I am so sorry for disappearing. My update regularity is getting really lame. I thought I'd be able to maintain updating but I was exhausted through my friend's 30th birthday celebrations and then I got a surprise appointment for hospital treatment on Monday and now I can't quite feel my face… But anyway, I have less hectic few weeks (until the next lot of hospital treatment!) so I should be able to treat you all a bit better! I hope you enjoy the chapter. Love, IJKS xxx
Chapter Four Hundred and Eighteen
Charlie and Watson headed back to the police station, rather bemused. They had found Alf in the car park and informed him that all charges against him had been dropped and that he would have no more trouble regarding the assault against Penn. He hadn't really responded, just nodded and got into his car.
"Something just isn't right about this situation," Charlie sighed, driving along the coast road, back to Yabbie Creek.
"It's unsettling," Watson agreed, not quite able to put her finger on what was wrong.
"He was lying but he wasn't," Charlie mused. "I mean, I know Alf didn't assault him but at the same time, the reprieve was entirely insincere."
Watson nodded.
"I felt like he just wanted to…"
"Torture Alf," Watson said.
"And then save him at the last minute," Charlie added.
"Have power over him."
Charlie pulled into her parking space at the police station and turned to her friend.
"But why?"
Alf arrived at the restaurant looking for Joey. He hadn't consciously made the decision and he knew that the chances were, everything he said would go right back to Charlie but he needed to talk to someone and the more he thought about it, the more he realised that Joey Collins was his best friend.
"Alf!" the young woman said happily.
Angelo rolled his eyes as his boss stopped laying tables and hurled herself into Alf's arms, hugging him. All the magic of yesterday was gone. Alf hugged her back.
"They dropped the charges," Alf said.
"Really?" Joey said.
"Penn woke up and said it wasn't me after all," Alf explained. "Charlie and Watson found me to tell me I'm in the clear."
Joey hugged him again.
"I'm so happy for you," she said.
"Thank you," he said.
Then he looked anxious.
"Joey, can we talk?" he asked.
"Of course," she replied.
Angelo scowled as she led Alf into her office.
"Right, I'm sick of this," Dex declared loudly.
He took Ruby by the hand and dragged her across the school corridor towards Indi and Romeo.
"Dex…" Ruby objected anxiously, even though she was desperate to be friends again.
"Please, make friends," Dex begged of his sister.
"No," the blonde rejected.
"Indi, she made a mistake for which she is truly sorry," Dex implored her. "Can you just forgive and forget?"
"She lost me my job, Dex," Indi snapped.
She turned to look directly at Ruby, glaring.
"You lost me my job," she said. "I got fined. I'll struggle to get a job like that again and I loved it there. I loved working for your parents."
Ruby nodded and chewed her lip.
"You lied to me…"
"I didn't lie," Ruby insisted. "The wine was for…"
"You still can't tell the fucking truth!" Indi yelled.
People turned to look.
"Indi…" Romeo objected softly.
Indi glared at her boyfriend, who tried not to flinch.
"It's not up to us to say who the wine was for," the surfer insisted. "Yes, she did the wrong thing but Dex is right. I'm not saying you should have sleepovers and braid each other's hair or whatever girls do but maybe don't ignore each other anymore."
"I'll ignore whoever the hell I like," Indi insisted.
She turned back to Ruby.
"And I will never be friends with you again. You nearly ruined my whole life."
Ruby looked deflated as she stormed off, flanked by her boyfriend. Dex looked terribly apologetic.
"I did have a confrontation with Penn," Alf admitted.
It was the first time he had spoken about any of it with anyone and he was finding it difficult but he knew he had to get it out of his system.
"But I didn't hurt him," he said.
Joey nodded kindly, staying quiet and letting him talk.
"I could have," Alf confessed. "I was angry enough that I could have. But I didn't. I walked away and I took my aggression out on some equipment at the bait shop. That's how I busted my hands up. I never hurt him."
Joey reached out and held his damaged hands carefully, an offer of friendship.
"I wanted to though, which is maybe as bad," Alf sighed.
"What did he say to you?" Joey wondered.
