For Charlene. Thank you. Love, IJKS xxx
Chapter Five Hundred and Ninety Three
Xavier was on cloud nine. He had finally scored a date with Miranda; they had spent the whole night on the beach, just talking. He was sure he was falling in love. He could hardly bear to be parted from her. However, she had classes to get to at Uni and he had to dash home and get changed into his uniform to get to school and hope that they didn't run into each other all day. Right now, she believed he was a Philosophy student at the same University she attended and he was hoping he could keep it that way until she liked him so much that a small lie like that was inconsequential.
Romeo was up and out early. He met Joey on her way into the restaurant, eager for her opinion on his latest news. She was curious about his sudden change in demeanour.
"What's going on with you?" she asked, as he followed her into the venue.
"I want to start my own business!" he declared.
She turned around to face him, looking serious.
"If you are starting your own restaurant…"
He saw the flicker of a smile at the corner of her lips. He grinned and shook his head, offering her a flyer from the pile in his hands. She looked at the advert for Romeo Smith's Surf School. She nodded.
"Well, it's most definitely your skill set," she said. "Have you talked to John? You need to clear things like this with him?"
He frowned and shook his head. He wasn't John's favourite person at the moment.
"And have you secured insurance?" she asked.
His face fell further. His dream was starting to slip rapidly out of his grasp.
"It's okay," she said. "These are all things to work out."
He sat heavily in a chair.
"I don't have money for that sort of thing," he said.
"I'm sure we can work something out if this is really what you want to do with your life," Joey said. "If this is the future you see for yourself."
"It is," he said. "I just… It's more complicated that I thought it was going to be."
"Go and speak to John," she said. "And research some business insurance. Then come back to me."
He nodded and left. Joey called Charlie.
Charlie was struggling under a mountain of paperwork when her phone rang. She smiled to see her fiancée's name. She also loved thinking of Joey as her fiancée.
"I only saw you twenty minutes ago," she said by way of greeting. "Do you miss me already?"
"Well, of course I do," Joey replied. "But that's not why I'm calling."
Charlie chuckled. She pushed her keyboard away and sat back in her chair.
"So, do what do I owe the pleasure?"
The word hung between them as they both remembered the particularly pleasurable night they'd had the night before.
"It's Romeo," Joey ventured.
Charlie frowned. She was also not his biggest fan.
"Who's he slept with now?"
"Nobody," Joey said. "Well, not as far as I'm aware anyway. He's just approached me with an idea about starting a surf school. He wants to start his own business."
"And what's that got to do with us?" Charlie asked, although she thought she could guess.
"He's just so excited about it, Charlie," Joey said. "I've sent him off to talk to John. He'll need Council permission to work on the beach. But then there's the insurance issue…"
"And he won't be able to afford it so you want to give it to him?" Charlie concluded.
Joey winced hopefully. Charlie could picture her.
"What do you think?"
"I think he used our daughter," the police officer reminded her.
"I know and that's awful and I'm still upset with him for it but this could be the thing that turns his life around…"
Charlie sighed.
"You know I'm going to say yes because I never say no to you," she said.
"I don't want you to be mad at me," Joey frowned.
"I'm never mad at you," Charlie assured her. "I can't be annoyed about you wanting to help someone put their life back together. Not even Romeo. To be honest, especially not Romeo. Only you would hand over a vast amount of money to someone who had hurt our family some much."
"So, you still love me?" Joey checked.
"I could never not love you," Charlie promised.
Angelo was disappointed once again that Nicole was at his door but not to see him. This morning, she had come to visit Roo. But at least he was already on his way out to work, leaving the girls to chat about whatever Nicole was there to discuss. She didn't look great; she was exhausted and shaken from the Braxton Hicks the day before. He was just glad that she had people around her, including him, that cared and wanted to make sure that she was okay.
Romeo returned to Buckton's three hours later, looking less enthusiastic than he had arrived the first time but more animated than when he had left. Joey sat down with him and asked him how things had gone with John.
