Hi everyone! Sorry for the delay in updates. I was really poorly for a few weeks and then I was on holiday with my wife for a couple of weeks. I would like to dedicate this chapter to the memory of Cornelia Frances, who played Morag Bellingham. Morag is often a big character in my stories and she was a huge, iconic character in Home and Away. I was so sad to hear of Cornelia's passing at the end of May this year. Love, IJKS xxx
Chapter Four Hundred and Eighty One
Bianca woke up slowly, feeling more at peace than she had in quite a while. She turned and looked at Vittorio, still asleep beside her. She was glad he hadn't left; that he had changed his mind and given their relationship another chance.
She picked up her phone to check the time. Her heart lurched. On the front display was a missed called from Liam. And a voicemail.
Charlie and Joey were enjoying a lie in on Saturday morning. They had had a lovely evening the night before and they knew they had to do that sort of thing more often.
Outside their room, they could hear Ruby scurrying around getting ready for her driving lesson. They just hoped that something of what they and Claire had said had sunk in and that she would be able to calm down this rush of feelings she had for Alex.
They decided to get up and see her before she went out.
Bianca slipped out of her bedroom and into the bathroom, locking the door behind her. With trembling hands, she dialled her voicemail and put the phone to her ear.
"Hey… uh… it's Liam."
Just the sound of his voice made her heart burst.
"How are you doing?"
He paused.
"You can't answer."
He sighed.
"Listen, I don't know what you're doing or who you're with," he said awkwardly. "I don't know if you even want to hear from me again or even think about me at all. But I… I think about you. Look, call me back by tomorrow night if you want to talk. If you don't… well, I'll know."
The message clicked off. Bianca leant against the sink, her eyes closed, feeling breathless. She'd been so happy when Vittorio had come back last night and they had decided to make a proper go of things. But now Liam had come, right on time, and pulled the rug swiftly from under her.
Charlie, Joey and Ruby had breakfast together, with Ruby clock watching the whole time, eager for Alex to collect her for her driving lesson. She wasn't dressed up to the nines like she had been last time but she was certainly more dolled up for any lesson that Charlie had ever had before. But she and Joey had made a pact to tread carefully with their daughter, not wanting a repeat of the day before. She was clearly fragile and they didn't want her to think they didn't trust her.
"Maybe you could invite Alex in for a cup of coffee after your lesson," Charlie suggested, trying to sound casual.
Ruby raised her eyebrows.
"Oh yeah, that'll make me look cool," she said. "Hey, guy I like, come and meet my parents."
Joey snorted. Charlie glared at her.
"I'm sorry but she does have a bit of a point, sweetheart," Joey said.
"We're supposed to be on the same team," Charlie complained.
"We are," Joey said.
There was a knock on the door.
"Which is why we'll say hello now!"
She bolted to the door ahead of Ruby and flung it open.
"Hey, it's Alex, isn't it?" she said.
"Um… yes," he said uncertainly. "Ruby's not quite ready, you're welcome to come in and wait."
Ruby looked mortified.
"I am ready," she said.
"Where's your bag?" Charlie asked.
"In my room," Ruby said.
"No good in there, is it?"
Ruby glared at her and walked into her room, saying a meek hello to Alex on the way.
"So, how long have you been a driving instructor, Alex?" Charlie asked, coming to join him and Joey in the lounge.
He was perched on the arm chair.
"Just under a year," he said.
"And how old are you?"
"I'm twenty four," he said.
"What… what do you two do?"
"I'm a chef," Joey said. "We own a restaurant – Bucktons'."
"Oh, I love that place," he enthused, looking a little more relaxed.
"And I'm a cop," Charlie told him.
He looked anxious again.
"I'm ready," Ruby said, appearing from her room.
Alex jumped up in sheer relief.
"Let's go," he said.
"Bring her back safe and sound," Charlie said.
"I will," he promised a little nervously.
Charlie and Joey watched them go.
