Episode 8554

Extended Summary

Levi and Mackenzie are walking on the beach. Levi says he’s booked time off work in two weeks’ time for the next round of IVF. Mackenzie comments on them being in a holding pattern and they hug. Further down the beach, Abigail joins Mali and offers to help him clear up after a class. Mali asks her to clean the boards first. They see Levi and Mackenzie and wish they could do something for them.

At the caravan park house, Alf gives Roo her letter from Irene. She reads it aloud: Irene wishes her every success on her journey, comments on how it takes a village and Summer Bay is the best village there is, and tells her to ask for help and trust her instincts. Cohen comes in and is worried to see Roo in tears. Alf assures him it’s happy sad.

Outside the surf club, Lacey tells Theo she almost crashed the party to watch him play. Theo tells her David was there. Jo comes along and Lacey tells her to keep walking. Theo awkwardly follows Lacey. Jo gets a call from David. She finds him taking selfies by the Sold sign outside the beach house and takes one of both of them. He shows her the key he got from the agent.

Cohen notes there’s only four places for dinner. Alf and Roo explain Marilyn is working a shift with Leah. Adrian arrives with a book for Cohen, which Cohen says he was going to get from the library. Adrian gets a text from his mum which Cohen realises is his nanna. Adrian says he’s got a pop too and Adrian has a brother and sister with children, meaning Cohen has cousins.

At the surf club, Mali and Abigail are having a good natured argument about how messy she is. Levi and Mackenzie come down from Salt. Mali and Abby were hoping to join them for dinner but they say they’ve already eaten and just want to get home and rest. After they’ve gone, Abigail wishes they could do something for them. Mali suggests a surprise date.

Roo tells Cohen and Adrian that Alf says the meat’s nearly done. Cohen is looking at photos on Adrian’s phone, seeing his ten-year-old cousin Ellie and her father Thomas, Adrian’s brother. Adrian says Thomas has often played jokes on him. When Cohen asks when he can meet them, Adrian evasively says he doesn’t know.

David and Jo are looking over the beach house. David says her mum would have loved it. Jo says she would have agreed with her decorating choices and David notes Lacey would have argued for the exact opposite. They drink a toast to Irene and comment on how a lot of love’s gone into the place. Jo isn’t sure Lacey will come round but, in what seems to be a familiar phrase of David’s, they say energy and persistence conquer all things.

As they eat, Cohen comments on never having had cousins before. He asks Roo about going with Adrian to see his family. Roo agrees and asks Adrian when it’s likely to happen. Adrian awkwardly says he’ll have to check his calendar. Next morning, Mali and Abigail are leaading a blindfolded Mackenzie and Levi along the beach. They take the blindfolds off and show them a sitting area with a picnic, which Mali calls their personal chill-out area, which includes alcohol-free bubbly from Irene’s party. Mackenzie and Levi are grateful and Mali and Abigail leave them to it. Mackenzie calls it a sign to be more positive.

Alf comments on how quiet Roo’s been. She admits she doesn’t think Adrian’s keen on Cohen visiting his family. Alf suggests she just wants to think that and that Adrian was just shell-shocked. Cohen comes in and asks what the weather’s like where his cousins live. Roo says it’s further south so cooler. Cohen says he was wondering if he should get a warmer jacket and Roo says they’ll get one nearer the time. She tells Alf she could be wrong so she’ll call Adrian and ask how he feels.

At the surf club, David turns up and tells Lacey he and Jo have early access to the house and places a key on the counter, saying there’s a place for her there if she wants it. Theo comes downstairs as Lacey refuses to take it, walking out. David picks up the key and goes to leave, then gives it to Theo, telling him to hold onto it in case Lacey changes her mind.

Mackenzie and Levi are relaxing in their prepared space with Levi noting he doesn’t want to leave, partly because he’s had seconds. Mackenzie suggests they need to do more things they enjoy and stop worrying about IVF so much. Levi agrees it won’t affect the outcome. Mackenzie says if it works out then it won’t just be the two of them. Levi says he loves her.

At the surf club, Mali and Abigail reflect on not having heard back from Mack and Levi. Abigail suggests Mali now needs to organise a date for them. Mali says he already has: He’s booked them a table at the seafood place in Yabbie Creek with a movie afterwards. They notice Theo and Lacey arguing about David at the board shop. Lacey stops long enough to wish Mali a happy day off. Theo thinks David was just trying to reach out and she was too harsh on Jo. Lacey thinks it’s none of his business and wonders why he’s taking their side. Theo refers to watching Leah say goodbye to Irene and says Lacey pretends she doesn’t need anyone but it’s not true, asking what it takes for her to cut her family some slack.

Cohen is helping Alf with a repair job but spends more time wondering what his cousins are like, saying it was always just him and his mum, then Roo and Alf came along, and now he has Adrian and everyone. He asks Alf if he has a big family and Alf says he has four sisters, five technically, and agrees Roo has a lot of cousins. At the Diner, Adrian arrives to see Roo. She asks if it’s okay for Cohen to meet his family. Adrian says it’s not happening and that’s what he came to tell her, before walking out.

David and Jo are looking over how much stuff there actually is at the beach house. Jo finds a note from Irene saying the house should have everything they need and to make it her own. David tells her about seeing Lacey and they won’t fill the third room any time soon. Jo thinks they need to celebrate having the place. Lacey approaches round the back and hears them talking inside, watching them through the window for a moment before walking away. She finds Theo by the Sold sign and tells him about David and Jo being there and calls this a dumb idea.

Roo chases after Adrian as he goes to his car, saying he needs to tell Cohen about not meeting his family himself. Adrian says the whole thing with meeting Cohen was a mistake and he never should have come here, and to tell Cohen he’s sorry. Despite Roo’s protests, he drives off.