Chapter Three Hundred and Sixty Two
The next morning, Joey tried not to eavesdrop as Miles begged Marilyn for forgiveness over telling Colleen the truth about her illness. She felt sorry for them both. Marilyn had wanted her health problems to stay a secret and everybody should have respected that. But Miles had really only wanted to help, even if he had got it wrong. She hoped that they would be able to reach peace. Hostility never did anyone any good. That was half the reason why she had forced herself to form some kind of truce with Angelo. He was at the end of his rope already and she didn't think holding grudges was helping either of them. Even if he was an arse a lot of the time.
"You look pretty pleased with yourself, young man," Nicole remarked when she and Romeo walked to school together the following morning. "Might have something to do with Indi?"
Romeo stumbled and looked both embarrassed and surprised.
"Indi?" he said. "Why would it have anything to do with Indi?"
"Maybe because she's beautiful and has the hots for you?" Nicole suggested.
Romeo continued to look confused and promptly denied it.
"There's no point being coy…"
"I'm not!" Romeo insisted good naturedly.
Nicole stopped walking and touched his arm to stop him also.
"You seriously didn't notice the way she was looking at you last night?" she asked.
"No…" he replied dumbly.
Nicole chuckled and shook her head as they started walking again.
"You're so sweet," she said. "Anyway, if it wasn't Indi making you grin like that then what is it?"
"Mum's going to start AA," he revealed happily.
Nicole smiled happily.
"She is?"
"Yep," Romeo replied. "I really think she's going to turn things around this time. And I can't even tell you how much that means to me."
"Joey, please stand up for me," Miles begged.
He'd left Marilyn and entered the main area of the bait shop where Joey was engrossed in her laptop.
"I'll try," Joey promised. "But she's pretty upset. Didn't you think about what you were saying?"
"No," Miles sighed. "I didn't. I was so busy trying to defend Marilyn that my mouth overran and…"
He sighed dramatically.
"She's become such a good friend to me, Joey," he said. "And I can't bear the thought of losing her friendship before… before."
Joey nodded unhappily and patted his hand.
"I think you might have just helped yourself," she said, nodding behind him to where Marilyn was hovering in the doorway.
"I don't want to lose your friendship either," she softly. "You mean a lot to me too."
"I am so sorry for opening my big mouth," he told her. "It's always getting me into trouble but I swear I'll try to learn from it. And I'll never betray your confidence again."
They hugged.
Charlie and Watson met with Joey and Monica for lunch at the Diner during their break. It had been far too long since they had been particularly sociable with each other and nobody wanted to let their friendship slide if they could help it.
"Uh oh," Charlie commented, nodding towards the entrance where Lijuan and Song, Elijah's parents were breezing in and heading for Leah.
She and Elijah stopped talking and welcomed them home, although Charlie and Joey couldn't help but note that Leah looked immediately anxious.
"Maybe things will be less intense this time," Joey said hopefully.
She and Charlie exchanged glances. Both of them knew it wouldn't happen.
"You two are very much the people I want to see," Miles announced when he spotted Nicole and Penn walking along the beach together, holding hands.
The couple looked sceptical. Miles had hardly been supportive of their relationship so far.
"Why?" Nicole asked curiously.
"I need a favour," Miles admitted.
Penn looked immediately unsure. He was not in the habit of doing favours for people if he could help it.
"What is it?" Nicole wondered, much more open to the idea of helping him out.
"Could you go down to Marilyn's and get a tarot reading from her?" he asked. "The business hasn't taken off as much as she'd like so I thought it would be good to drum up some interest."
Penn opened his mouth to object but Nicole readily agreed.
"Is that okay?" she asked.
"I guess," Penn said doubtfully. "Sure."
Having decided that everyone needed to have some fun, Charlie had spent a fair bit of her afternoon organising a night out. It would only be a few drinks at the Surf Club but she was looking forward to it and had invited Watson, Monica, Angelo, Leah, Elijah, Miles, Marilyn, Alf and Irene. And Joey, of course. She believed it was what everyone needed, just to stop and have some fun for a little while. She hadn't spent all that much time with Watson and Monica recently, Angelo needed cheering up, Leah and Elijah needed an escape route with Lijuan and Song, Miles and Marilyn were both struggling, Alf was one of Joey's favourite people in the world and it had seemed wrong to ignore Irene, even though she wasn't one of their closest friends.
Penn collected Nicole from school and they headed over to see Marilyn, as promised. She was elated to have two new customers and Nicole made sure that she knew Miles had praised her work and suggested they go for the reading. Last night, she had picked up on some tension between the two of them, although she didn't know what it was about.
"Okay, well, who would like to go first?" Marilyn asked, settling down at the table opposite them.
"I will," Nicole decided.
Penn wasn't as into the idea as she was and she didn't want to put too much pressure on him.
Nudged by Romeo to make her feelings for John clearer, Gina had phoned him and asked him for a drink at the Surf Club after work. Now, sitting opposite him, she felt shy and awkward. It hadn't been the greatest year so far and she had got so wrapped up in Hugo's turmoil that her relationship had got lost somewhere along the way. But she really did want to fix things. She loved John and wanted to keep him as part of her life if she could.
