Chapter Four Hundred and Sixty Six

It was a beautiful day and Sid had a plan that he hoped would help to at least start to lift Marilyn out of the grief she was engulfed in over the loss of her friend, Mitzy. He felt a sense of responsibility now more than ever, after everything that had happened and he wanted to stick by Marilyn, the woman he thought he was in love with, and do the right thing by her. He had promised Mitzy that he would take care of her and support her and he wanted to keep that promise. So today, they were off, way out of town to a forest one of his patients had told him about a couple of days ago. Apparently it was tranquil and beautiful and he hoped, the perfect place for Marilyn to start finding some kind of peace.


"Right, let's do this," Charlie said.

She had driven Ruby down to the coast road, where it was a little quieter so that they could have their first driving lesson. She thought she was probably more nervous that Ruby was and she was the one that could already drive!

"Ready?" she asked.

"Yep!" Ruby said brightly.

They climbed out of the car and swapped sides.


Indi tried not to act as subdued as she felt when she went round to see Romeo. She had lain awake all night, taunted by Annie's letter. Why was she writing to him now? He had moved on. Hadn't she? She felt guilty for taking the letter. It wasn't hers to take. But equally, she didn't want her boyfriend to be pulled back towards his ex when things were going so well for them.

"Hi, Indi, love," Alf said.

He looked like he was on his way to work.

"Hey, listen, I think there's been some kind of miscommunication somehow," he said conspiratorially. "Romeo said you didn't pass on his mail yesterday and…"

"I um…" Indi faltered.

"You what?" Romeo challenged, appearing in the doorway from upstairs.

He looked furious.


"Okay, Charlie, I can't do this," Ruby announced, pulling the car to a stop.

"What?" Charlie asked. "You're doing great. Much better than I was expecting."

She smiled broadly, trying to be encouraging.

"Not me! I'm doing perfectly fine. I'm talking about you."

Charlie's smile fell off her face.

"What's wrong with me?"

"You're so calm and chilled out that you're practically a robot," Ruby accused.

"What's that meant to mean?"

"You keep trying to handle me with kid gloves, Charlie," Ruby said. "I need you to tell me properly when I've done something wrong, not put a plaster on it. I want you to be Grumpy Charlie."

The police officer was properly frowning now.

"Do you think I'm grumpy?" she asked.

"Well, no," Ruby conceded. "Not as much as you used to be. Joey has chilled you out a lot. But still, teaching me to drive is supposed to be a little bit stressful."

"You want it to be stressful?" Charlie balked.

"No, not exactly," her daughter said. "But I don't want you to be so scared of damaging our relationship that you won't react negatively to anything I do or to relax and chat with me. I want you to teach me, Charlie. Not just sit there passively and hope for the best. Put a smile on your face even if it's the worst."

They made eye contact.

"Do you know what I mean?" Ruby asked.

"I think so…" Charlie ventured. "You want me to yell at you?"

"No!" Ruby giggled. "But if I need it, I don't want you to be too scared not to."

She reached over and took her mother's hand.

"Me and you are not you and Dad," she said. "If we fall out, we get back together within hours, minutes even. After everything we've been through together, nothing on earth could ever tear us apart. I know you and Dad didn't have that relationship."

Charlie nodded.

"But we do," Ruby said. "So don't be afraid of upsetting me when you need to tell me something straight. Okay?"

Charlie thought about Claire's concerns regarding the prediction.

"Okay," she promised. "Now, this is what you did wrong on that last try…"

They grinned at each other.


"Oh, Sid, this place is beautiful," Marilyn gushed, as they walked through the forest together. "I don't think I've ever been somewhere as perfect as this. Where did you even hear about this?"

"A patient mentioned it a couple of days ago," Sid told her, walking beside her and holding her hand. "I thought it would be a good place to take you so that you might be able to sit and think and try to make some kind of peace about Mitzy. If you think you can?"

She turned and smiled sadly at him.

"Yes," she said. "Thank you. Yes."


Indi stood, frozen for a moment, staring at her boyfriend while the letter felt like it was burning up inside her pocket. She could almost feel the heat of the guilt inside her.

"I um… I… I'm so sorry, I uh… I…"

"I think I'll leave you two to it," Alf said awkwardly, dashing out of the house.

He practically fled the building.

"Well?" Romeo demanded.

"I lost it!"

The lie escaped her lips before she could stop it. It hung there between them, getting bigger and bigger and Indi had no idea had no idea what to do.

