Episode 7501

Extended Summary

At Salt, John and Susie have been joined by the committee members. Susie tells John to not talk business at first but just chat to people, although she isn’t keen on the idea of him telling a navy story that involves him being found in a store cupboard with no pants on. She wonders who’s most likely to vote against Alf and John suggests Gerald, who’s had run-ins with Alf over the years. Susie says to focus on him and the rest will follow. Meanwhile, Roo finds Alf outside the house and says she’s hiding from Marilyn’s bean salad. Alf says he’s not happy with the way John’s behaving over the election, explaining about him lobbying the committee members. Roo thinks Alf should be there, if only to know what John’s saying. Alf says only an idiot would buy John’s hot air and he’s not going to scrounge around for votes.

Jasmine and Lewis are in the office at the gym. Lewis notes his behaviour earlier wasn’t his finest moment but Jasmine thinks Christian needed to know. Lewis leaves to get his head straight. Back at the Morgan house, Leah and Justin discuss the fact Tori and Christian were quiet earlier. Justin worries it’s because Tori’s not as happy about them moving out as she said. Leah thinks otherwise and encourages Justin to talk to Tori when she and Christian return from putting Grace down. Tori assures Justin she’s fine with it, although she might fight him for custody of Buddy. Justin talks to Christian but he doesn’t answer. Justin and Leah go to bed. Christian tells Tori he’s worried that he might have made a mistake with Anna and forgotten. Tori suggests they find out.

At the Diner, John is telling his story despite Susie shaking her head at him. Susie stands up and calls John to her side as she talks about change. Roo enters and sits in the seat John just vacated, saying she’s there as Alf’s proxy. Susie hands over to John, who says they’re a strong community who should focus on the future: Updated facilities, better equipment and more focus on the nippers and younger members. Roo asks how they’re going to pay for that and John says a membership drive: They need to get membership fees from people who come in to use the gym, board shop and Salt. Gerald says he’s often said that to Alf. John says Alf has two businesses to run and a second home in Merimbula, and the job needs someone 100% committed. Roo looks furious but most people applaud. Later, Susie ushers members out with exhortations to vote for John. Roo tries to get Gerald to talk to Alf but he tells John he’s got his vote. Roo goes to confront John but Susie steps in, saying the evening’s over.

Jasmine hears someone coming into the gym and discovers Lewis has come back. He says he realised that she was the person he wanted to be with and suggests they walk home together. Outside the surf club, Lewis notes he shouldn’t have gone off at Christian in front of the staff when he’s supposed to be a manager and wonders if he should resign. Jasmine says she did lots of dumb things after Robbo died and he’s acknowledged the problem now.

Tori and Christian check the computer records and find Anna’s case. Christian remembers her: An MVA victim with massive head injuries. He points out something else as well: She was pregnant. Next morning, Roo is chatting to Alf outside the bait shop. Alf is annoyed she went to John’s dinner and thinks people only turned up for the novelty of John paying for their food and drink. Roo says John had some good ideas. Alf says he does sometimes but doesn’t tend to put them into practice. Roo also mentions what John said about Alf. Alf wonders if people listened. Roo said they’d just been wined and dined and it might be different today.

At the surf club, there are posters of John everywhere and he and Susie are greeting the voters. Alf and Roo look on in horror. Jasmine starts to chat to Lewis nearby when suddenly Tori and Christian appear: They asked Lewis to meet them. Christian and Lewis go up to Salt. Jasmine wonders if it’s a good idea and Tori notes they’re about to find out. Upstairs, Christian notes Anna’s injuries were severe: They were hopeful after the surgery, but it wouldn’t have made any difference if he’d stayed. Lewis says she had everything to live for. Christian expresses sympathy about him losing his wife and child and apologises for not remembering him, but says they can’t go on like this if they’re working together.

Tori and Jasmine are walking on the beach. Jasmine is worried there’s something she doesn’t know. Tori admits that there is but she can’t say anymore. Jasmine notes she’s going to worry now. Tori suggests now Christian knows the whole story about Lewis they can work it out. At the surf club, Susie is continuing to encourage people to vote for John. Alf tells Roo that if things don’t go his way then it might not be the worst thing: Martha would say it’s the universe telling him to slow down. Justin arrives and calls the place a madhouse. Alf agrees.

At the Diner, Irene notes Alf will be gutted if he doesn’t win. Leah and Tori think there’s no chance of that but Jasmine says John has fans and Irene notes Susie’s practically filling out the ballot papers. Christian comes in and suggests Jasmine goes to see Lewis down on the beach. He tells Tori that he thinks the talk helped. Jasmine finds Lewis who rambles somewhat, saying Christian isn’t supposed to care or apologise, he’s supposed to be arrogant and dangerous and take risks. He says he’s spent two years hating Christian and doesn’t know who to blame now, then mentions the fact Anna was pregnant: They were on the way to their first ultrasound when they had the accident. Jasmine hugs him.

John announces the voting is closed and Susie says nearly everyone she spoke to was voting for him. Roo sarcastically asks if Susie’s doing the counting and John says it’ll be two impartial committee members who check each other’s count. Roo asks if they were at his dinner. John offers Alf his hand and says may the best man win but Alf just walks away, with Roo following. John is left hanging until Justin shakes the still outstretched hand. Later, Justin fills Leah and Irene in on the incident at the Diner. He gets a text from Tori saying she and Christian are going to Victoria for a few days so he can meet Brody and Raffy. Leah and Justin reflect on having the house to themselves. Irene bows to the inevitable and tells Leah she can leave. Leah calls out that she’ll be back in an hour. Irene wryly notes she won’t.

Jasmine tells Lewis she was starting to worry about him. She says she doesn’t know what it’s like to lose a child but does know what it’s like to lose the future you saw for yourself and the dream of a family. Lewis apologises for not telling her about the pregnancy. Jasmine hopes he can make peace with it now and, if not, he can talk to her. Lewis says that being around her he feels like a future’s actually possible. They share a brief kiss and then a lingering one.