," she said firmly. "I don't care about Hugo or the human trafficking ring or any of the things you're so obsessed with. I don't want to spend any time with you in any capacity. If you can't handle this by yourself then you should hand it over to someone who can. But I'm not interested, okay?"

Sighing heavily, Angelo left her office.


Elijah was nervous when Leah met him down on the beach. She looked as grave as he felt as she explained how much she cared for him.

"But it's obvious that we're at different stages in our lives," she concluded. "You want to settle down and get married and you've never done that before. I've been married – and widowed – twice and I'm just not ready for that level of commitment."

She sighed and gazed out to sea.

"I love you," she said sincerely. "I hoped that we'd have a future and you'll never know how amazing you were and how you built me up after everything that happened at the start of the year. But… I think we should break up."


Having finished work, Charlie and Joey had arranged to go for a drink at the Surf Club. Rather than taking a table, they were at the bar, chatting away merrily with Alf and Marilyn, who were in a most light hearted mood. Earlier in the day, Colleen had accused them of being engaged and although they had tried to correct her, she had clearly got a bee in her bonnet about it.

"She really said that to you?" Joey said incredulously when Marilyn explained that Colleen had referred to her as a gold digger, among other things.

"Yep," Marilyn sighed. "I mean, I know I was never going to be her favourite person but still…"

She trailed off, shaking her head and chuckling.

"You guys look jovial," Ruby remarked, appearing with Nicole behind them.

They all turned to see the blonde looking rather miserable.

"You can help cheer Nic up," Ruby declared, pulling up a stool and nudging her friend into it. "I've been trying and failing all day."

"Sorry," Nicole said, trying to force a smile.

"What's wrong, Nic?" Charlie asked kindly.

"It's Aden's birthday today," she replied. "And I sent him a text but he didn't reply and I don't know if that's just because he's busy or because he didn't want to hear from me or…"

She sighed heavily and hung her head, but not before she caught Charlie and Joey exchanging anxious glances.

"Have you heard from him?" she asked urgently.

"We're going to visit him at the weekend," Joey admitted.

"Oh," Nicole sighed. "Have fun."

Ruby put her arm around her, reassuring her that everything would be fine.

"Send him my love?" she requested.

"Of course," Charlie said.

"He did ask after you," Joey added, not sure if that would help or harm the situation.

Nicole's eyes brightened.

"He did?"

Joey nodded.

"That makes me feel better," she admitted. "Is that pathetic?"

"It's nice," Ruby assured her.

They were interrupted by Colleen marching into the Surf Club, looking like she had swallowed a bee. She marched up to Marilyn angrily.

"How could you take advantage of a nice old man like Alf?" she demanded.

"Old?" Alf shrieked in horror.

Charlie snorted with laughter.

"Mrs Smart," Marilyn tried. "I am not…"

"I will put an end to this farce if it's the last thing I do!" Colleen announced.

Then she stormed back out of the bar, leaving the group to exchanged bewildered glances.

"What on earth…?" Nicole began.

"You really need to find a way to correct her," Joey said.

"Actually," Marilyn mused. "I've had a better idea…"


Next time… Joey takes Angelo's words with her when she and Charlie go to the city to visit Aden…