Episode 8508

Extended Summary

At Salt, a flustered Mackenzie tells Abigail she only has five minutes of her break left, despite Abigail protesting that she’s only just sat down. Levi turns up, explaining he’s on call, and Mackenzie explains that she’s trying to get things sorted for Kirby’s launch in two days. She keeps reducing the amount of time Abigail has left before saying her break’s over. Levi asks Abigail if she’s heard from Eden. Abigail hasn’t and says she was hoping to hear how things went between her and Jimmy. Levi says he’s just had an interesting convesation with him.

At the Newman house, Eden tells Cash she’s lost it. Cash offers her one of the beers from David, saying they’ll talk about that later. Eden says she rang Jimmy back but their civil chat turned into a massive fight. When Jimmy called back, she ended up asking him to the Bay tomorrow. She wants Cash to tell him it’s off but Cash says it’s not his place.

At the Diner, Irene tries to tell John she doesn’t have time but he responds that they’re meant to be having dinner. Leah turns up and is also surprised to see them there. Irene tries to suggest that she didn’t want to have dinner with John and changed her mind. Marilyn suggests it was because of not wanting to be around alcohol and Irene agrees. John suggests they eat there or at his but Irene says she wants to be on her own. She walks out, looking shaken.

Outside the Newman house, Cash gets Eden another beer, saying to thank Sarge. He asks her why she invited Jimmy, and Eden says it’s because she needs to know if she can be around him before the wedding, but her body’s telling her it’s a bad idea. Cash says he’s got the day off so will be across the road if she needs anything. Eden looks like she’s had an idea.

Next morning, Levi meets Mackenzie on the beach after she’s had a surf, noting he worked out where she was because her board and the car were gone. Mackenzie says she was too excited to sleep. Levi says it’s refreshing not to be woken up in the middle of the night. Mackenzie says she’ll be doing it again when the time’s right. Levi gets a text from Eden.

Near the surf club, Abigail has also got a text and tells Mali she thinks they’re in an alternate timeline. Levi and Mackenzie join them and Abigail checks that Eden did just invite them to a barbecue at her place with their dad. She anticipates Jimmy saying something that offends Eden and all hell breaking loose. Mackenzie and Mali are amused, until they get told that they’re invited as well.

Eden is rather aggressively chopping vegetables as Cash comes back in and says he’s cleaned the barbecue but it should be a job for her housemates. Eden says that Remi’s locked himself away in a hotel room doing the mix and Kirby’s gone shopping with Avalon. Cash queries the amount of salad she’s done and Eden says she’ll give any leftovers to John. She then tells him not to leave, just as Jimmy knocks on the door. Cash tells Eden to put the knife down and lets him in, admitting he didn’t expect to be there. Jimmy greets Eden, who immediately tells him not to call her sweetheart.

Outside the surf club, Mali is a bit worried about this given what happened when he met Debra. Abigail assures him he’s already told people everything but he still wants to know what he can and can’t say. Behind them, Levi checks Mackenzie is okay with leaving Salt to her staff. Mackenzie is eager to meet Jimmy, having been out of town when he visited before.

Cash is telling Jimmy that he lives across the street. He stops Eden walking away and explains how they had known each other a couple of years but she didn’t give him a shot until she came to the Bay. Eden says that’s not quite true. Jimmy says he’s pleased she made the commitment of getting engaged. At that moment, Levi, Abigail, Mackenzie and Mali arrive. Abigail is delighted to see Jimmy, and Eden does the introductions. Mali asks how long he’s there for her and he’s not sure. Eden slips away.

Cash looks for Eden inside, even wondering if she’s gone out before finding her in Remi’s room. He wryly notes she’s avoiding Jimmy and says inviting half the town over to run interference was a good idea. Eden says she got the idea from him saying she wasn’t alone. Cash says she can’t fault everything he says and won’t know if she can be around him if she hides away in there. Eden asks him to give her a moment.

Irene is working at the Diner. Marilyn checks she’s okay and Irene says she would be if people stopped asking her before heading into the kitchen. John comes in and asks Leah and Marilyn how Irene’s been. Irene listens in as John comments on how her explanation didn’t make sense. Marilyn suggests dropping it. As Irene comes back through, John talks about Kirby booking out the surf club and Salt for the launch, meaning he has to run the lifesaving from the garage. Leah checks Irene is okay with her taking time off work to accompany Justin. Irene looks frozen for a moment, then snaps that she remembers and goes out for a walk.

John follows Irene, asking why she won’t talk. Irene admits that she didn’t change her mind about the dinner and has no recollection of sending the texts or of Leah asking her to cover for her. John tries to downplay it but Irene says the other night she found herself in the garden in her nightie with no idea what she was doing there.

Jimmy tells Mackenzie and Mali a story about how when Abigail was six she stole the lipstick from the undertaker at the funeral parlour and wore it for weeks. Cash calls Mali and Abigail over for lunch. Eden snidely says that she didn’t know Jimmy had any family stories. Jimmy starts to tell a story about her ninth birthday but Eden cuts him off. Mackenzie asks about Levi. Jimmy says he was the perfect child… especially when he wouldn’t wear anything but a Superman costume for a year.

Irene is calmer and apologises to John for losing it. John is worried however and suggests she should see a doctor if she’s waking up in the garden. Irene suggests it was sleepwalking but John says any niggle should be checked out at their age. Irene snaps that she told him so he could reassure her and to drop it.

Most of the expanded Fowler family are eating and enjoying themselves. Mackenzie quietly tells Levi that Jimmy is like him, handsome and funny. They think Eden is a ticking time bomb though. Abigail convinces Jimmy to buy her dinner at Salt. Mali ends a phone call and tells an upset Abigail that Lowanna’s got a job with her husband in the mines for a few weeks and he has to go and look after their kids. Jimmy thanks Mali for making all this happen: If he hadn’t told Debra about Abby, then they wouldn’t have reconciled. He tells Eden he’s glad she’s forgiven him and they can move forwards. Eden says she can’t do this and walks out. Cash follows her across the road. Eden thinks Jimmy was blaming her for the family being apart. She says she tried to find out if she could be in the same space as him and she can’t, so begs Cash to tell him to leave.

Mali apologises to Abigail for leaving when it’s like this. Abigail rejoins Levi, Mackenzie and Jimmy. They’re not sure if Eden is coming back but think if anyone can convince her Cash can. Cash turns up and says she’s not coming back. Jimmy asks where she is, saying he’s not going to wait another ten years to have a conversation with her.

Across the road, Eden hears someone come in and finds it’s Jimmy. He reminds her she invited him and then avoided him. Eden says she thought they might sort things out and find a way to move forward but they can’t. Jimmy says they’re going to, whether she wants to or not.