Chapter Four Hundred and Twenty Four

April was nervous as she arrived for her very first shift at the restaurant on Saturday morning. But she was excited too, and eager to earn the money that her part time job would bring in. She still felt a bit bad that she had won the position over Xavier but her boyfriend had been very gracious and understanding.

"Hello?" she called out a little meekly, walking through the door.

Joey appeared from the kitchen, her usual broad smile on her face.

"Hi, April," she greeted warmly. "Come on in."


John was secretly rather excitedly. He had bought the Mad Max car on the provision that he and Xavier would fix it up together and today was the first day of their project. He would never admit it out loud but in private, he was looking forward to spending time with the boy that he supposed was his stepson.

He thought wistfully of the boy he felt he had failed – Trey. They had never got along. Trey had been wayward and John had been a bulldozer. Trey had ended up on the run, a criminal, having nearly murdered his school friends, including Xavier. John was keen to do right by Gina's son now. Even if he was trying to be quiet about it.


Joey had set April up with a uniform, given her a tour around the restaurant and shown her how everything worked. She had then teamed her up with Angelo so that he could show her the ropes, wanting to give him some extra responsibility. She could see on his face that it had meant a lot.

Now, in charge of the bar, Joey was pleased when her girlfriend walked in with Leah, with whom she had had a lunch date.

"We decided to come here for food," Charlie explained.

"In the hope that you might be able join us?" Leah asked.

Joey considered her options for a moment and then grinned.

"I'm sure I can manage that," she said. "As long as you don't mind me ducking out now and again if we get busy. I've got April as the new girl today."

"Oh, great," Leah enthused. "How's she doing?"

"Really well, actually," Joey said, looking behind her to see if she was about. "She's taking to everything really well. No disasters at all. All the customers like her. And she's putting up with Angelo patronising her very, very patiently."

"You've set Angelo on her?" Charlie asked in mock horror. "You're so mean!"

"He needs the boost," Joey insisted. "Plus Alf isn't working today and he's kind of my next in command."

"Hmm…" Charlie said, unconvinced.

"So, lunch?" Joey asked brightly.

"Lunch," the others agreed.


Dex nearly jumped out of his skin when his father knocked and entered his room, interrupting his rehearsal of his speech to Marilyn. Today was the day that he was going to tell her once and for all exactly how he felt about her. Yes, his Dad was going to get hurt when she dumped him and ran off with his son but all was fair in love and war, as they say.

"Are you going to be home for dinner?" Sid asked.

"Um… no," Dex replied, a little flustered. "I'm going to be out all day."

"Okay," Sid said, surveying his son. "Is um… is everything alright?"

"Yes," his son said. "Everything's just fine."


"Thanks very much, April," Joey said. "You're doing great."

The newest addition to the team smiled grateful, as she bustled away from the table, where she had just served her boss, Charlie and Leah their lunch.

"She's doing really well, isn't she?" Joey asked the others.

"I'm really impressed," Charlie agreed, as they began tucking into their lunch.

"Was there much between her and Xavier when they applied?" Leah enquired.

Joey looked around to check that nobody was listening.

"I felt so sorry for him but the poor kid was a disaster," Joey admitted. "I think we'd be wearing our lunch by now if I'd hired him. But I think April is going to be a dream."

She smiled happily, watching her newest recruit serving other tables. She also looked on in amusement as Angelo tried to help her but, rather flustered, realised that he didn't actually need to.

"So, Leah," Joey said, turning to her friend. "How are things?"

Leah knew that her friend was referring to the VJ and Elijah letter situation. She sighed and began to reveal the developments.


Dex had set off to go and visit Marilyn when he bumped into Ruby and stopped to talk to her. He was still worried about his friend being lonely, although since the rally, things seemed to have got a little better for her. Indi still wasn't friendly but she wasn't quite as hateful and he had seen her talking more easily to Romeo, Xavier and April at school.

"What are you looking so purposeful about?" Ruby asked.

"I'm going to tell her that I love her," Dex announced. "Today."

Ruby looked horrified.


