Episode 6945

Extended Summary

Near the Diner, Hunter is railing to Alf and Leah about Christina’s actions. He wants to track her down and have a go but Alf and Leah both advise him to calm down first. After Hunter’s gone, Leah asks Alf if she can interfere now. Alf says he’s tempted to have a go at Christina himself. Inside, Marilyn has filled in Irene and both sympathise with Hunter. John comes in and Marilyn gets Irene to serve him. Irene asks if they’re still fighting. John says it’s just a disagreement but he and Marilyn are soon firing barbs at each other through Irene until she’s had enough of it and John leaves.

At the surf club, Raffy, Coco and Ryder brainstorm ideas on how to sort John and Marilyn out. Ryder suggests pushing Marilyn off the wharf so John has to jump in and save her. Coco and Raffy are suitably appalled but Coco agrees they need to do something drastic. At the farm house, Maggie is attempting to learn Italian by repeating simple phrases from a dictaphone while Ben critiques her attempt at knitting a scarf, which is only a few inches long and has a hole in it. Maggie dreams of being able to talk to his Italian cousins if they visit them. Ben finds a box on the doorstep sent by Maggie’s office assistant; she wanted to check on Roo’s substitute. Despite Ben trying to get her to slow down, Maggie is soon excitedly reading gym proposals, student reports and the new syllabus.

Ryder goes into the Diner kitchen to talk to Marilyn and tells her John isn’t going to be home for dinner so Raffy wants to make her tofurkey. Marilyn happily accepts. Ryder then goes to see John at the surf club, where he is cleaning the pool table with the dust buster. After taking a moment to poke fun, Ryder delivers a similar message, that it’s just John and Raffy for dinner and she’s cooking steak.

Raffy and Coco are getting the meal ready at the Palmer house. Raffy reflects on not only losing Ty as a boyfriend but losing him completely, despite knowing he’s happy. Coco apologises for not being there for her. They get a text from Ryder saying Operation Dinner For Two is go. Later, Raffy is setting the table as Marilyn arrives home. A few moments later, John also arrives. They are surprised to see each other and Raffy says she organised the family meal they wouldn’t. Neither seems comfortable and John nearly leaves but Raffy tells them she misses Ty too but avoiding each other isn’t helping.

At the surf club, Hunter is leaving an angry phone message for Christina, calling her a liar. Leah gently says it doesn’t help. Hunter says he thought they cared about each other. Leah says you can still hurt someone you care about and Christina knows she’s in the wrong. Hunter says she’ll stuff things up for him to protect herself. They head to the Diner where Irene gives Hunter her commiserations. Both she and Leah think Hunter should report Christina to the uni. Hunter isn’t sure: It won’t get him his placement back and he doesn’t want to get Christina into trouble. Leah says she’ll go with him.

Maggie is looking through the school reports. Ben looks over his shoulder and recalls his own reports saying he might be intelligent if he applied himself. He convinces her to show him Ryder’s and notes it’s not bad and better than his. Maggie, looking worried, says Coco’s isn’t as good and neither is another one. At the surf club, Raffy joins Ryder and Coco. They ask how the plan’s going. Raffy isn’t sure but says at least they both showed up and listened to her.

John and Marilyn are eating together but the conversation is very stilted. They eventually attempt to talk but both think the other is being stubborn. John says he forms a bond with anyone they foster. Marilyn says she does as well. John says she can compartmentalise her feelings better: He’s not saying never but he’s not ready yet. Marilyn says there’s a child in need now. They’re interrupted by the phone: It’s Maggie, who tells them Raffy’s grades are down. Both are upset by the news.

Alf and Irene welcome Leah and Hunter as they return from the uni. They made the report and the uni are taking it seriously. Hunter thanks Leah for going with him but isn’t sure if he’ll get his placement back. He decides to go to Salt for a pizza. There, he runs into Christina who is aghast that he reported her, saying it could ruin her career. He says she tried to ruin his chances. Christina says she’s lost her marriage and him: Her job is all she has left and she can’t tell them what happened. She begs him to retract his statement.

John and Marilyn are shocked at Raffy failing, saying they’ve dropped the ball. They both agree they need to focus on her and it’s not the right time to take on another child, although they also agree it’s something for the future. Raffy turns up and they tell her they need to talk to her. At the same time, Coco arrives home to be greeted with similar words from Ben and Maggie; her first thought is it’s to do with Maggie’s test results but they tell her it isn’t.

Next morning, John, Marilyn and Raffy meet Ben, Maggie and Coco at the Diner. Maggie says the girls have one more Year 11 exam and will need to work hard to catch up. No-one’s angry and they have a plan. Afterwards, the girls meet Ryder on the beach. He is amused that he did better than either of them. They explain that Maggie’s going to tutor them and that afterwards they’ll be ahead of him again.

The teens head to the surf club where Raffy comments on how John and Marilyn are putting on a united front for her. Ryder thinks his “genius plan” got them together; Raffy and Coco argue it was a group effort but Ryder insists he was the one that got them to the house. While he’s getting the drinks, Coco says she’s let Maggie down and isn’t going to do it again. The three of them drop by the Palmer house; John and Marilyn are seeming more their old selves and give Coco and Raffy lunch packages before the first tutoring session with Maggie.

Leah finds Hunter near the beach looking morose and guesses he’s thinking about Christina. Hunter can’t understand how it came to this. He then gets an e-mail from uni. Soon after, at the Diner, a horrified Hunter and Leah fill Alf and Irene in on the latest: Christina has accused Hunter of stalking and harassing her and he could be thrown out of uni.