Episode 695

Extended Summary

At Summer Bay House, Ben explains to Pippa and Carly that he wanted to surprise them by buying another goat. Both Pippa and Carly are not impressed about having two goats at the caravan park but Ben is trying to keep a positive attitude, believing he could get them to mate.

On the way back from the beach, Sally wants to spend more time with Patricia by going to the store with her, in the belief that Pippa won’t care where she is anyway. Patricia convinces her that it’s probably best to go home and they can do something another day.

Michael comes to see Pippa to pay his rent, explaining that since he’s signed up to the Yabbie Creek Rotary Club, it seems he may be sticking around for a while. A clearly smitten Pippa says she could learn to live with that, and invites him to dinner that evening as she can’t find her receipt book. As he leaves, she realises she’d been holding it all along.

Meanwhile outside, Sally, Ben and Carly are checking out Mr & Mrs McGinty in the goat pen. Sally wants to know what Ben’s actually waiting for them to do, and Ben stumbles over his words as he explains he wants them to be ‘friends’. When Sally asks how he’ll know when they are, Pippa comes to the rescue and simply explains to Sally that he wants them to mate. When she then hears that Michael has been invited to dinner, Sally makes out that she’s been invited to Patricia’s for dinner. With no such invitation given, Sally then has to head over to Patricia’s caravan to try and wangle an invite, eventually succeeding.

Later that evening Michael and joined Pippa, Ben and Carly for dinner. Ben makes sure Pippa doesn’t throw away the scraps as the goats will make a great garbage disposal – though not as good as pigs would… Pippa sees where he’s going and puts a stop to that idea. Michael asks if Sally’s absence has anything to do with him, but the rest assure him that Sally did genuinely have a dinner invitation from Patricia.

Sally has enjoyed a nice meal at Patricia’s and asks her what it’s like living alone. Sally explains that she’d prefer to live on her own, that way only people she likes would be able to come and visit.

At the store, Marilyn asks Alf why they’re doing a stocktake. Alf explains that if they’re able to sell some of their stock to other shops, he may be able to use the money to reduce the overdraft. Marilyn isn’t convinced it would be a good idea for the shop to be half empty for the regular customers. He let’s Marilyn go home and decides to close the shop up early – at least he may save a bit on electricity.

Pippa tries to convince Michael that Sally will come around eventually, Sally’s quite stubborn but she needs time to work things out for herself. Meanwhile in Patricia’s caravan, Sally is doing all she can to avoid going back home too soon. Patricia realises that something is bothering her and talks to her. Sally explains she doesn’t like going home anymore – many of the people she loves are gone, and she believes Pippa only cares about Michael now. Back in the house, Michael invites Pippa to a rotary club dinner dance at the weeken. Pippa doesn’t know if she’s ready for them to make such a public statement just yet, in front of so many people she knows, but Michael lets her think about it.

The next morning, Carly has had a restless night thanks to the noisy goats. Pippa’s mind is elswhere however, and she tells Carly that Michael has invited her out. Carly realises that Pippa thinks she wouldn’t be doing the right thing by Tom, but Carly tells her to go for it, everybody knew how much she loved Tom and she has to look to the future. Pippa catches Michael just as he’s driving out and gladly accepts his invitation, which makes Michael’s day. Patricia then comes out of her caravan and asks if she can have a talk with Pippa.

Alf is on the phone at the store to one of his suppliers, despite Alf being a customer for over 10 years, he’s threatening to take him to court over missed payments. Ben comes in to buy some goat feed and Marilyn has to explain they’re out of stock. When Ben lightheartedly says that Alf will go out of business unless he serves the needs of the community, Alf doesn’t take kindly and blasts him before storming out.

Pippa and Patricia have worked out that Sally was dishonest about the dinner invitation the previous night, but Patricia explains that Sally is very unhappy at the moment, with the belief that Pippa’s trying to replace Tom. Patricia fears that Sally may be thinking of running away.

Ben finds Alf collecting his thoughts on the beach and apologises for his comment earlier, after being told the situation by Marilyn. Alf also apologises, and on Ben asking if there’s anything that can be done, says that he has to face it – he’s going to lose the business.