"I kind of like this Good Chef, Bad Cop routine," Joey mused.
Vittorio felt like something was different. Bianca had been acting strangely, like something was on her mind. She had been distracted instead of relaxed. Things had seemed like they were finally perfect last night but something had changed. He felt disappointed, as he kissed her goodbye on the promised of lunch later at the Diner.
Ruby kept reminding herself to concentrate on her lesson while she did her best to flirt with Alex. Unfortunately, Alex didn't seem to be responding to her attempts at getting his attention. He only seemed to care about boring things like mirrors, signals and making sure she stopped at traffic lights and for pedestrians. He was being very boring and it was making her think that maybe he didn't like her after all. And she just couldn't bear to be disappointed again.
She pulled up successfully outside her house. Personally, she thought she was doing quite well at this whole driving thing.
"So, do you like me at all?" she asked bluntly, deciding to get right to the point.
He looked startled. He'd looked a little startled when they'd left. For a moment, she worried what Charlie and Joey might have said to him.
"Do you?" she asked with a little more vulnerability.
"Of course I like you," he said.
She was delighted.
"But I can't date a student," he told her.
Ruby felt utterly deflated.
"However," he added. "Once you pass your test, which you should do soon… who knows what might happen?"
Will left Lily in the lounge watching TV to get up and make a cup of tea. Irene was already in the kitchen making them some lunch.
"Are you just going to let that girl sit around and watch TV all day every day?" Irene asked. "Or are you going to take her out and do stuff with her? Especially when she should be in school."
"It's Saturday," Will pointed out.
"You know what I mean," Irene said. "If you're staying here, you need to do something about her schooling."
"I don't know what we're doing, Irene," Will said, annoyed. "Stop hassling me."
"I'm not hassling you," Irene said. "I'm just trying to get you to get off your backside. I know you're upset but you're not just you anymore. You're a father and you need to sort yourself out."
"I know that!" Will yelled, slamming his empty mug down on the kitchen counter so hard that is broke, startling everyone, including Lily in the lounge.
In fact, she and Irene looked frightened.
"I'm sorry," he said quietly.
"No," Irene said. "You do not behave that way in my house. You do not get angry and start throwing things around in my house, Will Smith."
"Then stop hassling me!"
"I'm trying to help you!"
"I don't need your help!"
"Stop shouting!" Lily begged, coming into the kitchen.
They both looked down at the little girl.
"Stop shouting! Stop shouting at my Dad! Don't make him leave like my Mum did!"
Will stared at his daughter and the burst into tears. Irene gathered Lily into her arms.
"We're not shouting, darling," she said. "We're just being silly. Why don't you go into your room so we can clear this mess up in the kitchen? I'll call you when lunch is ready, okay?"
Lily nodded very reluctantly and left the room.
Bianca had come round to visit Charlie and Joey, overwhelmed by Liam's voicemail after only just deciding to make a go of things with Vittorio the night before.
"Look, I'm going to be blunt," Charlie said.
"Are you ever gentle?" Bianca asked.
"She can be," Joey smirked.
Charlie blushed. Bianca snorted with laughter and then made a retching noise.
"Anyway…" Charlie said. "If this message from Liam has thrown you this much when apparently last night you and Vittorio were on cloud nine, then you weren't actually on cloud nine. You must have been on cloud eight or something and got confused. Because I'm telling you, if you actually wanted to be with Vittorio, then no message from any other guy, not even Liam, would make a difference to you. Nobody in the world in any circumstance ever would make me even flicker when it comes to Joey. Never. Because she's the one."
"Aww…" Joey said.
She squeezed her hand across the sofa.
"Same."
"But if you are so full of this turmoil and these doubts, then you and Vittorio don't belong together," Charlie said. "After Vittorio changed his mind and you made a go of things, you shouldn't have even listened to the message. You shouldn't have cared what he had to say. You should have just deleted it. But you didn't. Why?"