"He was bragging about Nicole and what he'd done to her with the needle," Alf explained. "He was telling me that this was just the start, that he was going to ruin Summer Bay from the inside out."
Joey sighed and wondered aloud what his problem was. Alf just shrugged. He was about to speak again when there was a knock on the door. Angelo appeared.
"Angelo, we're busy," Joey said, annoyed that he hadn't even waited for her to tell him to come in.
"I've just been told that a food critic is coming to town," Angelo informed her.
Joey looked startled, immediately anxious to impress.
"You get to work, love," Alf said, standing up.
"Alf, it's okay…"
"No, I really appreciate you listening," he said. "And I'll be back to work tomorrow, if that's okay."
"That's great," Joey said. "Thank you. I'll call the Diner and let Leah know about the food critic."
"Why?" Angelo asked.
"What do you mean, why?" Joey said, perplexed.
"Don't you want to do better than them?"
"No," Joey replied. "I want us all to do well."
Indi was trying to shed her bad mood, as she and Romeo headed to the Diner for lunch. It didn't help that she didn't feel 100% supported by her boyfriend.
"I do support you, Indi," the blonde boy insisted. "I support you and love you."
"But?" Indi demanded.
"But she must be really lonely, don't you think?" Romeo empathised. "She was in such a mess and she lost everything. I mean, come on, she's relying on Dex as her only friend! That's just sad!"
They both laughed.
"I don't know…" Indi sighed, managing to see his point just a little bit. "Let me just think about it, okay? She really hurt me."
Romeo put his arm around her and kissed the top of her head.
"I know she did," he said. "I know."
They walked into the Diner to immediately find Colleen flapping about and getting into a muddle serving a customer. She accidentally tipped water over a good looking, dark haired man in his mid-twenties and then looked like she might have a nervous breakdown.
"Uh oh," Indi remarked.
"Colleen!" Irene protested.
"Problems?" Indi asked Leah, who looked about to intervene but hung back as Irene successfully dealt with the situation and sent the still flustered Colleen back into the kitchen and told her to stay there.
"We think this guy is a food critic and Colleen is completely screwing everything up," Leah complained grimly. "Plus, we're a staff member down and quite frankly, everything is just going wrong."
Indi's eyes lit up.
"Hey, I know I won't have the best reference in the world but if you're looking for a new employee…" she said.
"You want a job?" Leah asked.
"Yes, please."
"I'll give you a trial after school today."
Indi had to forcibly stop herself from giving Leah a hug.
After work, Charlie picked Ruby up from school in order to take her for an early dinner at the restaurant and to spend some time with Joey.
"Hey, are you okay, sweetheart?" Charlie asked, as they drove towards Bucktons'.
"Yeah, I guess," the teenager replied glumly, gazing out of the window.
"What's up?"
Ruby sighed heavily and turned to look at her mother.
"Just a bit of a crappy day," she admitted. "Dex had really good intentions and tried to get Indi to be my friend again but it didn't work. She just rejected me and left. And then after lunch, she was all cheerful and excited because Leah's given her a job at the Diner and I just… I feel like everything's all slotting into place for her and she has everything and I have nothing."
"Rubes, you have a tonne of great things in your life," Charlie tried.
"I have you and Joey," Ruby said. "That's it."
"You have us, a nice home, your health, you're funny, you're clever, you're beautiful…"
"And aside from you two, my health and a nice home, none of it really means anything, Charlie," Ruby complained. "Indi has a job, a boyfriend, a family, all the stuff you just said... She's going places. I had so much stuff only a few weeks ago and I ruined it."
She hung her head and sighed heavily. Charlie was worried.
Angelo had barely hung up the phone from Colleen when the alleged food critic breezed through the doors of the restaurant.
"Is that him?" Joey asked.
Angelo remained frozen for a moment, his jaw locked and his eyes blazing.
"No," he said grimly. "That's my brother."
Joey's eyes widened in surprise as the man strolled up to the bar, a big smile on his handsome face. Looking at him now, Joey could see the resemblance, although the younger brother was definitely more attractive – not that she was into that kind of thing.
"Angelo!" Paulo Rosetta greeted warmly. "Good to see you."
