Chapter Five Hundred and Sixty

It was the evening and Charlie, Joey, Romeo, Claire and every other member of staff they had were busy preparing for the relaunch. It was not good timing to be a member of staff down. Joey cursed herself for reacting so emotionally and firing Angelo. And she was annoyed with him for being so stubborn and so easily persuaded to team up with Brax. She was the one who had given him a chance when nobody else had. Despite everything that had happened between them, they had become good friends. She felt angry and guilty all at the same time. But that wasn't helping her now. She had a big night ahead of her. She had to stay calm and she had to focus.


Leah was nervous as she got ready for her date with Brax. She still couldn't quite believe that he had asked her out. Bad reputation or not, he was charming and gorgeous. It was flattering to say the least. Miles had agreed to look after VJ for the night. He was babysitting Danny anyway so that Watson and Kerri could come to the launch as well. The boys always had a good time together. Leah was so grateful that at school, VJ most definitely had one friend and he seemed to be picking up more as he went along.


"See, we're busy already," Charlie said, wrapping her arms around Joey's waist as she stood behind her.

Joey smiled nervously, worried that they may not have enough staff. Sensing her concern, Charlie kissed her cheek and hugged her tight, assuring her that everything would be alright.

Romeo and Claire were busy serving and handing out small dishes of snacks to tables with the other staff. Ruby was gathered in a booth with Dex, Indi, Casey, Nicole and April. Bianca and Liam looked tense at another table. Watson and Kerri looked like they were in fits of giggles over something.

"See?" Charlie said. "Everyone's having a good time. We'll have a good time too."

She turned Joey around in her arms and kissed her again.

"I love you," she said. "And I am so proud of you."

"I don't feel like there's much to be proud of right now," Joey said glumly.

"There is more to be proud of than ever," Charlie said certainly.


Xavier cringed as he arrived at Bucktons', having been dragged there by Gina and John. He had no desire to spend the evening with his ex-girlfriend who had just confirmed that she did not want to get back together. But there she was, sat in a booth with their friends. Taking a deep breath, he braced himself to join them.

"Hi," he said anxiously.

The others all greeted him warmly. April was sat beside Dex, who was being complimented about the vlog he had released earlier that day. It had really been very good.

"Hi, Xave," April ventured.

She too was nervous about seeing her ex. She felt terrible about putting him in hospital and she felt terrible about breaking up with him. But she believed it was the right thing to do. He was better off without her. She had hurt him so badly, physically and emotionally. How could they continue as boyfriend and girlfriend after that? There was no possible way.

Romeo joined them for a moment and stole a quick kiss from Indi and to put some snacks on their table. Dex and Xavier dove in immediately.

"Having fun?" he asked.

"Yeah!" Indi said. "It looks great in here!"

"It really does," April said.

"Will you be able to stop for a break anytime soon?" Indi asked her boyfriend.

"Unlikely," Romeo said apologetically. "With Angelo gone, we're a full team member down. It's chaos back there. Organised chaos but still chaos."

He kissed her again and headed back to the bar.


"Blake!" Charlie greeted. "It's so good to see you!"

She too was working behind the bar. If she was ever going to chip in and help then it was now.

"Well, you mentioned you were reopening tonight and to come along so…" he said. "I hope that's okay?"

He looked shy. She smiled at him.

"Of course it's okay," she said. "What can I get you?"

She took his order and directed him over to Watson and Kerri who had been joined by Liam and Bianca at a table. He thanked her and headed over to join his colleague in the hope of making friends.

"Who was that?" Joey asked curiously, taking a moment to catch her breath.

"A colleague from work," Charlie said. "His name's Blake and I think he was going to come out to me earlier today."

"Oh…" Joey said, putting her arm around her waist. "Look at you, being someone he can look up to!"

"Oh, hardly!" Charlie balked.

Joey kissed her cheek and headed off to serve another customer.


Brax arrived to pick Leah up and together, they got a cab to Bucktons'. Leah felt shy and nervous the whole way there, half because she was on the first date she'd had in a long time and half because she felt guilty for forcing Brax on Charlie and Joey. But he had promised that none of the other River Boys would be coming and if they did, he would personally tell them to leave. There was something about the way he spoke that made her trust and believe him.

They arrived at the restaurant, which was busy and bustling and it looked almost impossible to get a table. She spotted one by the window, near the balcony and headed for it. Brax followed.

"I'll get us some drinks, shall I?" he offered, asking her what she'd like.

He waded through the crowd to the bar and was pleased when Charlie was the first server available. She was less pleased.

"Hello, Sergeant," he said. "Weird to see you in civvies, serving alcohol."

"Well, I'm a businesswoman as well, so…" she replied.

"A woman of many talents," he remarked.

