Good afternoon, everyone. I hope you enjoy this chapter. Love, IJKS xxx
Chapter Four Hundred and Eighty
Charlie and Joey awoke with the morning sun. It was early but they were happy. They had had a wonderful night, reminiscent of their early relationship, naughty happy nights on this very boat, without a care in the world; completely wrapped up in each other.
Bianca opened the door to Vittorio early the next morning. He got right to the point.
"Are your doubts about us to do with me and what happened or to do with Liam?" he asked.
She was momentarily stunned and couldn't speak. He was impatient.
"Well?" he asked.
"Liam and I are over," she said.
"That's not what I asked," he said. "Do you still have feelings for him?"
"No!" she insisted.
"Well then why can't you just let all this go? Why can't you just love me?"
She didn't know what to say.
"Well, I just don't know what more I can do to save us," he said sadly. "I've tried and tried. I love you and I've done all I can to prove it. So I give up. I'm sorry but I can't do this anymore. So I'm going back to Italy tonight."
He sighed heavily.
"I wish this could have worked out."
He turned and left. She watched sadly as he walked down the path to his car. He didn't look back.
Charlie and Joey packed themselves up and headed back home to get ready for the day. Charlie had a rare day off, which was nice but Joey still had to go to the restaurant. Charlie thought she might go to the restaurant too. She'd said she might even help out if Joey was lucky. Technically, it was her restaurant too, after all. Sometimes, it might be nice if she put the odd hour or two in when she could.
They arrived home just as Ruby was flying out the door.
"We thought you were at Claire's," Charlie said, a little confused.
"I was," Ruby said.
She looked rather dressed up, with a bit more make up than she normally wore.
"We had a really great evening, actually."
"Then why are you here so early?" Joey asked.
"I have a driving lesson," Ruby said. "Before school."
Charlie and Joey exchanged looks.
"A driving lesson?" Charlie asked. "You look like you're about to go to a ball."
"Aww, thanks," Ruby said.
"It wasn't a compliment."
Ruby frowned and looked down at her rather short dress.
"Is it too much?"
"Yeah," Charlie said. "Go and change."
Ruby looked annoyed.
They were interrupted by a knock on the door. Ruby's face lit up.
"Too late!" she said, skipping towards the door. "Alex is here."
Charlie and Joey were not impressed. Charlie followed Ruby to the door.
"Hi, Alex," Ruby said.
Charlie surveyed the young man. Moderately attractive. A somewhat arrogant expression on his face.
"Hey, Ruby," he said, looking her up and down. "Listen, I'm really sorry but I'm going to have to cancel our lesson this morning."
Ruby looked utterly crushed.
Charlie and Joey were torn between feeling bad for her but pleased that she was not about to walk out of the house in such a short dress. Where had she even got it in the first place?
"I'm really sorry," Alex said.
He hadn't torn his gaze away from her outfit. Charlie didn't like him.
"I'll call you to reschedule."
"Okay, no worries. I'll see you soon," Ruby said, her voice full of disappointment.
"See you soon," Alex said, disappearing back to his car.
Ruby closed the door, deeply unhappy. Charlie put her arm around her.
"Don't tell me you're not pleased," Ruby grumbled.
"I'm not pleased you've missed a lesson," Charlie said. "But I do think you need to rethink your outfits. You can't learn to drive in that. And you shouldn't be using your lessons to hit on your instructor, okay?"
"But I really like him," Ruby said.
"And if something happens, it happens," Charlie said. "But not like that."
Ruby nodded, still unhappy. She went to her room to get changed.
"What are we going to do?" Charlie asked Joey.
"I don't know," Joey said. "But that is not encouraging."
Bianca hurried to Vittorio's hotel. She hammered her fist on his door, her heart hammering equally loudly in her chest. He opened up, seeming surprised to see her.
"Please don't go," she begged.
"Bianca…" he said.
"Please!" she said. "I don't want you to go. I want to make this work."
"But it's not working," he said. "Every time I have a conversation with a woman, you accuse me of cheating. I know I did a bad thing. I know that. But I'm sorry and I'm trying to make it up to you. I can't deal with you punishing me for it constantly. And I can't deal with knowing that Liam is still in your head."
"He's not," she said, wanting to believe it. "Please. Let's just draw a line under everything right here, right now. No Liam. No other women. Just me and you. Now and forever."
He cupped her face and kissed her lips.
"I wish we could," he said. "But I don't think you're ever going to let go of the past. Yours or mine."
