Chapter Four Hundred and Ninety Seven
Gina sighed. She had been turning the contents of Hugo's letter over and over in her mind for days.
"How am I meant to get all that money over there?"
"I can help," Roo said. "I want to help."
"You'll take it to them?"
"Yes," Roo said. "We can work out a plan together."
"Hugo left that money to Xavier," Gina said. "I don't want him caught up in any of this. Hugo destroyed him when the truth came out about what he had done."
"He doesn't need to know any more than he has to," Roo said. "We just need the money. I'll take it to Hugo and Martha and that's the end of it. Nobody needs to get into any trouble."
Gina sighed again.
"I just… I don't know," she said uncertainly. "I need more time to think."
Angelo tore his gaze away from Roo for a moment to welcome Liam, Nina, Romeo and Indi to the restaurant and to their table of four. He couldn't help but think to himself that Liam certainly wasn't being shy in his return to the Bay. But then he supposed he never had been. Whether it was romancing Belle, getting high, striking up a relationship with Bianca or even playing house with Martha, everyone always knew what Liam Murphy was up to.
"So," Indi said, when they were sat down and had ordered their drinks. "Nina, where are you from?"
"At least Bianca isn't here this evening," Joey remarked, glancing over at Liam.
"Yep," Charlie said, sipping her drink.
"She's not coping well with Liam being back?" Watson asked.
"Not at all," Charlie and Joey said in unison.
"But I thought she was happily engaged to that Vittorio guy?"
"Engaged," Charlie said.
"Not necessarily happily," Joey admitted.
"Probably hard when you're still in love with your rockstar colleague," Charlie told her.
Watson raised her eyebrows.
"So much goes on underneath these superficial relationships that nobody else knows," Watson remarked. "Apart from you two. You two know everything."
Gina looked awkward.
"I know you know the facts," she said. "I don't know what details you're aware of. But I do know that you weren't here. And I do know that your daughter was more or less innocent in all of what happened. She might be blinded by love and have decided that what Hugo did was irrelevant to how she felt about him but it's not irrelevant to how I feel about him."
Roo nodded, appreciating her honesty.
"She might have skipped off into the sunset with him but my son and I, Xavier and I, we've had to live every single day with the shame of what Hugo did," Gina said. "With the horrific monstrosity of what he is capable of. I love him because he's my son but I hate him for who he is. I hate him for the cruelty and violence he is capable of. You just speak to Charlie over there. You ask her what he did to her and the suffering she knows he put innocent people through. And all that time, he was masquerading as a normal man. As a normal member of this community. All that time, he was pretending to be the little boy that I raised."
She sipped her drink.
"It took a long time to stitch my heart back together again after all of that. To rebuild Xavier. To explain to Brendan why Hugo wasn't visiting anymore. He'd only just got used to him being around in the first place and then he just vanished again and it confused and upset him," she said. "And then there was the burden of the money. That was so stressful for Xavier. And I don't know if I want to rock the boat with that all over again. If I want to risk Xavier's mental health. Not to mention my own. Not to mention the legal risks all of that would entail. For that man. That man I can barely call my child anymore."
"I understand," Roo said, although she was disappointed.
"Seriously, Joey, you're going to have to start going round mopping up after him if you let Roo in here again," Charlie snorted.
Watson laughed. All three of them were watching Angelo watching Roo, hoping that she might need a refill or something… anything that might require him to serve her table.
"Please don't let this be another unrequited love," Joey sighed.
"He does have a lot of those," Watson remarked.
"Do you think he stands any chance?" Charlie asked.
"Well, he was talking to her for a while earlier," Joey said. "But I don't think she was quite as into the conversation as he was. Besides, she's way too cool for him."
"Oh, we like her now, do we?" Charlie asked.
Joey shrugged.
"We have an understanding," she said.
"You didn't like her before?" Watson asked.
"No, she didn't like me," Joey said.
"How could she not like you?"
"That's what I said!" Charlie exclaimed a little too loudly.
Several tables turned round to look. She blushed and sipped her drink. The other two laughed.
"That's what I said," Charlie repeated with more dignity.
"Well, she didn't," Joey said. "Sibling rivalry of a kind."
Watson looked confused.
"Alf," Charlie and Joey both explained.
"Oh, I see," Watson said.
"I wasn't trying to steal him," Joey said. "Just… Alf and I have a thing. And she's been away. And she was jealous. But we've talked. And she knows that we both just want to support him. So I think it's fine. I hope it's fine."
Liam was at the bar. Indi was in the bathroom. Romeo and Nina were still at the table together. He felt a little disloyal being out with Liam and his new girlfriend when he knew how upset Bianca was about it all. He thought Liam was being very rude about the whole thing. But then, Liam was his friend, not Bianca really. And Bianca was the one who had ditched Liam for some other guy. So perhaps it was Liam he should have been loyal to all along.