"Miles is the one that's been helping VJ and Elijah communicate," Leah explained. "At first I was upset but now I understand that he was genuinely trying to help. And it's not like writing to him hasn't been at the forefront of my own mind."

She sighed and sipped her drink.

"I've been writing to him myself almost every day," she admitted. "I just haven't been sending them."

All three of them looked up as Miles entered the restaurant. He was approached by April, who then approached their table, explaining that he had asked if he could join them.


Dex and Ruby sat down on the beach together, with her having halted him in his plans to speak to Marilyn, albeit temporarily.

"Dex, I speak from experience when I say this really isn't a good idea," she objected.

"Ruby, this isn't the same as your situation," he said certainly. "For starters, she isn't my teacher."

"Who is she?" Ruby asked out of the blue.

Dex opened and shut his mouth a few times, rather taken aback by the question.

"Sorry?" he managed.

"Who is she?"

"Um…"

"Well, I've been running through everyone we know in my head ever since you told me about her and the only person I can come up with is Marilyn Chambers," she laughed, "which is ridiculous because she's dating your father but…"

She trailed off when she caught the look on his face.

"Oh, Dex…" she said.


Joey invited Miles to pull up another chair and join them at their table, with Leah having included him in their discussion on Elijah.

"Have you thought about actually sending one of the letters you've written?" Charlie ventured, not sure how the suggestion would go down.

"I've thought about it but I've never gone through with it," Leah said. "I mean, I nearly did that time, remember? But then Colleen…"

"Opened her big, fat mouth," Joey grumbled.

Miles and Charlie nodded in disgruntled agreement.

"Why don't you try again?" Miles suggested. "Because forgive me for being so forward, especially in the circumstances but… something's got to give. VJ is breaking his heart over the situation, so is Elijah and so are you. I think you either need to reconnect with Elijah or… let him go."


Paulie entered the restaurant and immediately caught the attention of his brother, who reluctantly left his so-called protégé to it.

"I told you to stop coming to work, Paulo," he hissed.

Ever since his troublesome younger sibling had come out and admitted his money worries, Angelo had warned him away from the restaurant, not wanting to be hassled while he was working. And for a little while at least, he had stuck to the rules but apparently, they hadn't stuck for good.

"I need to talk to you," Paulie insisted.

"We can talk at home," Angelo insisted, walking round behind the bar, subconsciously creating a distance between them.

"We could but you don't talk to me at home and every day that you ignore me is a day closer to me getting my legs broken," Paulie replied.

Angelo sighed, leaning against the bar with his hands. He checked Joey's table to make sure she wasn't watching but fortunately, she was busy talking to Charlie, Leah and Miles. For once, he was glad that she wasn't paying attention to him.

"I just don't know what you expect me to do, Paulie," he said, dropping the irritating formalities. "I don't have any money. And I don't have any means of getting any."

"You must have some savings or something from when you were a cop," Paulie tried.

"You mean the savings that I spent on all my legal fees when I was in prison?" Angelo said. "Do you know I went to jail? You might have missed it, seeing as you never visited me or called or wrote or even acknowledged any of it."

"I wasn't allowed to, Angelo," Paulie said. "Mum and Dad… they wouldn't let any of us."

"Don't even try that with me," Angelo said.

"You know how ashamed they were…"

"Oh, I know!" Angelo said. "But I also know you're an adult and if you'd have wanted to communicate with me somehow, you could have. You only bothered when you got into financial trouble."

Paulie sighed and apologised. Then he begged for help.


Outside, Watson was glad to be out in the fresh air and not at the station. At least, she had been until she spotted Brax and Heath and a larger gang of their thugs a little way up the seafront. For River Boys, they seem to spend a hell of a lot of time in the Bay at the moment, she thought grimly to herself.

"There she is!" Brax remarked loudly, deliberately approaching her.

Watson was annoying with herself for tensing.

"What do you want, boys?" she asked. "And why are you always hanging around here? Aren't you meant to be in Mangrove River?"