"Well, I mean, he isn't my number one fan right now," Romeo reminded her. "I think I was lucky to hang onto my lifeguard job as it was. I think it was just because John's too lazy and tight to go through the hassle of hiring someone new and training them up."
"So, what did he say?" Joey asked eagerly.
"He said I can go ahead, so long as I can sort the insurance out and everything," Romeo confirmed.
"And do you have some quotes?" Joey asked.
Romeo nodded, producing his laptop, which he'd gone home to work on and brought with him. He showed her what he had found.
"Well, Charlie and I are both very proud of you for making a go of things," Joey said. "So, we want to give you the money for the insurance."
Romeo looked startled.
"Joey, it'll take me forever to pay you pay…"
"I said give, not loan," she said.
"But… I mean, after everything with Ruby…"
"Just make it work, okay? Take this moment and turn your life around," Joey said.
He wavered.
"Are you really sure? I mean, Charlie's barely spoken to me since…"
"I called her and we both agreed," Joey assured him. "So, shall we choose the best one of these and get you started?"
Ruby was watching the clock, eager for lunch time. She had one more mandatory lunch and one more night stuck at home and then tomorrow morning, her grounding was over. She couldn't wait.
"Hey, do you guys want to go to beach or something at lunch?" Xavier asked. "I mean, not you, obviously, Ruby. You have to hang out with your parents. How long have you got to do that until? Till Uni, is it?"
He smirked at her. She wanted to throw something at him. Hard. Sometimes she could hardly believe she had dated him, had lost her virginity to him, had been in love with him. It all felt like such a long time ago, a different life, like they had been completely different people.
"Just today left, thanks," she said tightly.
"And I'll be having lunch with her too," Casey added. "But thanks for the invite."
Xavier shrugged.
"I'm surprised you're even hanging out with us anymore," Dex remarked. "Aren't you spending every waking second with Miranda?"
Xavier cringed. Ruby immediately picked up on it.
"Who's Miranda?" she asked.
"Xavier's girlfriend," Dex said. "He spent the night with her last night. His Mum went crazy!"
"Oh yeah?" Casey said. "I'm surprised you're not grounded now!"
"My Mum's cooler than Ruby's Mum, obviously," Xavier replied.
Ruby guffawed.
"Yeah, right," she said. "Our Principal is cooler than my cop Mum, who's like twenty years her junior. I don't think so. Plus, Joey. Come on. She's way cool."
"She is cool," Dex agreed.
"You're just saying that because you have the hots for her," Xavier retorted.
"You have the hots for Joey?" April asked.
Dex flushed.
"Well, no," he stammered. "I mean, she is attractive but I wouldn't say…"
"Anyway," Ruby interrupted. "My parents are cooler than yours. That's a given. But… who's Miranda? I don't know a Miranda that goes here."
"She's at Uni," Casey said. "She thinks Xavier's a Philosophy student!"
"Thanks, mate," Xavier scowled.
Ruby shook her head.
"You just don't change, do you, Xave?" she remarked.
The look on Nicole's face told Joey that she most definitely needed to take a break. She waved her into her office for some privacy.
"As long as this isn't going to give you flashbacks!" she joked.
Nicole laughed nervously and assured her she was fine.
"But maybe I'll sit in the chair," she added, skirting the sofa.
Joey sat at her desk, wondering what was going on to bring Nicole to visit her.
"I realised yesterday that I'm terrified of giving birth," the teenager admitted. "Well, I realised during that meal the other night. I thought I was scared of everything that was going to happen after the birth. I just hadn't thought about the birth itself. But now, I'm terrified of it. I mean, if that was false labour, what the hell is real labour going to be like?"
"It'll be worse, I imagine. But it'll be manageable and you'll have support," Joey said.
"But that's it," Nicole said. "I won't."
"You have Marilyn as your birthing partner…"
"But she's not there for me," Nicole explained. "I mean, she is but she isn't. She's there because she wants the baby. She wants me to push the baby out and snatch it from my arms – if I'm even allowed to hold him at all. I won't have anyone there supporting me. Just for me."