Next to her, Joey was serving Bianca, which wasn't that easy with only one available hand - and listening to her fretting over Liam writing a song for some woman called Melinda. But she was also listening in on Charlie's conversation with Brax.

"What can I get you?" Charlie asked. "We're kind of busy."

He placed his order and she set about providing the drinks.

"This place looks really good," he said. "Your relaunch is a hit."

"Thanks," Charlie said tightly.

"Hopefully my new place will be just as much of a success," he said.

"Hopefully it won't," she replied honestly. "Just because you've stolen my barman doesn't mean you can steal my business."

Brax chuckled.

"I think you threw your barman away, didn't you?" he said. "Or your partner did?"

She handed him his drinks and requested his cash. She turned and began serving another customer.


The night continued well and Joey was starting to relax, apart from the fact that Brax seemed to be paying far more attention to Charlie than he did to his actual date. She was absolutely convinced that he wanted her girlfriend and although she knew that Charlie would never stray, she still felt unreasonably threatened. It wasn't like when Angelo had wanted Charlie. Brax was a different person altogether.

Morag had briefly popped in to say hello and wish them well. Hannah had arrived and with Claire so busy working, Ruby had invited her to join her group of friends. Blake had found himself getting on extremely well with Watson and he thought Kerri was hilarious. He was so pleased that he had taken the risk and come out for the evening. Liam had finally snapped and demanded to know why Bianca was being so frosty with him and when she had explained, he had reassured her that 'Melinda' was just the title of the song. The song was about her. All the songs were about her.


At their table, Leah wasn't having the best first date in the world. Brax was definitely gorgeous. But he had also brought her here under false pretences. They had chatted nicely and laughed about past romantic failures. He had told her of his plans for his new business and picked her brains about the Diner. But mostly, he seemed to want to talk about Charlie. Every conversation seemed to come back to Charlie. Finally, Leah lost her temper.

"Look, I don't know what your deal is but if you've got a thing for Charlie, you are seriously barking up the wrong tree," she snapped.

He looked a little taken aback. He had thought he was being subtle.

"I don't have a thing for Charlie," he denied.

"You've taken me out on a date and all you want to do is talk about my friend," she accused.

"Well, she does spend a lot of time pissing me off," he said.

"That's not it," Leah said certainly. "You have a thing for her."

He couldn't deny it.

"What is it, a challenge or something? You want to sleep with a cop? You want to try and break up a happy relationship? Or because she's in a relationship with a woman?" Leah said fiercely.

"It's not…"

"Because you're more likely to sleep with the Pope than to sleep with Charlie," she continued. "She and Joey are the most solid couple I've ever known. Whatever your game is, don't bother."

She stood up.

"Thanks for the drink but next time, also don't bother pretending you like me or anyone else, just to get the gossip on someone else," she said. "All you need to know about Charlie is that she and Joey belong together. Don't you dare try to do anything to hurt them."

She stood up and grabbed her drink. For a moment, he thought she might throw it at him. But instead, she just went to join her friends at another table. He sighed heavily and watched Charlie chatting to some extrovert looking guy at the bar. He finished his drink and left.


"Wow! This place is amazing, ladies!"

Charlie smiled at the compliment.

"Well, thank you very much," she said to the young man sipping cocktails at the bar, later in the evening.

He was immaculately dressed without a blonde hair out of place.

"Are you the owners?" he asked.

He had an English accent and a big smile.

"Me and my partner," Charlie said, pointing to Joey who was chatting with Marilyn.

"Is she your partner or your 'partner'?" he grinned.

Charlie laughed and confirmed she was both. He beamed back and told her she was lucky.

"She's pretty hot," he said. "I mean, not my type, obviously. But you're both stunning."

Charlie chuckled and thanked him again.

"What brings you here?" she asked. "I don't think we've seen you before."

"I'm just passing through," he said. "I've been travelling around for a year. I thought Summer Bay sounded pretty so I thought I'd check it out."

"Well, it's definitely pretty," Charlie confirmed. "How long do you think you'll stay?"

"It depends how interesting it is here," he said.

"It's more interesting than you might think!" she laughed.

He leant in.

"Tell me more!" he said, eager for gossip.

"Oh, there is so much to tell!"

"Well, I suppose I'd better find myself a job and stick around to find it all out then!" he said. "Now, are you the only gays in the village or am I likely to find some entertainment here?"

Charlie immediately thought about Blake.

"You'll have to find that out for yourself," she said. "But as for a job, what kind of thing are you looking for?"

"Oh, just bar work or something," he said. "Shop work. Café work. Whatever I can get. But the service industry is what I have experience in."

"Can you be here tomorrow morning for an interview?" Charlie asked.

"Yes please!"

"Oh and… what's your name?"

"Scott," he told her. "Scott Dobson."


