Episode 549

Extended Summary

Adam and Emma are at the Diner and it sounds as though they’ve just been horse riding. Adam reminds Emma he’ll pick her up later for their audition, which Emma doesn’t seem very happy about. After Adam has gone, Carly passes by and comments on Emma still being with him. At the Fisher house, Chris and Geoff are arguing in the front room. Both think the other is unwelcome and should leave, with Chris saying Bobby would have accepted his dinner invitation if Geoff hadn’t interrupted. In the kitchen, Don asks Bobby about their two guests, wondering if it has anything to do with why she was dressed up the previous day. Bobby admits that it has and says she will explain once she’s got rid of them.

Sally arrives home and calls out for Pippa but doesn’t receive an answer. Relieved that she’s alone, she puts a hat on, placing another one on the table, and starts singing “There’s a Hole in My Bucket” in different voices. Ben comes down while she’s doing it. Sally explains she’s going to perform it with Murray at the amateur night but she hasn’t told him yet. Ben suggests she means she should ask him but Sally says it doesn’t work like that. She ropes Ben in to helping her practise, giving him the other hat. Meanwhile, Bobby is ushering Geoff and Chris out of the house, saying she’ll call them. Both want to talk with her alone but Bobby says she’ll let them know when she’s made a decision. Don stands looking at her expectantly. Bobby explains that she’s joined a dating service. She expects Don to disapprove but he’s more upset that she couldn’t tell him. He is surprised she was lonely but Bobby insists she isn’t, she just got fed up of being alone.

At the Diner, Carly asks Emma if she’s going on another date with Adam later but Emma says he wants her to audition as his assistant in a magic act. Emma says that Adam’s doing everything she wanted him to but it’s just an act and it’s still not making her happy. Carly suggests she should just break up with him. Emma doesn’t want to hurt him but Carly points out Adam dumped her for Emma. She wonders why Emma got back with him when she seemed to like Paul but Emma doesn’t think Paul feels the same way. Meanwhile, Paul is asking Steven about him and Viv and how he asked her out. Steven suspects Paul likes someone. Before they can go into it further, Adam approaches and thanks Steven for the advice he gave him that helped him get Emma back. After Adam has gone, Steven tries to resume his conversation with Paul but Paul stomps off.

Bobby is pacing the front room at home, annoyed by Don’s silence. Don tells her that he agrees there isn’t anyone suitable for her in Summer Bay but thinks that’s a sign that she should leave Summer Bay and go to university, since she might meet someone there who has the same interests as her. Bobby doesn’t want to do that. At the surf club, one of the auditionees, Cathy, is doing a fumbling and repetitive tap dance routine. Adam is almost laughing, Sally, Ben and Sophie all look bored and Grant is open mouthed with disbelief. Sophie taps her watch and Grant suggests Cathy wrap it up, since they’ve got an idea how the routine goes. He says he’ll tell her his decision after he’s seen everyone. Sophie says Sally and Mullet are up next. Sally gets Ben to stand in for Mullet since he couldn’t be there.

At the Diner, Carly reminds Emma about the audition. Paul comes in and says he’s heard Emma’s back with Adam, congratulating her. Emma suggests Paul come along too and auditions with his piano playing but Paul refuses and ends up snapping at her and storming out. Emma sees this as more evidence that Paul doesn’t like her but Carly looks thoughtful. Later, at the surf club, Adam and Emma are giving their audition: Emma is dressed in tights and a leotard while Adam looks much as he normally does with a top hat. Adam does a trick where he hides a coin in a handkerchief and makes it disappear but Steven, who knows the trick, says it’s in his pocket. Adam asks Emma for some rings but, since they’ve only done one rehearsal, she doesn’t know which one he wants. Grant comments on Sophie thinking she was the one who was going to make a fool of herself.

Don takes a phone call and tells Bobby it’s one of her gentleman friends. Bobby tells the caller she’ll tell him when she’s made her decision. Don realises Bobby’s already made her decision but Bobby won’t tell him until she’s told the one she’s going to let down. Later, at the Diner, Bobby tells Carly about the dating service and invites her to laugh. Carly says she already had her laugh when Geoff told her, pointing to him sitting at a nearby table. Geoff apologises to Bobby, saying he doesn’t normally barge into people’s lives but it seemed like Chris had a head start. He thinks if she gives him a chance she’ll grow to like him and the farm where he lives. Bobby says Geoff is obviously looking for a wife and she’s not ready for that and doesn’t think she’d like living on a farm. She tells him she doesn’t think he’ll have trouble finding someone that’s right for him. Geoff tells her he thinks she can do better than Chris.

Paul arrives at the now deserted surf club and settles down at the piano and starts playing. Grant comes in and Paul isn’t happy to see him. Grant assures him he’s not going to hassle him but thinks Paul is using the music to work through something and wishes him the best. After he’s gone, Paul plays the piano discordantly. At the Fletcher house, Sophie chides Steven for being mean about Adam’s tricks and thinks he couldn’t do better. Steven says he’s already got Grant to put him down for something but refuses to be drawn on what it is. Sally still hasn’t told Mullet they’re performing and Carly is shocked when Ben tells her that he’s put them down for a double act.

Bobby and Chris have met up at the restaurant. Chris tells her about his work as a landscape architect, saying people think they want to do the gardening themselves until they actually have to. He notes he started off doing the work himself but now employs other people to do it for him while he just does the ideas. Bobby picks up on his comment about convincing people of what they want and reeling them in and wonders if that’s what he’s done to her. Chris assures her they’ll both benefit.

Paul continues to play the piano at the surf club, now a lot more melodiously. Emma arrives, having forgotten her jacket, and is impressed by his playing. Paul refuses to play some more and storms out again. Emma notices he’s left the music he was writing behind and sees it’s called “Emma’s Song”. She looks pleased.