"Because I…"
"Have feelings for Liam still?" Joey suggested.
"But Liam isn't my Joey or my Charlie," Bianca said.
"How do you know?"
"We weren't even together that long," she said. "Hardly at all really. And he ditched me the second Vittorio showed up. He didn't fight for us."
"Sounds like that's what he's doing now," Joey pointed out.
Bianca sighed heavily.
"I just… Whatever I do, it's such a huge deal. Whatever I do, I hurt someone."
They were interrupted by Ruby arrived home, looking somewhat in a swoon.
"Good lesson?" Joey asked.
"Yes, despite your embarrassment this morning," she said.
"I wasn't embarrassed," Joey said. "Were you embarrassed, Charlie?"
"Nope. Not at all."
Ruby mock glared at them.
"You know exactly what I mean."
She headed to her room.
Irene sat with Will on the sofa, her arm around his broad shoulders as he sobbed.
"I've just made a mess of everything," he said. "Every time I think I can't make more of a mess of things, I do. I just keep making everything worse and worse."
"No, you don't," she tried to soothe him. "Look, all you have to do is stop feeling sorry for yourself. You just have to shape up, work hard, focus on Lily and get on with things."
"You don't understand," he said.
"Of course I do," she insisted. "Do you think I haven't been there? Do you think I haven't been a rotten parent in my time? Do you think I haven't let my kids down?"
He rubbed his face.
"Of course I have," she told him. "It's never too late to sort things out. I know it's too late probably to sort things out with Gypsy and we're all sad about that. But you've done the right thing and ditched that awful Shandi girl."
He stayed quiet about the fact that she had actually ditched him.
"So now it's time to pick yourself up, dust yourself off and carry on, okay?"
"Okay," he said. "And you can start by cleaning the kitchen up."
He nodded and stood up, apologising for the mess he had made.
Charlie and Joey had sent Bianca off to break up with Vittorio and call Liam. They hoped they had dished out the right advice. Ruby was still in her room.
"She seemed… normal enough, didn't she?" Charlie said a little worriedly.
"Yeah, I think so," Joey said, also a little worriedly.
"And actually not mad at us for this morning, so that's good," Charlie added.
"I think we just need to take this one day at a time," Joey said. "It's all we can do. She's so up and down these days. And we also need to not panic. I think we'd be hard pressed to find a teenager who isn't up and down every day. We need to remember that it's not just because of what happened before. It's because she's a hormonal teenage girl."
Charlie nodded, sighing heavily.
"It's just worrying," she said.
"I know," Joey replied, snuggling up to her on the couch. "I worry too. But we can worry together."
Charlie kissed her gently.
Bianca arrived home pleased to have finally decided once and for all what she was going to do.
"Hey," April greeted.
She was sat at the dining table, her nose in her books.
"You look… different."
"Do I?"
"Yeah," April said. "Like… happier."
"Well, I've made a decision," Bianca said.
"What's that?" April asked, putting her pen down. "Wait, please tell me you're ending things with that cretin, Vittorio. I mean, a girl can hope you'd make the right decision for once in your life."
Bianca glared at her, her mood evaporating in an instant.
"Well, actually…"
"Of course you're not!" April complained. "I just don't get it, Bianca. Why on earth would you want to be with a guy that slept with another woman at your engagement party? I mean, how low can you go?"
"He's sorry for what he did and he's made it up to me," Bianca snapped. "We love each other and we're going to make it work. So you'd better shape up and learn to be happy for us."
She stormed into her room, angry with herself for being so stubborn. She knew she was being stupid. She was ruining her own happiness because of a stupid row with her little sister. Sometimes she wondered if she was even grown up enough to be getting married at all. But no, she was going to prove April wrong. She was going to make it work with Vittorio. And she was not going to call Liam back. But still, she couldn't quite bring herself to delete his message.
Next time… Charlie gets a change of pace, Alex has a confession and Lily's day with her Dad is interrupted…