"What happened to you?" Bianca asked when Leah plonked herself down at her table with Liam, Watson, Kerri and new boy, Blake. "I thought you were on a date with Darryl Braxton."

"Yeah, what's up with that?" Watson asked bluntly.

"I think I temporarily lost my mind," Leah replied, shaking her head.

"Was he an arsehole?" Kerri asked, making the other laugh.

"Pretty much," Leah said.

"Do you need me to go and beat him up for you?" Kerri grinned.

Leah laughed loudly and hugged her.

"What happened?" Bianca asked more seriously.

"Put it this way, he would have preferred to have been on a date with someone else," Leah said.

"Who?" Watson asked.

"Charlie," Leah admitted.

"Excuse me?"

Leah spun round in horror to find Joey stood right behind her. She cursed her friends for not warning her. But then realised that they would never have known what she was going to say.

"Um…" she managed.

"I knew he had a thing for Charlie!" Joey said bitterly.

She grabbed a chair and joined the group.

"Well, I told him to piss off," Leah said. "That he wasn't even in the right forest, let alone barking up the right tree."

Joey thanked her. But she still felt uncomfortable.

"Come on, Jo," Watson said. "He's the head of the River Boys. It's probably just a power game. Don't sweat it. And it's not like Charlie's ever going to even notice him. She doesn't notice anyone but you."

Joey smiled gratefully.

"I just really hate that guy," she said.

"And so say all of us!" Leah declared.


Ruby was glad she had made the effort for Dex. She'd spoken to each of her friends so that they all made a point of including him. Casey in particular, had talked to him a lot and although things had seemed tense at first, they had thawed now and the more time Ruby spent with him, the more she liked him. If only she could stop thinking about Romeo.

She knew she had to accept that he was in a relationship with Indi. She had to accept that he loved her and was happy with her and that that wasn't going to change. The only problem was that the more time she spent with him, the more she discovered that he didn't seem to be quite as happy with Indi as the world believed. And that gave her hope.

"Looks like your brother's date didn't go so well," Xavier remarked, noticing Brax leaving the room.

"That's unusual," Casey said. "He's not exactly one to crash out on a date."

He admired his older brother for how successful he was with women. And he had had genuine relationships as well, not like Heath who didn't care about anyone's feelings.

"Well, I think everyone was pretty surprised when Leah said yes," Ruby said.

"Not many people say no to Brax," Casey said. "He doesn't spend many Saturday nights alone."


It was the early hours of the morning when Charlie and Joey finally collapsed into bed. It had been a very successful night and even without counting properly, they knew they had made a big profit.

"So, we're interviewing at what time tomorrow?" Joey asked.

"Ten o'clock," Charlie said. "His name is Scott and he's spent the past year travelling around the world. He's from the UK. He seems really nice. I think he'll be a good fit."

"Good work," Joey said, kissing her.

"Good work all round tonight, I think," Charlie said, returning her kiss. "Hey, um… do you think we should be concerned about Ruby and Casey hanging out? Or am I just being over the top?"

"Are you seriously asking me about being over the top?" Joey cracked.

Charlie smiled sadly and kissed the top of Joey's head.

"What do you think?" she asked seriously.

"It doesn't make me comfortable," she said. "He's a Braxton at the end of the day. But Ruby is pretty adamant that we shouldn't judge him by his surname. Romeo has vouched for him too. So I guess we should give him a chance. He hasn't actually done anything wrong. He's only a kid, after all."

"Yeah…" Charlie sighed, cuddling in closer.

"Speaking of the Braxton's…" Joey ventured.

Charlie froze. She looked up at Joey in the dimness of the room.

"What?" she asked worriedly.

"Did you hear about Leah's date?"

"No," Charlie said. "I saw him leave and she went off with Bianca and Watson but I didn't hear what happened. What happened?"

"He was using her," Joey said. "To get info on you."

Charlie was puzzled.

"Why?" she asked. "Because I'm a cop? Is he planning something? Should I be worried?"

"He likes you, Charlie," Joey said.

Charlie was even more confused.

"He wants to date you."

The idea was becoming genuinely amusing to Joey. She was starting to relax about it. Charlie's reaction was comforting to say the least.

"He wants to have sex with you."

Charlie's confusion turned to disgust.

"Oh, come off it," she said. "As if."

"He absolutely does," Joey said.

"Well he can find another hobby," Charlie said. "Even if I was single, no way. But I'm taken. And I will be taken for the rest of my life, thank you very much."

She kissed Joey passionately, taking her breath away.

"You know… I'm not really that tired," Joey said. "So if you'd like to take me now…"

Charlie didn't need asking twice.


Next time… Charlie and Joey have a new employee, Romeo gets an insight into the Braxton Family and The River Boys thwart Charlie's plans…