"I wish I could say the same," Angelo replied stiffly.
"I'm offended," Paulie replied. "I was hoping maybe you just kept rejecting my calls by accident."
He looked at Joey.
"Aren't you going to introduce me to this beautiful, young lady?"
Joey rolled her eyes but was amused. Angelo was not.
"Paulo, this is my boss, Joey Collins," he said. "Joey, this is my brother, Paulo."
Paulie shook her Joey's hand.
"It's a pleasure to meet you," he said cheerfully. "I prefer to go by the name, Paulie. Angelo likes to use my full name because he thinks it annoys me. It doesn't really but I let him have it. Got to throw the old man a bone sometimes, you know."
Joey laughed. Angelo was annoyed.
"Hi," Charlie greeted, entering the restaurant with Ruby.
All three of them turned towards her.
"Wow," Paulie remarked. "Please tell me you're single."
Charlie was conflicted between compliment and offence.
"She's attached, Paulie," Joey warned. "To me."
Paulie looked shocked. And then rather thrilled.
"Hot," he remarked.
Angelo looked like he wanted to punch him.
"Anyway…" Charlie chuckled. "Do we know you or are you just here randomly remarking on women?"
"This is my brother, Paulo," Angelo explained. "Unfortunately."
"Paulie," the younger Rosetta added.
"Oh, you're the brother," Charlie said.
Paulie's eyes lit up.
"Oh, Angelo's mentioned me then?" he asked.
"Only in complaint," Angelo put in.
"Yeah, sorry," Joey grinned, patting him on the shoulder. "We like you anyway though."
Angelo scowled at her, as she moved across to hug her girlfriend hello.
Kerri was nervous as she waited for Brax to collect her for their date. Danny was off on a sleepover at VJ's house, thanks to Leah, giving Kerri the freedom to go out. Yesterday, she'd had a lovely time with the River Boy, who had patiently taught her to 'surf'. It had consisted of him carrying her into the water, where she felt comfortable and not disabled. She had been able to get onto the surfboard with help and paddle with her arms along the waves. They'd had a lot of fun together and when he'd asked her for dinner, she had accepted without hesitation.
Charlie, Joey and Ruby sat round a table at the restaurant, enjoying time together as a family.
"Joey, you really don't need to keep apologising," Charlie insisted.
"But I feel horrible about how I was with you," Joey said unhappily.
Charlie reached out and held her girlfriend's hand.
"You were upset and trying to protect your friend," she said. "I understand that."
"But I should have understood you and your job," Joey said. "I feel ashamed."
Charlie leant over and kissed her.
"You should have," she said honestly. "But you didn't. It's done now. You're sorry. You can't go back and change it. But you can learn from it and if anything like that happens in the future then we can deal with it differently. So let's just forget about what happened and move on."
Joey smiled and kissed her again.
"I love you," she said.
"I love you too," Charlie replied.
"And I love you both as well," Ruby put in. "But can we stop the mush and eat, please?"
She grinned, making her parents laugh.
"Anyway," Charlie said more seriously. "I think we all need to talk."
Ruby looked anxious.
"Why?" she asked quietly.
"You expressed a lot of unhappiness in the car," her mother said. "We need to find a way to fix it before it goes too far."
Ruby nodded.
"How do we do that?" she wondered.
Sid had taken Marilyn out to dinner at Bucktons', which was a nice treat for the cheerful blonde. All in all, she felt it had been a good day. The charges against Alf had been dropped and Penn had stated that he hadn't been involved in the attack after all so hopefully that awful business was over now.
"So now, we just need to sort out this whole Dex situation and all will be well again," she said.
Sid frowned into his starter.
"I still don't understand this whole thing," he admitted. "I mean, are you absolutely sure he has a crush on you?"
"Do you want to read the letter?" she asked.
"No," he said quickly, shaking his head.
He sipped his wine quickly.
"But didn't he say it was a project for school?"
"Sid… you need to talk to him," Marilyn begged. "I'm starting to feel really uncomfortable now."