"So… how long have you and Indi been together?" Nina asked curiously. "I mean… is it serious?"
Before he knew what was happening, she was stroking his hand. A true Romeo he might not be but he definitely knew when someone was coming onto him.
He snatched his hand quickly away.
"What the hell are you doing?"
"Look, it's fine," Nina said. "Liam and I are free spirits."
"I don't care," Romeo snapped. "I love Indi and we're in a committed relationship."
He stood up quickly, his chair scraping noisily back, causing several people to look at them, including Joey, who was immediately worried. She always felt protective of Romeo.
"What's going on?" Indi asked, approaching the table.
"We're leaving," Romeo said, throwing some cash down on the table.
He took Indi's hand and walked over to Liam at the bar. Nina sat back in her chair, not appearing concerned about anything.
"Your girlfriend just hit on me," Romeo said.
"Oh, that's just Nina," Liam chuckled.
Angelo handed him his change back.
"Well, I don't like it," Romeo said. "And I don't think you should be wasting your time with 'Just Nina' when it's clear that you're still in love with Bianca and she's still in love with you. You're all a bunch of idiots."
He and Indi left.
"That was dramatic," Watson remarked.
"I hope Romeo's okay," Joey fretted.
"You worry too much about that boy," Charlie teased her gently.
Joey frowned at her.
"He's sensitive," she said protectively.
"Clearly," Watson said, referring to him storming out the venue.
"Leave him alone!" Joey protested playfully.
Charlie put an arm around her girlfriend.
"She has a soft spot for blonde surfer dudes," she said.
"Now you're just being ridiculous," Joey complained. "I'm much more into previously heterosexual brunette police officers."
Charlie choked on her drink. People turned round to look at her for the second time that evening.
At home, Bianca was bored. She was trying and failing to tune April out. Her younger sister had been banging on about the Recycling Day Clean Up that she had helped to organise for the following day for the past two hours. Of course Bianca had agreed to volunteer but listening to how important it was, was possibly even more boring than she expected the day itself to be.
She jumped up when there was a knock at the door, eager to answer and talk to whoever their visitors might be. Anything but listen to April wittering on anymore.
"Romeo!" she said, surprised. "Indi!"
They weren't their usual visitors.
"Hi, Bianca," Indi said awkwardly. "Sorry to intrude."
"Oh, you're not intruding, believe me," Bianca said.
She looked back at April, who waved and immediately asked them if they were attending the Recycling Day Clean Up tomorrow.
"Um… maybe," Romeo said.
He turned back to Bianca.
"Listen," he said. "We just had a pretty painful meal with Liam and that Nina girl."
Bianca's face fell.
"And it's a farce," he told her. "I'm not one to interfere in other people's relationships but… if you still like him… it's not too late, I don't think."
Without giving her a real chance to reply, he left. Indi hurried after him.
Roo arrived home after her meal with Gina. Alf was just about to go to bed.
"You're late back," he said.
"I'm a grown woman," she remarked.
"I wasn't scolding," he said, still not quite sure how to take her sometimes.
"I'm joking," she assured him.
He offered her a hot drink. She accepted and followed him into the kitchen.
"Did you have a nice evening with Gina?" he asked.
"Yes, it was nice," she lied.
It was awkward and their subject matter had been difficult.
"You're getting along well then?"
"Yes, it's nice to have a further connection with Martha here," Roo said.
He served her drink.
"Good," he said.
He sighed awkwardly.
"What?" she asked, suspicious.
"Martha and Hugo… they're not in any trouble, are they?" he asked.
"Not that I know of."
Sometimes it worried her how easily she found it to lie.
"Okay… good," he said. "You know how much I love Martha."
"I know. But they're fine, as far as I know," she said. "I just… wanted to take your advice and get to know Gina and her family."
Charlie and Joey climbed into bed together, meeting in the middle and snuggling up. They kissed in the dark.
"So, I'm your type, am I?" Charlie asked.
"Oh, one hundred per cent," Joey grinned.
"Definitely not blonde surfer dudes?"
"Definitely not."
They kissed again. Suddenly, neither of them was tired.
Next door, Gina quietly let John into the house, both of them being careful not to wake Xavier. They still hadn't quite found the way to tell him that they were back together yet.
"Are you okay?" John asked when they were in her bedroom. "You look stressed."
"I'm fine," Gina lied.
The conversation she'd had with Roo was playing over and over in her mind. She was angry with Hugo all over again but she was worried about him too as well as Martha.
"Are you sure?" John asked.
"Yes, just tired," Gina said.
"Do you still want me to stay?"
"Of course."
He reached out to hug her, worried that there was something on her mind, something that she wouldn't let him in on.
Next time… It's Battle of the Sexes for the Recycling Day Clean Up, Nina and Liam break up and there is competition amongst the men…
