Chapter Four Hundred and Fifty Three
The next morning, Joey was still feeling rather overwrought the next morning and didn't particularly want to start a shift where she was working with Alf, who was mad at her.
"You'll be fine," Charlie assured her. "And if you struggle at any point, I'm only a phone call away, okay?"
Joey nodded and hugged her before climbing out of the car.
Marilyn was deeply worried about Mitzy. Her mood was so low and she seemed so uncommunicative. She didn't want her to keep her pain and her sadness to herself. She wanted her to share so that they could get through all of this together. She wanted to support her and love her and be a good, devoted friend.
"Mitzy, talk to me," she begged. "Has something happened? Something else?"
"No, of course not," Mitzy lied.
"Mitzy…"
"It's just…"
"What?"
"Sid…"
"Sid? What about Sid?" Marilyn asked, her confusion growing.
"He just… It doesn't matter," Mitzy decided.
"No," Marilyn insisted. "What has he said to you? I need to know."
Rattled by having been hauled into the police station, Penn headed over to the hospital. He may not have been charged with anything but suddenly he didn't feel quite as untouchable as he had previously felt. Alf might know that messing with him was the wrong thing to do but other people clearly weren't so smart.
He knocked and entered John Palmer's hospital room. The older man looked up, surprised to see him.
"Hi," he said.
"Hi," Penn replied. "How are you feeling?"
"Not too bad," John replied. "Thank you… for what you did."
"I saved your life," Penn said.
"I know you did," John said. "And I'm grateful. Thank you."
Penn stepped closer.
"No, you don't understand," he said. "Now you owe me. Be ready for when I call in my favour."
Things were immediately tense between Alf and Joey as soon as they were both in the same room.
"Alf…" Joey tried.
"I think we should just stay out of each other's way today," he replied, heading behind the bar to get started for the day.
"Alf, please talk to me," she begged. "I can't bear for things to not be right between us."
He turned round to face her.
"Then you shouldn't have gone behind my back and spoken to the police," he told her.
"We were trying to help you," Joey told him. "We just thought if we spoke to Charlie then she might be able to make a difference, to improve things for you."
"Well, she didn't," he snapped.
"If you'd have made a statement…"
"Miles made one and they still let him go," Alf pointed out. "And all of you just made everything worse."
"We didn't mean to," Joey said. "We were trying to make things better."
"You failed," Alf said. "He's going to be gunning for me stronger than ever now."
"I'm sorry," Joey said, suddenly tearful. "We love you, Alf. We want you to be safe and well and happy."
He was about to argue when he saw how distraught she was. Suddenly he couldn't be angry with her anymore. He sighed heavily.
"I know you were all trying to help," he relented. "But please let me handle this myself."
Joey nodded. He offered her a sad smile and pulled her into a fatherly hug.
At lunch time, Ruby met up with Nicole, having not seen her properly for quite some time.
"I'm really sorry I haven't been around, Ruby," Nicole said. "I've missed you. And I've been thinking about you."
"I've missed you too," Ruby said. "But I know you've had your own things to deal with. Like, Penn and everything."
Nicole offered a grateful smile.
"How have you been?" she asked. "Are you happy to be home?"
"Really happy," Ruby said. "I feel much better now. Much stronger."
Nicole put her arm around her.
"I'm glad," she said.
"Although, I do feel like I need a new project…"
"Ooh... Like what?" Nicole asked, immediately enthusiastic.
"I don't know yet."
Marilyn stared uncomprehendingly at Mitzy.
"I'm sorry," she said. "Did you say, he accused you of lying about my cancer to make yourself feel better about yours?"
Mitzy nodded, still feeling horrible about the whole thing.
"I…"
Flummoxed, Marilyn got to her feet.
"I'll see you later," she said, marching off.
Watson and Charlie headed out for lunch together, deciding upon the restaurant so that they could see Joey too.
"I think all we can do is carefully keep an eye on Penn," Charlie sighed. "But keep it quiet. Don't let him know that we're too suspicious."
Watson nodded.
"I just… can't figure him out," she admitted. "Like, he obviously has a serious problem with Alf but he's not exactly a raging bull, is he? He's been threatening but what has he actually done? What happened with Nicole? Why did he help John? What the hell is he planning? I have no idea."
"Nor do I," Charlie sighed.
She felt as helpless as her colleague.
"What about learning to drive," Nicole suggested.
Ruby paused, eyeing her friend curiously. It wasn't something she had considered before.
"Learning to drive?" she said.
"Yeah," Nicole said. "It's a new project, you'll learn a new skill. It's a challenge, something you can really focus on. What do you think?"
"It'll be kind of expensive," Ruby said doubtfully. "And I don't have a job or anything…"
"You could ask Charlie to teach you," Nicole said. "And that might be fun. Time that you two could spend together. I'm guessing things can't have been that easy lately."
"She and Joey have been amazing," Ruby said earnestly. "But yeah, it's been pretty hard on them. They don't admit it but I know it has."