Sid sighed. Things had never been easy with either of his children and that had mostly been his fault. He had cheated on his wife, their mother, too many times and his family had got very hurt. Moving to the Bay the second time around was supposed to be a whole new start and now it felt complicated all over again.
"I will," he promised. "I don't want you to be uncomfortable, Marilyn. I want you to be happy."
"What would help you feel happier, Ruby?" Joey asked kindly.
"Having a life?" the teenager suggested.
Joey sighed and squeezed her hand affectionately.
"Take me through it step by step," Joey suggested.
Ruby finished a forkful of food.
"I'd like to have more to my life than just school and home," she said. "I feel like all I do I school work and then hang out with you guys. I don't really have a social life anymore. I really enjoy spending time with Nicole but she'd obviously really busy with her exams at the moment because it's her final year and then she's going to go off to Uni and leave me behind."
"She's going to stay living in the Bay though, isn't she?" Charlie asked gently.
"Yeah but she's going to have new friends and stuff," Ruby said. "Plus, I heard on the grapevine that she's going to the same University as Indi so I bet they're going to get to be really close friends and I'll probably lose her."
She frowned glumly.
"And that only really leaves Dex," she said. "He's great though. I mean, it's a new friendship but he's a nice guy. I like him. He's odd but he's funny and he's quite insightful. And it's sweet that he cares so much about trying to get my friendship group back together and stuff."
"I think he's a friend to hold onto," Charlie enthused.
Ruby nodded.
"I think so," she agreed.
"And maybe through him, others will come," Joey suggested. "And Indi will thaw. Plus Romeo. I think he'll be easier to crack anyway. I don't think he ever fell out with you in the first place."
"I hope you're right," Ruby said.
They looked up when Kerri and Brax arrived at the restaurant.
"What are they doing here?" Joey asked in horror.
"Eating, maybe?" Ruby suggested.
"But together?" Joey asked. "Why are they together? She's meant to be with Watson."
"She's cheating on Watson?" Ruby asked, upset.
"Only in Joey's head," Charlie pointed out.
"Okay, I'm confused again," the teenager admitted.
"We've been desperate for Kerri and Watson to get it together," Charlie explained, as they watched one of Joey's waitresses take Brax and Kerri to a table. "But it looks like Watson never got round to stepping up and Brax got there first."
Joey sighed, looking devastated.
"You look more crushed that Watson's going to be," Charlie pointed out,
"I don't think so," Joey said. "She more into Kerri than she wants to admit. But I'm devastated too. I really thought they'd make a good match."
She looked over at the new couple, evidently having a lovely time already.
"What on earth does she see in him?"
"Apologies to the lesbians and I know he has a rep but… I can see it," Ruby remarked.
Her parents looked horrified.
At the bar, Paulie surveyed his surroundings.
"So, what's your position here, Angelo?" he asked.
"I work here," his brother replied stiffly.
"No, I mean, are you Manager or what?" Paulie asked. "And what is it like working for that hot chick?"
He turned and looked at Joey, enjoying dinner with her family. Angelo was grateful that he didn't notice the way his face changed when he mentioned Joey.
"No, I'm just a waiter and a barman," Angelo said. "But I'm working my way up. Thanks to someone, I had to start from the bottom when it came to the restaurant world."
Paulie turned back to him, looking guilty. He finished his beer and ordered another.
"So, what's your setup in this town?" he asked. "Where you live? Who do you live with? Got a girlfriend?"
"I live just on the edge of town on my own," Angelo said. "No girlfriend."
His last two words were quiet. They frustrated him. After he'd had to reschedule his date with the journalist that time, she hadn't called him back. And the only woman he was really into was a lesbian.
"Mind if I crash at yours while I stay here?" Paulie asked.
"Would it matter if I did?" Angelo asked.
His brother grinned at him.
"I knew you wouldn't mind," he said. "We'll have a great time while I'm here. And you know, I've actually got two restaurants now. If you ever wanted to come and work for me, you wouldn't have to work from the bottom. You'd jump right into management."
Angelo was ever so briefly was tempted but refused to say so.
Next time… Watson is devastated to learn that Kerri is dating Brax, Paulie makes his presence felt and the real food critic arrives…