"You lost it?" Romeo asked sceptically.

"Y-yes," Indi said.

She was shaking.

"I'm so sorry," she said. "I lost it and I didn't know how to tell you so I didn't say anything."

His eyes continued to burn. It upset her to see how upset he was not to have received a letter from a girl he had once loved. It made her fear that he still loved her.

"I'm sorry," she said again.

"Well, there's nothing we can do about it now, I guess," he said.

Then he walked out, leaving her all alone.


"Well, all in all, I think that went pretty well," Charlie admitted, walking into the Diner after the lesson.

"So do I," Ruby said.

They had taken it in baby steps and only driven up and down and turned the car around. And Charlie had ensured that they hadn't encountered much traffic. But it was certainly a start. And once Charlie had relaxed, they had actually enjoyed some fun banter and had a laugh together.

"So," the teenager ventured, pulling up a chair opposite her mother. "Do I get another lesson?"

"I'll certainly consider it," Charlie agreed.

"I'll take that as a yes," Ruby said confidently.


Sid stood back, giving his girlfriend some privacy while she sat among the beautiful greenery and fresh flowers growing in the forest around them. He wasn't much for meditating himself but he knew it meant a lot to her and that this kind of thing had got her through a lot in her life. And he wanted to support her every step of the way. In the back of his mind, his last conversation with Mitzy was bothering him but he tried to keep it there, in the back. Right now, he wanted to focus on his future – with Marilyn.


Joey bent over, resting her hands on her thighs, trying to catch her breath. She had gone for a very long run, something that she didn't do quite enough these days, between work and running the house and spending time with her family. But with Charlie off on a driving lesson with Ruby, she had been under strict instructions not to go and busy herself with work or chores but to do something she wanted to do. So she'd opted for exercise. She and Charlie had always enjoyed racing each other across the beach and she made a mental note to suggest they got back to doing that more often. Especially as right now she felt like she might need a defibrillator. She hadn't realised how unfit she had become!

"Hey!" she greeted, still a little breathless, when she spotted Romeo walking by.

"Hey," he said, not his usual cheery self.

Forcing herself to catch her breath properly, Joey headed over to her friend.

"Is everything okay?" she asked.

He shrugged.

"Come on," she said. "Tell Auntie Joey all about it."

He sighed heavily and sank down onto the sand, looking out to sea.

"It's Indi," he said. "And Annie."

Joey took a sharp intake of breath, which made her cough.

"Annie?" she asked. "What's Annie got to do with anything?"

She had thought his ex was long gone by now, that he had moved on with Indi.

"She wrote me a letter," Romeo explained. "And I have no idea what it says because Indi decided to steal it and hide it from me."

"Oh," Joey said, the puzzle pieces all falling into place.


"Are you feeling better?" Sid asked, taking Marilyn's hand as they walked back through the forest together.

"Actually, I am," Marilyn revealed. "Thank you."

He smiled kindly at her.

"I'm pleased," he said. "Really pleased."

"I was able to confront how I felt about Mitzy and the prediction and everything and understand why she did what she did," Marilyn told him. "She was just scared. Scared of dying and scared of being alone. And I can forgive her. I can understand and I can forgive. And that means I can let go of the hurt and just grieve for her now, remember who she really was and what she meant to me, the joy she brought to my life and forget any pain."

Sid stopped and leant in to kiss her gently on the lips. It was exactly what he had hoped the day would bring.


"I just don't know what to say to her now," Romeo said. "What to believe or what to think."

Joey nodded, listening to her friend pour her heart out.

"She's claiming that she took it to give to me and that she lost it and so she lied but I mean, how convenient is that?" he said. "That of all the mail I could ever receive, it was a letter from Annie that she lost?"

"Well, could you take it at face value and believe that it was a coincidence?" Joey suggested.

Romeo shook his head.

"I just don't believe her," he stated.

"And if she did take it and hide it," Joey said. "Can you understand why?"

"No," he said.

"Well, how would you feel if an ex of hers wrote to her out of the blue?" Joey asked. "For the record, I'm not saying she did the right thing, I'm just asking the questions."

"I'd hate it," he admitted. "But I wouldn't steal and lie."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm sure."

She was inclined to believe him. He was one of the most honest people she had ever met.

"I'm not saying I might not be a dick about it," he confessed. "I probably would be but I wouldn't steal or lie. I wouldn't take away her right to read whatever he wrote. Annie could be writing to say anything to me. What if she's in trouble somehow and needs help? I might never know. What if I'd decided not to read it anyway? She took away my choices."