"Well then," Nicole said. "Why don't you ask Charlie to teach you to drive?"
Marilyn was unhappy. She arrived at Sid's house and knocked on the door.
"This is a surprise," the Doctor greeted warmly.
"I'm afraid I can't see you anymore," she told him, getting right to the point.
His face fell.
"What do you mean?" he asked.
"I know what you said to Mitzy and I just cannot be with somebody who could be so unkind," she said. "I'm sorry. It's over. It felt right to tell you to your face."
She turned and left. He remained staring after her on the doorstep.
Gina reluctantly left John at home, having brought him back from the hospital at long last. Xavier had a free period so he was studying at home for the next hour and staying with his stepdad.
"Xavier?" John said, as soon as they were alone.
"Yes?" Xavier said. "Do you need something?"
The teenager approached him, ready to offer help if he needed something.
"I wanted to ask you something important," John said, tapping the seat beside him.
Sensing that it was serious, Xavier sat next to him.
"What is it, John?" he asked.
"I wanted to ask for your permission to ask your mother to marry me."
"I'm really glad things are more settled between you and Alf," Charlie said.
Joey had taken her break and come to eat with Charlie and Watson. She had, with quite some relief, told them that she and Alf had made amends and things were at last a lot better between them.
"Me too," Joey said.
She reached across the table and held her girlfriend's hand.
"Thank you for everything you did for me," she said. "I wouldn't have coped with any of this without you."
Charlie lifted her hand and kissed it. Joey smiled.
"Is there anything you can do about Penn?" she asked.
"Not yet," Charlie said. "Not formally anyway."
"But we're going to keep an informal eye on him," Watson added. "If he makes any wrong moves, we'll have him. We're on the case as best as we can be."
Upset over what had happened with Sid and still torn up over Mitzy's circumstances, Marilyn had gone round to visit her friend at her caravan.
"Marilyn, please don't break up with him because of me," Mitzy said. "You love him. Don't lose him because…"
"You're my best friend," Marilyn said.
"And I'm dying," Mitzy said, holding her hand. "Sooner rather than later, I'm going to be gone. I don't want you to be alone just because he bulldozed his way through trying to protect you. And I know he did it wrong but I do think that's what he was trying to do."
"But he was so hurtful, Mitzy," Marilyn said. "He accused you of lying about something so awful."
"I know," Mitzy sighed. "And he's wrong but… He means well, I think."
Feeling utterly miserable, Sid went to the restaurant and ordered a drink. Charlie and Watson had long since headed back to work and Joey was back behind the bar.
"Hard day?" Joey asked, serving him a whiskey, which he downed.
He ordered another.
"Marilyn ended things between us," he said gruffly. "For such a stupid reason that I don't think I even want to fix things."
"Sounds serious," Joey said, providing another drink and reminding herself it wasn't for her to judge people's alcohol intake.
"Hi, Joey," said a cheerful voice.
She looked up to see Nicole entering the restaurant.
"Hi, Nic," Joey greeted her.
"Oh, hey, Sid," Nicole said. "Wow, what's wrong?"
"Marilyn dumped me for her irritating friend, Mitzy," Sid said.
Nicole and Joey exchanged glances and raised eyebrows.
"Oh, not like that," Sid said quickly.
He looked at Joey.
"Not that there's anything wrong with that," he added quickly. "What I mean is, I said something to Mitzy that Marilyn didn't like and now she's dumped me for it. She won't let me explain or apologise or anything."
"Quick question," Joey dared.
"What?"
Nicole grinned. Joey was so great at talking people through their problems.
"Have you tried to explain or apologise?"
"Well…"
"If you love Marilyn and want to be with her, maybe you should try and do that before you head over here and get drunk and decide that it's all done for?" Joey said. "Just a suggestion."
He downed his drink.
"Maybe," he said.
Joey and Nicole continued to look at him.
"Fine," he said, getting up. "I'm going. But you could have earned a fortune out of me tonight!"
"I'm an ethical business!" Joey called out, as he walked out of venue.
That evening, Ruby waited until dinnertime to ask Charlie if she would teach her to drive.
"Charlie…?" she broached, as they tucked into pasta.
"What do you want and how much is going to cost us?" Charlie teased.
Joey chuckled.
"I was wondering if you would be willing to teach me to drive," Ruby requested hopefully.
"No," Charlie flat out refused.
Ruby was crushed. Even Joey was shocked.
"Why not?" Ruby asked, frowning.
"I just don't think it's a good idea."
"So, I'm never going to get the chance to drive?" Ruby asked, annoyed now.
"I'll help you with finding money towards lessons but I'm not teaching you," Charlie said.
"That's so not fair!" Ruby snapped. "Loads of parents teach their kids to drive! Or is it just because you're not a proper Mum?"
Charlie felt like she'd been punched in the heart.
"Ruby!" Joey snapped.
But the teenager had already stormed off to her room.
Next time… Charlie and Joey go on a date, Mitzy has a premonition for Ruby and Angelo has an interesting journey home…