"We're thinking of making this our new hangout," Heath said. "The chicks are hot. Don't you think?"

"You do, don't you, Constable?" Brax said, sneering at her. "Sorry, Senior Constable. You have a thing for my girl, Kerri, don't you?"

Watson blanched, embarrassed and annoyed.

"I beat you to it though, didn't I?" Brax continued. "That must make you a bit sick. And man, you're missing out!"

He and Heath laughed as they walked off, with each of their lads nudging into her on their way.


"You've done a really great job today, April," Joey congratulated her newest employee. "I'm really proud of you."

The teenager beamed at her boss, thanking her profusely. She'd been extremely nervous before she'd started her shift but she had to admit that it had gone well. Her only irritant was that Angelo had hovered around her, telling her things repeatedly that she had already worked out. Thankfully, partway through the day, his brother had shown up and somewhat distracted him.

"You can go home very proud of yourself," Joey told her. "Make sure that sister of yours makes a fuss of you, okay? Tell her I said so."

"And if she doesn't pay attention, tell her I said so," Charlie grinned.

April laughed and assured them she would, heading out of the restaurant, rather exhausted from a long day.

"I have to say that the service was very good," Colleen added.

She had come to have lunch with Irene, specifically to test out the new waitress. Nobody had expected anything less.

She, Charlie and Joey were then distracted by Angelo snapping at Paulie and asking him to leave. Paulie then upped and walked out behind April.

"Are you okay, Angelo?" Joey asked. "You've been weird all day. Well, ever since Paulie came in."

"Yeah," Angelo lied. "He's just… stressful."

Joey frowned, worried about him, as he headed back into the kitchen.

"It's a shame you didn't end up with that other one really," Colleen mused.

Charlie snorted with suppressed laughter. Joey was confused.

"That other one?" she asked.

"You know," Colleen said. "His brother. He's so charming and funny. And Angelo is so… serious."

They all looked up rather guiltily when they realised Angelo had walked back out into the bar.


Having ignored Ruby's sage advice, Dex had gone to visit Marilyn. Now, standing on her doorstep, he opened his mouth to tell her exactly how he felt about her. The speech he'd rehearsed to death was on the tip of his tongue as he gazed at her beauty. She stared at him, a mix of intrigue and discomfort on his face. All the words fell out of his brain. He panicked and left.


"Well, how was I to know that he was there?" Colleen grumbled. "He sneaked back like a ghost!"

"Maybe it's a lesson in not talking about people behind their backs," Joey suggested, moving to the other side of the bar to serve some customers now that things were starting to get busy again.

It still felt strange at times to feel protective of Angelo but she was. She couldn't help it. She supposed a lot of it was rooted in pity. She'd seen him lose everything since he'd returned to the Bay. Plus, at least since she'd helped him out and been nice to him, he'd stopped trying to cause trouble for her and break up her relationship with Charlie. He didn't even seem to have a crush on Charlie anymore, which made them both happy.

"Hello?" Charlie said into her phone. "Morag? Morag, slow down. What's wrong?"

Joey was immediately alerted to her partner's conversation.


"You really think this is a good idea?" Leah asked.

"I do," VJ said.

Mother and son had spent the rest of the day reading through the letters that Elijah had sent and had agreed that Leah should finally make contact with her ex-fiancé.

"Okay," Leah agreed anxiously. "I'll do it."


"We'll come over now," Charlie promised. "We'll leave as soon as we can."

She hung up the phone. Joey offered her attention immediately, as Charlie explained that Ross had had a fall and was in hospital.

"Right," Joey said decisively. "I'll leave Angelo in charge tonight and then Alf for the rest of the time. We can leave now."

Charlie nodded, a little shaken.

"I'll call Ruby," she said.

"Hey," Joey said kindly, reaching across the bar and taking her trembling hands. "He'll be okay. Everything will be okay."

Charlie nodded, gazing into her eyes and holding onto the faith she found there.


Next time... Charlie, Joey and Ruby rush to Ross's side, Angelo makes an error of judgement and things get heated between Watson and Kerri…