"Ready to go?" Joey asked, appearing in Marilyn's doorway.
The tarot reader was just gathering up her bag and said yes but looked a little distracted.
"Are you feeling okay?" Joey asked worriedly.
She didn't like to fuss, especially as her friend was always rather cagey about her health but she couldn't keep her concern quiet.
"Yes," Marilyn assured her. "Just a little bemused."
Joey folded her arms and leant against the doorframe.
"Bemused?" she asked.
"Well, I did Penn and Nicole's cards today," Marilyn ventured. "And it really was the strangest thing."
"How so?"
"Well, Nicole's was fine," Marilyn said. "But the cards I got for Penn describe him as absolutely perfect in every way. I'm sure he's a nice man and everything but it was really weird. I even did it a second time to make sure and exactly the same cards were drawn."
"That is weird," Joey agreed.
They walked out of the shop together, pausing to lock up.
"Maybe he is perfect," Joey joked. "Nicole certainly seems to think so!"
Marilyn chuckled.
"It's just… unsettling," she said. "I can't put my finger on it but there's… there's something not right there."
An hour and a half later, Marilyn's spirits were vastly lifted as she enjoyed an evening out with her friends. She was happy to have bonded so much with her new friends, even though it had been a while since she had lived in Summer Bay. It was nice to spend time with Alf and Irene and she was thoroughly enjoying getting to know Charlie and Joey better.
For his part, Angelo was trying to be cheerful and join in with the conversation. He was grateful not to be the only singleton among their group. Miles had been single since his break up with Kirsty, Marilyn didn't have a boyfriend and Alf hadn't ventured into a romantic life for a very long time. Angelo still longed to be part of a couple though. He wondered what it would take to meet someone who would love him. His feelings for Charlie had reluctantly died but he hadn't yet found anyone to replace her in his heart. And with the reputation he had unwittingly carved for himself in the Bay, it seemed doubtful that he ever would.
"So, you have a piece of paper on top of your fridge?" Joey asked, furrowing her eyebrows.
"Yes," Leah said, amused. "It's Lijuan and Song's test for our marriage."
"Putting paper on your fridge?" Charlie clarified. "What's it meant to do?"
"It's an old tradition," Elijah explained, torn between agreeing that it was a bizarre thing to do and wanting to defend his parents' ideas. "You put the paper on a ceremonial altar, which in our case is the fridge so that it doesn't get lost or anything. And if no bad omen appears within the three days it lives there, the marriage will go ahead without a hitch."
"But won't you be looking for bad omens?" Charlie wondered, genuinely worried.
"Yes!" Leah agreed loudly. "That's what I'm panicking about."
"Leah, our relationship, our marriage, is absolutely meant to be," Elijah assured her. "I'm convinced that no matter how hard you look for bad omens, you won't find any. There won't be any to be found. I love you and you love me and we're always going to be together. Okay?"
She smiled as he held her hand. Charlie and Joey giggled, commenting that he was cute.
Across the room, Gina and John were enjoying their own evening together.
"So, we're really going to do this?" he asked hopefully.
They had decided to make a go of things properly this time and stop letting problems get in the way of their relationship. Gina had promised not to block him out of her life and her family troubles and John had promised to be more understanding of situations.
"Yes," she confirmed, leaning in to kiss him.
Undetected in the doorway, Jill seethed at seeing them together.
"Okay, it's my round," Joey declared, gathering up their glasses.
"I'll help you," Watson offered.
She picked up the rest of the empties and they headed up to the bar together.
"Joey," John said, appearing beside her to order more wine for himself and Gina. "I wanted to talk to you…"
Joey was immediately anxious. They had made peace but she always felt slightly unsettled by John. The previous year, when he had won his role on the Council, he had taken her job away from her, along with Aden and Geoff's. They'd lost their mooring for Irene's trawler and all their lives had taken different directions. Geoff had left the country to become a missionary and Aden's life had taken a down turn until he had finally left the Bay to start again in the city. As for Joey, she was happy with where life had taken her now, but the journey had been somewhat painful.
"About what?" she asked, ensuring that she kept her voice calm.
"Well, the Surf Club is having some financial…"
He was interrupted by Jill barging up to him, spilling a barrage of abuse in his confused direction. Alf immediately stepped up to calm the situation down and Joey backed away rather quickly. She had never been one for conflict.
"What's all that about?" Charlie asked when Joey returned to sit beside her.
"I have no idea," Joey said. "But I guess dumping one woman for another hasn't gone so well."
Arriving home later that night with Alf and Miles, Marilyn headed off to bed immediately. Closing the door behind her, she approached her bookshelf and selected the one she needed. Sitting down on the edge of the bed, she flipped through the pages to find the meaning of the cards she'd drawn for Penn. As she had believed, it meant that he was perfect in every way. However, right at the bottom, she realised that it could easily mean the exact opposite. Penn was either the best thing to happen to the Bay or the worst.
Next time… Marilyn seeks advice about Penn from Charlie and Joey, Jill falls out with Romeo and John finally has a conversation with Joey…