He nodded to the staff to pick up his bags and they walked out of the hotel. Bianca followed in tears as he exited the hotel in a car. She stayed out of sight as a small gaggle of press photographers followed the car, each asking questions about where he was going and why Bianca wasn't with him. She went to the toilets and cried. How had she got into this situation? Once upon a time, she had two guys who wanted her. Now she had none.
Ruby sat in class with Dex, April and Xavier. Miles was teaching English at the front of the class but Ruby wasn't paying any attention. She just couldn't concentrate. All she could think about was Alex. When would he call? Why had he had to cancel? What was he doing? Who was he doing it with?
"Ruby?"
She barely heard.
"Ruby?"
The voice was louder this time.
"Ruby?"
Suddenly, Miles was in front of her and he didn't look very happy.
"Sorry?"
"Have you listened to a word I've said?"
"Um… no," she admitted.
There was a titter amongst the class.
"Thank you very much," Miles said unhappily. "That makes me feel like my job is so worthwhile."
"I'm sorry," Ruby said.
"What's distracting you so much?"
"Nothing," Ruby said. "I've just got a lot going on."
There was no way she was going to admit to a crush.
"Well, how about you spend your lunch time trying to focus? You can have a lovely detention."
"That's not fair!" Ruby protested.
"It's perfectly fair," Miles said firmly.
Ruby sighed, opting not to argue.
At the restaurant, Charlie approached Claire, who was on her break.
"Did you and Ruby have a nice evening?" she asked.
Claire nodded, as she tucked into a tasty looking sandwich.
"What did you get up to?"
Claire cocked her head to one side, wondering what this careful interrogation was about.
"Okay, I'm worried about this crush she seems to have on her driving instructor," Charlie admitted.
Claire grinned.
"I didn't even say anything," she said.
"You didn't need to," Charlie said. "You have that same knowing look that Joey does."
Claire laughed.
"Maybe she's rubbing off on me," she said. "Which is no bad thing."
Charlie smiled.
"She is a good one," she said.
"As for Ruby… she has got strong feelings," Claire admitted.
She'd had quite an evening listening to the virtues of Alex. She certainly didn't have to worry about Ruby realising she had feelings for her. She didn't have a clue.
"Should I be worried?"
"Well, you know I'm concerned," Claire admitted. "I know that's how she ended up in trouble the first time. When she liked Liam."
Charlie nodded unhappily.
"I'm… I'm looking out for her as best I can," Claire said.
Charlie touched her hand.
"I know you are," she said affectionately. "I know you always will."
After school, Ruby went over to the restaurant to see Claire. She felt despondent. Alex hadn't contacted her all day. She had been checking her phone so often that her battery was starting to deplete. And she had got into trouble with Miles for not paying attention in class. She'd narrowly avoided getting into trouble with the rest of her teachers as well.
"Hey, Charlie," she greeted.
Charlie had been hanging around the restaurant for most of the day. She'd helped out at various points but mostly, she'd been 'hospitable' to customers, by which she meant, she had chatted to everyone that she knew who had walked through the door. Joey had scolded her on several occasions for being a distraction to staff and customers. Angelo had used her presence to be lazy several times.
"Hey," Charlie greeted, hugging her daughter. "How was your day?"
"Disappointing," Ruby said, hopping onto a bar stool next to her mother.
"Why?"
"Alex never got back in touch and I had a lunch time detention, which was totally unfair."
She saw the look on Charlie's face and immediately regretted her admission.
"Why did you get a detention?" she asked.
"Because I might have not been listening in class…" she mumbled.
"And why might you not have been listening in class?" Joey asked, appearing behind her.
Ruby jumped in fright.
"Where the hell did you come from?"
"Just over there," Joey said.
She pulled up another stool next to Ruby.
"Why weren't you listening in class?" Joey repeated.
"I was just distracted," Ruby said vaguely.
"Because of Alex?" Charlie asked.
Ruby nodded. She had a feeling she knew where this was going.
"Ruby… we're worried about you."
"Why?" Ruby demanded defensively.
"Because you're taking this crush a little seriously," Charlie said honestly.
"I'm a teenager," Ruby snapped. "I'm supposed to have crushes. It's normal."
"It is," Joey agreed. "But we're allowed to be concerned, Ruby. Last time you had a crush on someone…"
"Are you going to drag that up every time I like someone?" Ruby snapped. "Am I never allowed to like someone ever again?"
"We're not saying that," Charlie said. "But we're your parents and we love you and we want you to be safe and happy."
"We don't want you to become unwell again," Joey said.
"I won't!" Ruby snapped. "But I like Alex. I'm allowed to like Alex. I'm allowed to have feelings for someone without you two freaking out. Let me be normal, okay?"
