Episode 7521

Extended Summary

At the surf club, John asks Nikau how Ari is and Nikau notes he’s out of ICU. They chat about their girlfriends before Susie comes over to see John. He notes with the sponsorship money they could afford a website and admin, saying Susie’s doing work for free. Susie says she has other rewards. She gets a call from Justin which she ignores, saying settlement’s not for weeks. At the Diner, Justin is frustrated at the lack of response and Leah tries to calm him. Marilyn touches base with Irene and suggests she should tell Leah and Justin her suspicions. Irene points out that the last time she did that they were convinced Susie was wonderful and she needs concrete evidence.

Tane shows a police officer out of Ari’s room and tells Ari he was right about co-operating with them. Nikau turns up and Ari tells him the police took his statement about Paul and Leon and aren’t pressing charges. Ari dreams of being out of hospital but Tane points out that he has four cracked ribs and a punctured lung and can’t get out of bed on his own. Tane takes Nikau into the corridor while a nurse removes the bandage from Ari’s head and tells him that Ari still doesn’t know Mia was there and it’s not up to them to say. Nikau asks Ari if he remembers anything from being in a coma. Ari doesn’t but does know Nikau gave him the toki pendant, which he gives back. Tane goes to move the car and Nikau asks Ari about Mia. Ari thinks it wasn’t meant to be.

Walking on the beach, Willow says she knew Dean and Bella would hate her but she was willing to do it to keep them safe. Bella asks if she’d change things if she could go back in time. Willow says she did the right thing but regrets keeping it a secret and losing Bella from her life, asking how she gets her back. At the hospital, Tane runs into Mia and encourages her to see Ari. She goes to the room, surprising Ari who thought she’d left town. He says he’s not ready for round two and last time he saw her she didn’t want anything to do with him. Mia says last time she saw him he was in a coma.

Nikau is round the back of the Parata house when Bella turns up. She notes Nikau is wearing the greenstone pendant. He asks how things went with Willow. Bella still isn’t sure if she can forgive her but admits that she’s realised she misses her. At the hospital, Ari is stunned that Mia was by his side when he was unconscious. She says she can’t turn off how she feels about him. Ari assures her that Tane dealt with it and the police aren’t pressing charges. Mia says she can’t go back to how things were and leaves. Ari is unable to follow her.

Leah is trying to contact John while Justin is continuing to leave messages for Susie. With a bit of nudging from Marilyn, Irene goes over to them and tells them about Susie threatening her: She thinks Susie’s targeting her because she’s onto her and now has Leah and Justin’s savings. Leah and Justin are somewhat shellshocked and decide to go and see Susie. Willow comes in and they explain they think Susie’s a con artist. At the Palmer house, Susie tells John that the butcher’s in Yabbie Creek has agreed to the gold sponsorship. Leah and Justin turn up and tell Susie about the estate agency saying they haven’t bought the house. Susie insists she saw the paperwork and she’ll make some calls and sort it out. Leah says they’ll wait but Susie says she won’t get it sorted today. Realising they’ve spoken to Irene, she says she ruffled feathers when she started seeing John and they shouldn’t listen to small town gossip.

At the Diner, Willow is researching on her laptop. Irene thinks there’s no dirt on Susie but Willow says there’s nothing on her at all except her website, and no record of her working as a real estate agent in Western Australia. She does a search on the house Susie is pictured as selling and gets the same picture, except it gives Susie’s name as Imogen Simons. She tells Irene that Susie McAllister doesn’t exist. Irene goes round to see Leah and Justin and tells them what Willow found. Leah protests that Susie showed them the house but Irene says there’s no trace of her apart from the website. Justin wonders who they gave their money to.

Nikau warns Bella that if she rejects Willow again, she might not come back. Tane turns up and reveals he left Ari with Mia. They are both hopeful. Next morning, Bella and Nikau see Willow outside the surf club, They go over and Willow wonders if Bella wanted to talk some more. Bella says they’ve done enough talking and suggests they hang out instead. Nikau asks if he’s invited and Bella replies that three’s a crowd.

Tane goes to see Ari and notes he looks worse than yesterday. Ari asks him to get Mia and bring her back. Meanwhile, Leah and Justin are waiting outside the surf club. Leah is convinced that Susie is going to turn up and meet them. Justin worries that they didn’t do enough research on her. Leah refuses to let him catastrophise despite him pointing out they’ve given everything they have to a ghost and tells him to wait in silence.

Susie is showing John out of the house and tells him she’s going to make sponsorship calls. John offers to stay around and get some food but Susie tells him he needs to be at the surf club and to get something from Salt, adding that she has to go to Yabbie Creek and sort out Leah and Justin’s mess. She says it’s the two of them against the world. After John has gone, she gets a bag of money, places some clothes on top of it and starts packing up her laptop.

Tane finds Mia outside the surf club and asks her not to walk out on Ari. Mia says she was stupid to believe he’d changed. Tane says it’s not Ari’s fault and Ari only got involved because he was trying to protect him like he couldn’t protect Mikaere. He promises he won’t make that mistake again and notes everyone knows that Mia still loves Ari.