Episode 588

Extended Summary

Pippa is trying to fix Sally’s satchel and tells her to get her lunch ready. Sally notes they haven’t got any juice and Pippa says she’ll have to have cordial instead. Sophie notes there are no muesli bars either and Pippa says they’re too expensive. Sophie remembers Ben and Carly are coming home and suggests throwing a party but Pippa says they’ll just have a quiet family dinner and heads off to see Alf. Sophie quietly tells Sally they’ll come up with another way to welcome them both. Meanwhile, Alf is doing calculations and complaining about customers not paying their bills. Ailsa is trying to convince him to renovate the house and he eventually agrees, suggesting Ben and Carly might be glad of the work when they get back. Emma comes through on her way to school, causing Alf to remember he has to get to the store. She reminds Ailsa she’s having a family dinner at Paul’s that evening.

At the Diner, Paul and Vicki are chatting about the movie they’re going to. Vicki suggests they go bowling instead but Paul thinks the movie is fine. Vicki leaves just as Emma comes in. Steven, who was at the counter with Bobby, reminds Paul he has to get out of spending the evening with her and insists he do it now. Paul tells Emma she can’t come round for dinner because Lorraine has to work late. Emma suggests she come round later but Paul makes excuses and hurries off. At school, he complains to Steven that he doesn’t like lying to Emma and thinks they should tell her the truth because he doesn’t want to hurt her.  Steven says that’s the point, her reaction has to be genuine and she’ll thank him in the end. Paul isn’t sure she’ll forgive him.

Pippa goes to the store and tells Alf she’ll pay half the month’s bill. Alf is happy for her to pay when she can but hands the bill over. Pippa is horrified that it’s more than the previous month and wonders what a number of small amounts are. Alf says Sally has been buying drinks and sweets on credit and realises Pippa didn’t know. Later, at the Diner, Pippa tells Ailsa and Bobby about it. Bobby notes she’d have done the same thing. Ailsa suggests Pippa do some more baking for them to make money, asking for her meat loaf. Carly and Ben come in, having just arrived back. Bobby jokingly asks when they’re getting divorced and Ben says he’ll wait a week to decide.

Later, at the house, Carly is telling Pippa about the honeymoon and the romantic walks, while Pippa tries to get the meal done. Ben comes in with the post and finds the cheque for $7,000 from the insurance for his car. He and Carly both want Pippa to have it but she protests that Ben needs a new car. They eventually compromise: Ben will take $5,000 for the car, then Pippa will have $1,000 for the new engine for her car, since she decided she couldn’t let Don pay, and another thousand for bills. At the Diner, Ailsa tells Sally and Sophie about Carly and Ben being back and also says Pippa wanted to talk to Sally. The girls head off to see them, dragging Steven with them when he comes in with Paul.

Back home, Sally asks Carly and Ben what they did on the honeymoon, because they can’t have spent all their time in their room. (Sophie and Steven smirk. )Pippa asks Sophie to do her homework upstairs and Carly and Ben to go and get some eggs from the chooks. Sophie drags Steven upstairs with her. Pippa tells Sally she ran up $37 on sweets and asks who gave her permission. Sally says she was going to pay her back from her pocket money and apologises but complains they never have anything nice anymore. Pippa says they have to look after each other. Upstairs, Sophie takes Steven into Carly and Ben’s room and says she’s going to loosen the bolts on their bed as a welcome home joke. Steven makes a show of thinking it’s childish but seems to agree when Sophie says it’ll be funny.

Ben goes to the store with Sally to pay Pippa’s bill. He thanks Alf for the honeymoon and gives him his car keys back. Sally asks Alf for a part-time job to earn the money to pay back Pippa but Alf says he’s all right at the store with Marilyn and Paul. He notes he needs someone to redecorate his front room but that involves going up big ladders and putting up wallpaper so it’d probably be better for Ben. Sally agrees and Ben is happy to take it, since he isn’t getting much bulldozing work. Alf suggests Sally make money by collecting aluminium cans for recycling and he’ll pay her. That night, Steven and Paul are waiting at the Diner for Vicki to show up. Paul is nervous about the idea of being in a dark room with her when she’s probably not going to be thinking about the movie but Steven reminds him he’s doing it for Emma and says she’ll understand. Vicki comes in and she and Paul leave, passing Ailsa. Ailsa comments to Steven that Vicki looks smart and wonders if there’s a party. Ailsa tells Bobby she came back for wallpaper charts and recalls that Emma said she couldn’t spend the evening with Paul because he had family problems.

Pippa tells Sally and Sophie to go up to bed. Sophie quietly tells Sally that they’ll be able to hear the racket all over the house. Carly and Ben decide on an early night and Sophie, Sally and Steven all grin in anticipation. Ben carries Carly over the threshold into their room, joking he might wait two weeks before divorcing her. He drops her onto the bed and it collapses. Downstairs, a large chunk of the ceiling smashes on the floor. Pippa goes up to check on things and Steven tells the girls he said it was a bad idea. Upstairs, Carly and Ben are laughing about it. Pippa wonders what happened and Ben finds the bolts unscrewed.  Pippa storms down where Steven, Sophie and Sally are sweeping up and has a go at them all, saying Carly and Ben could have been hurt and they now need to replaster the ceiling. Sophie says it was her fault.  Carly and Ben come down and try to calm Pippa but she’s furious and only leaves when she hears Christopher crying upstairs. Sophie, Steven and Sally look guilty.

Alf is making a start on removing the wallpaper but Ailsa tells him to leave it to Ben. Emma comes through and says she called Paul but Lorraine thought he was out with her. She realises Ailsa knows something and Ailsa admits she saw Paul with Vicki. Next morning, Emma confronts Paul at the Diner. Paul tries to convince her to trust him but, when she won’t just take his word, claims that Vicki said she’d get her father to sack him if he didn’t go out with her. Emma wants to go after Vicki but Paul convinces her not to.

Pippa offers Sally and Sophie some chocolate cake for their lunch but is still frosty towards them, saying Ben did the ceiling first thing. She asks Sally to get her dirty washing. Steven comes in and Sophie asks him for $10, since she needs to pay for a school excursion. Steven says he doesn’t have the money and she’ll have to ask Pippa. At the Diner, Paul tells Steven what he told Emma and says the plan’s off. Vicki comes in and taunts Emma about what a good kisser Paul is. Emma replies by taunting Vicki about having to blackmail a guy to go out with her. Vicki slaps her and they briefly fight until Steven and Paul pull them apart. Both Emma and Vicki ask Paul to back up their version of events. When Paul won’t say anything, Emma realises he lied to her, slaps him and runs out. Bobby disperses the crowd. Steven tells Paul everything’s going perfectly. Paul doesn’t look convinced.