Episode 5096

Extended Summary

Six months ago, a mystery man watches the news report on the Summer Bay riots and finds it hilarious. Back in the present, the same man heads into town one stormy night. The next morning he heads into the diner and introduces himself to Marilyn and Irene as Penn Graham, charming the socks off both of them. He’s looking for a place to stay and Marilyn takes him to the caravan park, where he meets Romeo, Miles and Nicole. Enquiring as to how long he will be staying, Penn replies that he’ll be around for ‘as long as it takes’. Nicole is instantly taken with him and later stumbles upon him at the beach. She fishes for information on Penn, but he sees through her act and tells her he knows she wants details on him. That afternoon, Penn reads Nicole’s palm and tells her someone wicked is about to come into her life – or perhaps he already has…he heads off, leaving Nicole’s heart a flutter.

Gina is stressing over the situation with John and decides to give him a call. His phone rings out and little does Gina know it’s because he is with Jill. John sees the missed calls and feels bad, but Jill woos him back to bed. Later, Gina bumps into Jill and asks if she knows where John was the previous night. Aware of the tension the truth would cause, Jill is busy deflecting when John walks in carrying Jill’s watch that she left at his place the night before.

The implication is clear and John doesn’t deny it. He tells Gina that Jill doesn’t send him mixed messages, she doesn’t take one step forward and then two back the way Gina does. Hearing this upsets Gina further, but she later resolves herself and tells Jill that she’s going to stop pushing John away. Jill asks if Gina’s stealing John off her. Gina says she’s not, but if John comes back to her she won’t say no. Pushed by this, Gina heads straight back over to the gym to quickly fix up another date with John.

Meanwhile, Romeo is furious that Jill is causing all this trouble with Gina. Nicole tells him to stay out of his mother’s love life, but Romeo feels compelled to step in. Things always go bad for Jill when she’s with a man and she always starts drinking again. Later, when he learns from Miles that Gina would still like to be with John, he’s even more upset by Jill’s actions. He goes to see Gina and tells her that if she lets him help, he can get John back for her.