She jumped off her stool and stormed out. Charlie held her face in her hands. Joey looked worried. She caught Claire hovering nearby, looking worried.
"Can you…?" Joey asked.
Claire nodded, took off her apron and hurried after her friend.
With school having finished, not that she had arrived on time, Bianca was glad the working day was over. She headed straight for the restaurant and ordered a large glass of wine, pleased that Charlie and Joey were both there.
"He's gone," she told them.
"Who's gone?" Charlie asked, trying to focus on her friend.
Her mind was on her daughter.
"Vittorio," Bianca said, sounding utterly miserable.
She blamed herself entirely. She had been playing with his feelings for too long, sure that he would stick around no matter what and now he had finally given up on her, as had Liam.
"What do you mean, he's gone?" Joey asked from the other side of the bar, concerned.
"He told me it wasn't working out," she said. "That I still like Liam. That I obviously didn't trust him. That he was going back to Italy."
"And is any of that true?" Joey asked gently.
Bianca looked close to tears. Charlie put her arm around her. Bianca downed her wine and ordered another. Joey reluctantly gave it to her.
Claire found Ruby down on the beach, sitting alone, staring at the sea.
"Hey," she said softly, coming to sit beside her.
"Hey," Ruby replied.
She sounded sad.
"Are you okay?" Claire asked, aware that it was a silly question.
"They're never going to let go of the past, are they?" Ruby said. "Every time I think we're back on track, just normal, two parents and a teenager, something happens to remind me of what happened."
Claire was silent for a moment, trying to pick her words.
"I don't… I don't think it's about not letting go of the past," she tried.
Ruby looked at her sharply.
"Then what is it about?" she demanded bitterly.
"It's about being your parents," she said. "It's about loving you more than anything else in the world. It's about worrying about you. It's about not wanting you to get hurt again."
"I'm fine," Ruby said.
"I'm sure you are," Claire said, although she might have been lying a little. "But the thing is, Charlie and Joey probably kick themselves every day for missing the signs that you were struggling last time. When you got your heartbroken by a relationship with Liam that couldn't happen. When you started drinking and you shouldn't have. When you battled depression. So now, their eyes are probably open wider than perhaps you want them to be. Maybe they even look for signs that aren't there."
"Too right," Ruby said. "I'm a teenage girl. I have feelings for a good looking guy. That's normal, Claire. I am allowed to like someone. It's not a sign that I'm going mad or I'm going to end up in a clinic again. They've got to let me breathe."
"I know," Claire said. "I get that. They're not trying to smother you. They just… love you."
"Maybe they love me too much," Ruby sulked.
"And you know what?" Claire said. "You're lucky to be loved too much, Ruby. You're lucky that your parents panic when you like a guy and they get scared you're going to get hurt. You're lucky that they get involved in your life. You're lucky that they annoy you and frustrate you. Because they're amazing people and they'd do anything for you. I'd do anything to have that with my parents. My parents don't give a shit about me. I'll probably never see them again for the rest of our lives."
Ruby looked a little guilty.
"I'm sorry," she said.
"I'm not trying to make you feel guilty," Claire said. "I'm just trying to make you understand that you have wonderful parents. Appreciate them. Appreciate how much they adore you. Appreciate their interference. Appreciate their love. Hold onto it. The mother and daughter relationship is something that is unique. Don't throw it away."
Ruby nodded, holding onto her friend.
"I just want them to trust me," Ruby said.
"They do," Claire said. "They're just worried. They're worried about you investing your heart in this guy and getting it broken. They're worried about the effect it might have on you."
"I understand," Ruby sighed. "Don't they think he'll like me back though?"
"Only an idiot wouldn't like you back," Claire said. "But people can be idiots, don't forget."
Ruby laughed.
"Shall we go back in and sort things out with your parents?"
Ruby rested her head on Claire's shoulders.
"Let's just stay here for a short while," she said.
Claire smiled; her arm around her friend. They gazed out at the setting sun.
Bianca had had too many glasses of wine. Joey felt bad for serving her. She wasn't paralytic but she was definitely more than tipsy. And now they needed to take her home. They were scheduled to have dinner with Kerri and Watson shortly and they only had a small window of time to get to Bianca's and back.
"But I don't want to go home," Bianca complained.
"Well, sometimes it's not about want, it's about need," Charlie said, matter of factly. "And we need to take you home."
"Well, with an offer like that, who needs Vittorio or Liam?" Bianca giggled.
Charlie and Joey both laughed and they headed downstairs in the lift.
"I'm looking forward to tonight," Kerri said.