"Then you need to go and talk to her properly," Joey told him. "Get the answers you need and tell her honestly how you feel."

He nodded and stood up determinedly.

"But Romeo?" Joey said.

He looked back at her.

"Be kind."


Sid arrived home feeling happy. Marilyn was feeling a lot better and as such, the pair of them felt closer and more committed to each other than they had ever felt before. He was surprised at just how much Marilyn had come to mean to him. She was certainly not the type of person he would have normally been attracted to. They were complete opposites and in their short relationship so far, that had provided them with several challenges. But he loved her and he wanted to be with her and make her happy.

His mood changed when he walked through the door, however, and found his daughter sat on the sofa looking utterly miserable.

"What's wrong, darling?" he asked.

"I think Romeo and I might be over," Indi said, bursting into tears.

He rushed to her side, ready to listen and if he could, advise.


Joey had returned home, showered and was back to packing up their boxes by the time Charlie and Ruby arrived back from their lesson. She was pleased to find Ruby in particular was brimming over with excitement over how well things had gone.

"So, you think you'll do another one?"

"Yes!"

"Maybe."

They answered at the same time.

"Listen, Ruby…" Charlie ventured.

The teenager froze.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

Joey was confused, having had no forewarning.

"Okay…"

They three of them sat at the dining table together.

"You know during the lesson, you said you didn't want us to tread on egg shells around you?" Charlie said. "That you wanted honesty at all times and no kid gloves?"

"Yes," Ruby said, nodding.

"We need to talk to you about this prediction," Charlie said.

Joey tensed a little, as everything fell into place in her head.

"Charlie…" Ruby protested.

"No, you need to listen to me," her mother insisted.

Ruby sighed unhappily.

"Mitzy lied to you," Charlie said, glancing at Joey, who nodded. "She admitted it. And none of us have known what to do about it or whether to tell you. But we've been very worried and Claire in particular has been very concerned about you."

Ruby was starting to feel awful. She felt embarrassed about going on about the prediction. But also awful about the way she had been with Claire. And more than anything, devastated that the little bit of hope Mitzy had given her was all a big, fat lie.

"Okay," she said.

"Are you okay?" Joey asked.

"I'm fine," Ruby lied. "I mean, deep down I probably knew it wasn't real. I just… wanted to pretend."

Charlie reached out and held her hand.

"I'm sorry," she said. "We just didn't want you to cling onto something that wasn't real. That's how hearts get broken."

Ruby nodded.

"I know," she said.

She sighed heavily and then looked up.

"Can I go?" she asked. "I want to see Claire."

Charlie and Joey exchanged looks.

"Sure," Charlie said, letting her go.

"Thanks," Ruby said and dashed out of the apartment.

Charlie sighed heavily and looked at Joey uncertainly.

"You did the right thing," Joey reassured her. "And you did it really well."

"Are you sure?"

Joey leaned across and kissed her.

"I'm very sure," she said.


Indi sat in her bedroom and folded up Annie's letter, putting it back into the envelope and resealing it. Her father had been very comforting and she had been so glad he was there, even if she had ignored his advice completely. He'd told her to go and see Romeo, apologise, tell the truth and hand the letter over. Instead, she had read the letter and now she was going to lie about it and try to make things up with her boyfriend any way she could.


"Ruby!" Claire said, surprised, when she opened the door to her friend.

Things hadn't been brilliant between them over the last few days.

"I'm sorry," Ruby said, on the verge of tears. "Charlie told me the truth about the prediction and I'm sorry I was horrible to you."

Claire saw tears form in the corners of her friend's eyes. She bundled her into her arms.


Indi went round to see Romeo, the letter in her hand.

"I took the letter and I was scared of you reading it in case Annie was writing to tell you she loved you still and wanted to get back with you," she said honestly, standing on the doorstep. "I had all these images in my head of you deciding you wanted her and not me and I wanted to stop that from having any chance of happening."

He stood, staring at her, looking unfriendly.

"But here it is," she said, handing it over to him. "It's yours. I did the wrong thing and I'm sorry. I wish I could go back and do it again differently."

He looked unmoved.

"Would you please say something?" Indi begged.

"Did you read it?"

"No."

He was sure she was lying.


Next time… It's moving day for Charlie, Joey and Ruby, Joey sets her family a challenge and Dex tries again with Adrian…