"Okay, so you need to rectify that," Joey said. "You need someone else there for you."
"I asked Roo because she's been through this before but Marilyn said no," Nicole said. "You know things are weird between them. And since then, she's gone completely off the boil. Sid didn't even tell her about what happened yesterday. I've barely escaped to even come and talk to you. She's been fussing around me like crazy, not wanting to let me out of her sight in case anything happens. I'm already feeling completely smothered."
Joey nodded.
"Well, it was pretty shitty of Sid not to mention what happened yesterday," she said. "She must be feeling very shut out."
"I should have called her," Nicole fretted.
"It's not on you, Nic," Joey assured her. "Sid's her partner. He was aware. He should have told her. In fact, I'm sure I heard him tell Indi not to tell her."
Nicole sighed.
"But I'm sorry she's panicking and crowding you. That's not fair either."
"Well, I was thinking, you were so amazing yesterday…" Nicole ventured. "Would you be my additional birthing partner? I don't think Marilyn would object to you. But I don't know if you'd want to be in a birth situation?"
Joey smiled and squeezed her hand.
"I'd be honoured," she said.
"Why do you and Xavier argue so much?" Casey wondered, as they walked to Buckton's together for lunch.
Ruby shrugged.
"Just exes, I guess," she said. "We used to be okay but… I don't know. He doesn't like me. I don't really like him either, to be honest. I suppose, once upon a time there was a connection and now… just not."
He caught hold of her hand.
"Well, I hope that never ever happens to us," he said.
She leaned closer and kissed him.
"It will never happen to us," she assured him.
They were interrupted by a car horn. For one awful moment, they both thought it was Heath, ready to cause trouble and make comments. Then they realised it was worse: it was Charlie, out on patrol with Blake.
"Being grounded doesn't involve strolls along the beach front with your boyfriend," Charlie called out the window. "It means quickly getting to the restaurant, eating under supervision and then getting back to school."
They both flushed red, apologising and picking up their pace. Charlie watched them hurry and wound her window back up.
"You're a hard task master," Blake commented.
"Yes, I am," Charlie agreed a little proudly.
"Nicole, what about after the birth?" Joey asked.
Nicole had been about to leave. She stopped and sat back down, somewhat heavily in the chair. She looked tearfully at Joey.
"What do you mean?" she asked.
"Just… the words you're using… You're talking about Marilyn snatching the baby from you. Wondering if you're even going to be allowed to hold him… Nic, you can't do this if you're not sure," Joey said seriously.
Nicole chewed her lips. Tears crept from the corners of her eyes. She wiped them hurriedly away. Joey scooted forward on her wheeled desk chair. She held both of Nicole's hands.
"Nicole, do you want to keep your baby?" she asked.
"Yes," Nicole admitted.
Charlie and Blake stopped to grab a coffee from the Diner. On her way out, she asked Blake to wait, having spied Marilyn leaning against the fence by the beach. She looked desperately anxious.
"Hi," the police officer greeted. "Are you okay?"
"I suppose you knew all about these Braxton Hicks yesterday," Marilyn accused, even though she knew none of it was anything to do with Charlie.
"Um, yeah, well, Joey was there," Charlie explained. "She told me about it when she came home last night. Why? Didn't you?"
"I found out this morning!"
Charlie was confused.
"Sid was there though?" she said. "I mean, obviously we would have contacted you but we just assumed that Sid would have kept you informed."
"Well, that's the issue, isn't it? My own partner didn't think it was something I needed to know about," Marilyn said sadly. "And I've tried to be supportive of Nicole this morning but she's run off. I don't know. I think I've been a bit too supportive. I didn't mean to overwhelm her. I'm just getting everything wrong."
Charlie put her arm around her.
"I'm sure she knows you're doing your best," she said. "Just tell her the truth – that you're trying to do your best for her as well as the baby. Make it clear that it's about her as much as anything else. That you want to support her. Try and keep the lines of communication open. Then she'll contact you herself; you won't have to rely on Sid. Even though you should be able to."