She put on a necklace that Watson had bought her for their one month anniversary. It was her favourite. Watson smiled, putting on her shoes. She took in the vision of her girlfriend. She had never known how deeply she could love another person until Kerri. Not even Monica could match Kerri and she had loved her so very much.
"Me too," she said.
"I think maybe we don't get out and do things quite enough," Kerri said. "Do you?"
"Maybe sometimes," Watson admitted.
"We need to change that," Kerri said. "And maybe… make the most of when we stay in a little more?"
She raised her eyebrows. Watson scooted over and kissed her feverishly.
"We could always ditch Charlie and Joey and…"
"Cancel the babysitter to sit and watch TV with Danny until bedtime?" Kerri remarked.
"You're right," Watson said. "Let's go out to dinner. And then come home for bedtime."
Kerri giggled, kissed her and then followed her out of the room.
Charlie and Joey had tucked Bianca into bed with a sick bucket and a glass of water. It was unlikely that she would be sick but it was better to be safe than sorry. Thankfully, Irene had been home so she would have someone to keep an eye on her.
Now, they were headed back to the restaurant for their double date with Watson and Kerri, which they were both looking forward to, even if it had started out as a bit of a favour.
Ruby and Claire walked back to the restaurant together. Claire spoke to the waitress in charge of allocating tables and she quickly found them a table for two. They stopped on their way to their table to see Charlie and Joey, who were just sitting down with Watson and Kerri, opening their menus.
"Hey," Ruby said a little sheepishly.
"Hey, Rubes," Charlie said.
"How are you feeling?" Joey asked.
"Better," Ruby said. "Claire gave me a bit of a talking to."
"A nice talking to," Claire put in.
"Of course," Joey said.
Nobody ever expected anything but the best from Claire. She was a good friend to their daughter.
"And I'm sorry," Ruby said. "I know you're only looking out for me. And I know I'm lucky to have you both. I love you."
"We love you too, Ruby," Charlie said. "We love you so much."
"And we're sorry if we fuss over you too much sometimes," Joey said. "But it really is because we care about you."
Ruby reached over and hugged them both.
"Now, go and have a fun evening, you two," Charlie said, shooing them away. "Dinner's on us and you've got a lift home."
Bianca woke up feeling groggy. She had a headache. Groaning, she sat up and rubbed her eyes. She was confused to see that it was only early evening. She checked her phone. It was still the same day. Then she remembered Charlie and Joey putting her into bed after she'd thrown herself at their mercy at the restaurant and ranted at them while swigging wine.
She dragged herself out of her room and into the lounge. Irene was watching television.
"How are you feeling?" she asked.
"Okay," she groaned. "A little confused."
Irene chuckled. Bianca plonked herself down next to her. She pulled a face when there was a knock at the door.
"You can get it," Irene said.
Complaining, Bianca hauled herself up and opened the door. Her breath caught when she saw Vittorio standing there. Then she panicked at the thought of what her hair must look like.
"I thought you'd left the country," she said.
"I changed my mind," he told her.
She continued to stare at him.
"I can rebook my flight if you want me to," he said.
"No!" she said. "No! Please stay."
He leant in and kissed her. From the sofa, Irene smiled to herself.
Charlie, Joey, Watson and Kerri's table was most definitely the loud table in the restaurant that night. All four of them were having a brilliant time. Joey and Kerri in particular were enjoying Charlie and Watson embarrassing each other with their best stories of mishaps on the job.
"We should do this more often," Joey said. "Make it a regular thing."
"Absolutely," Kerri said. "We miss being next door neighbours."
"We miss you too," Charlie said.
"I bet you love your lovely house though," Watson said. "Homeowners."
"It is pretty cool," Joey admitted with a grin.
"Well, next time, you should come over for dinner," Charlie said. "Joey can cook obviously. I wouldn't want to poison you."
Watson snorted.
"I love how you always volunteer me to cook," Joey pretended to pout.
"Darling, you love cooking so damn much, we opened a restaurant," Charlie said. "Inviting people round to dinner and me cooking is like seeing a mugging and sending you off to arrest someone. It doesn't make sense."
Now it was Joey's turn to snort.
"Fair point," she said. "But still. Sometimes I like a Domino's pizza as much as the next girl."
"Fine," Charlie said. "Come over to our place. The professional chef will order pizza."
Bianca and Vittorio lay in bed together and for perhaps the first time, Bianca really felt like it was the right thing. Perhaps she had to come close to losing him to realise that she needed him and wanted to be with him.
Little did she know that on the bedside table, face down and silent, her phone was ringing. It was Liam calling and he was leaving a message.
Next time… Charlie and Joey meet Alex, Irene pressures Will to shape up and Liam leaves Bianca in turmoil…