Romeo felt like he had renewed energy, as he delivered as many posters as he could around the Bay. John had accepted flyers in the Surf Club, Joey to Buckton's and even Brax had been surprisingly supportive. They'd had a long chat about surfing and what a wonderful sport it was. Brax had told him that he would always support a young man making his way in the world and especially someone who wanted to introduce surfing into people's lives. Despite everything he knew about him, it had made him see Brax in a whole new light.
He stopped short when he spotted Indi right ahead of him, about to head into the Diner, where he was hoping Leah or Irene would let him leave some advertisements.
"Hi," Indi said awkwardly.
"Hi," he replied, clutching his papers.
"I uh, I saw your flyers in the Surf Club. You're… you're starting a Surf School?"
He nodded.
"I am."
"I'm really proud of you," she told him, making his blush.
"You are?" he said.
"Yes, Romeo," she confirmed. "This is something you love. It's something you're good at. I'm proud of you for making such a good go of everything."
She touched his arm. It made him tingle. He longed to hold her, kiss her, beg her to take him back and be with him forever.
"Thank you," he managed.
They looked at each other for a moment longer than necessary; then they went their separate ways. Romeo technically needed to follow her into the Diner but decided it looked too weird so changed his route and tried somewhere else first.
Charlie arrived at the restaurant after work for dinner with Joey.
"You look how I feel!" Joey remarked, pulling her fiancée into her arms.
Charlie kissed her and held her tight.
"Long day," she said. "And not just work."
Joey led the way to their table, her favourite, right by the window, overlooking the beach she loved so much.
"What else has happened?" Joey asked worriedly.
"I saw Marilyn," Charlie said.
Joey looked fretful, thinking of her conversation with Nicole.
"She's so torn up over Sid and Roo and about Nicole," Charlie explained. "She's so frightened that everything's going to fall apart."
Joey looked even more anxious.
"What do you know?" Charlie asked, able to read her like a well-loved book.
Joey sighed. Charlie kept her gaze.
"Joey?"
"I spoke to Nic today," Joey admitted. "She wants to keep the baby."
Nicole was reluctantly sitting in The Pizza Oven. She felt uncomfortable here. It felt disloyal to Charlie and Joey. But she was hiding from Marilyn and she also wanted to spend time with Angelo, who was on shift. She had been making small talk about Romeo's new business; his flyers were posted on the wall and littered one corner of the bar. She was secretly proud of him for making a new start after the pit of despair he had been in.
"So," Angelo said, cutting in. "What are you really here to talk about?"
She blushed, wondering when he had started to know her so well.
"I uh… I talked to Joey today and I… I've realised something," she ventured.
"If you're about to tell me you're gay…" he half-joked.
She laughed loudly. He grinned.
"Well, she is pretty hot but no… I definitely like boys. Hence being pregnant at the age of eighteen!" she said, looking down at her bump.
He leant in, wondering if she was about to say what he suspected.
"I want to keep my baby," she revealed. "I just have no idea how to tell Marilyn. I don't even know if I can. How can I break her heart like that?"
Ruby had been summoned to the restaurant. She was confused as to why, as she was grounded. Walking through the Surf Club, she spotted Xavier playing pool with a beautiful, dark haired girl that she assumed was Miranda, judging by the way he was looking at her. She watched them for a moment, recalling how rude he had been to her earlier in the day.
"Can we help you?" Xavier asked, noticing her.
"Oh, yes, thanks," Ruby said. "I just wondered if you could lend me your notes from Maths?"
Xavier looked panicked.
"Maths?" Miranda asked. "I thought you were studying Philosophy?"
"Oh, I do an elective…" Xavier tried but Ruby was quick to cut in.
"Philosophy?" she said. "We don't study Philosophy SATs. It's only high school. You'd have to go to Uni for that!"
She smirked at Xavier, who looked like the ground was crumbling beneath him, before sauntering off upstairs, feeling very pleased with herself.
Next time… Indi accepts a date with Keiron, Joey is unsettled by Brax while Brax is stunned by a visitor…
