Amy,
Here’s a rough cut of the documentary for you to watch if you ever find time out from jetting around the world. There’s a little extra clip on the end that you might find of particular interest.
Love to you and Gracie
Annalise

There was a knock at the door. Amy tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and put the scrap of paper on top of the parcel on her coffee table. She stood up, catching a glimpse of herself in the mirror above the fire. Her hair was a mess, no make up. ‘Great’ she thought, ‘just the way I want to look’.

“Mummy mummy mummy!” She turned round to find Gracie stood in the archway to the kitchen with a huge grin on her face. “Is that daddy at the door?”

Amy smiled at her little girl despite herself. “Probably” she replied, doing her best to sound cheery. She opened the door, making a lazy attempt to straighten out her hair.

“Amy, hi.”

“Damien.” Amy nodded towards the figure on the doorstep and grinned. “Glad you could come.”

Actually, she wasn’t. She could never forgive him for what he did, if she never saw him again in her life it would be too soon. But the child tugging on her trouser leg reminded her of why she needed to see him. He was still the father of her daughter. Unfortunately.

“Hi dad” Gracie greeted. She beamed up at her father, but still hid behind her mum. “Are we going to the zoo now?”

The smile slid from Damien’s face. He looked back to Amy “Actually, that’s what I wanted to talk to you about. About this weekend…”

* * *

“Damien, you promised.” Amy scowled at her soon-to-be ex-husband after stepping outside and pulling the door too behind her. Damien stepped back a little towards his car and Amy stood there watching him with her arms folded.

He avoided her gaze. “I know I did. But there’s been an emergency, Danielle’s mother…”

A disbelieving laugh escaped Amy’s lips. “You stand your daughter up for that tart?”

“Amy, don’t… She needs me.”

Amy shook her head. “There’s someone else who needs you more.”

Damien looked at the ground. “Tell Gracie I’m sorry.”

“Tell her yourself.”

“I can’t…”

“You can’t even tell your own daughter face to face that she won’t be going to the zoo today? Damien, You know how much she’s been looking forward to it.”

There was a long pause, Damien didn’t reply.

Amy stared at him waiting then shook her head. She turned on her heel and headed back towards the house without saying a word. Damien called after her.

“I’ll make it up to her, I promise.”

Amy stopped and turned back to face him. “Your promises don’t mean a lot do they?”

“I mean it this time. I’ll take her to the zoo next weekend.”

“Will you?” Amy asked rhetorically, raising one eyebrow. “I gave you a chance to spend time with our daughter.” She put emphasis on the ‘our’. It really felt like she was doing all this on her own. “You blew it Damien, don’t think you’re getting another chance.”

She disappeared inside. He was still trying to apologise, but his empty meaningless words went straight through Amy, barely registering at all.

* * *

Gracie had slammed her bedroom door 40 minutes ago and still wasn’t coming out. Amy had tried. She’d sat outside her 5 year old’s bedroom, listening to her sob under the covers, trying to explain why her dad didn’t want to see her.

But she’d run out of things to say. Kids aren’t stupid, Gracie knew the reason. And besides, how did Amy expect Grace to believe her words when she didn’t believe them herself.

So now she was curled up on the beige sofa, taking sips from her coffee mug and flicking through the usual rubbish of lunch time talk shows and nature programs. She sighed, and shut off the TV with the remote, throwing it down onto a cushion in frustration.

Her eyes fell on the parcel that was still sitting on her table since the morning. She picked up Annalise’s note and read it again. ‘An extra clip on the end you might find of particular interest’.Amy cringed. She knew exactly what that was likely to be. Which means the person in question had seen her desperate message that everyone who ever lived on Ramsey street had probably seen. And laughed at.

‘I left him. I got pregnant and left him. What right do I have to expect him to call me? To expect him to want to call me?!’ She stared at the video shaped brown paper parcel for a second, wondering momentarily if it would be a better idea to just throw it out.

Amy knew what Lance was going to say. ‘I miss you, you were my first love, I hope you’re happy…’ All the stuff she wanted to hear but tacked on the end of his heart-felt message would be an update on his life. Which was probably a damn sight better than hers. He was happy with Alana, he’d told her so only a few months ago when he called her to wish her happy birthday.

She wanted nothing more than to pour her heart out to him about Damien and what he’d done to her, about Gracie, and Ramsey street, and how much she missed those carefree teenage days with him and the gang. But she didn’t. She pretended like everything was fine. She didn’t want his pity.

“Get a grip” she mumbled to herself, “you know want to watch it.”

She unwrapped the tape and shoved it into the machine. She found the video control under a mountain of crayons and with a shaky hand, hit play.

Amy watched the familiar faces go buy, and listened to them reminiscing about life in Erinsborough, but wasn’t really paying attention. After a minute or two she pressed fast forward, and watched them all whiz by until she got to Annalise’s summary of the documentary and watched the closing credits role by.

She stared at the screen in anticipation and the black was replaced by and empty shot of what she recognised to be Number 30’s living room. She smiled. It had changed a bit, but was still as messy as ever. ‘Of course it is, Toadie still lives there.’

A cheery face ducked into shot and Amy’s spirits immediately lifted. He looked the same. Although she knew Lance was bound to have changed a lot since she last saw him, she could fool herself for just a second that he was still the same old Lance she went to school with.

Hi everyone. He waved at the camera lens and perched on the arm of the sofa. Annalise is going to kill me when she finds out I stole her camera! Amy chuckled. Typical.

I don’t know whose watching this but I don’t really care. There’s only one person I want to hear this, and you know exactly who you are.

Amy slid off the sofa and was now sitting on the floor. Without even noticing she inched closer and closer to the image on the TV, subconsciously trying to get closer to the man she was watching.

Well, the truth is, I’m an idiot. There are plenty of people who would say that quite freely, but none of them know just how much of an idiot I’ve been. Lance blinked and looked away. When he lifted his head again, his eyes glistened with tears. Amy’s heart melted.

I’ve been thinking about your message Amy. I probably won’t think about anything for weeks. Love the new hair style by the way. He smiled, trying to lighten the mood. I only realised I loved you as much as I did when it was too late to tell you. I’ll never forgive myself, I missed my chance.

‘You haven’t’ Amy thought, ‘never.’

Things aren’t as perfect with Allana as I’ve let everyone believe. Things aren’t the same as they used to be, we’ve just grown apart.

Amy felt herself sit up a little straighter. She studied his face more closely as he stared at her from behind the glass and looked straight into his eyes.

I know you have a new life now, a new family. You and Damien and Gracie. Much more than I’ll ever have. You deserve to be happy, you really do.

‘I’m not.’

You don’t need to hear this from me now.

‘I do, I want to.’

I was just so happy to see your face again, your smile.

‘What, this one?’ Amy grinned and bit her bottom lip, fidgeting slightly.

You were my high school sweetheart, the love of my life. I don’t think I’ll ever meet anyone quite like you. Or meet anyone I’ll argue with as much as you.

Amy laughed. Probably not!

I never stopped loving you Amy Greenwood, I never will.

Amy felt a trickle down her cheek and only then realised she was welling up too. All the memories came flooding back, and she just wanted to rewind her life 6 years and prevent herself from making such big mistakes.

It’s my fault for being such a twit, I should never have let you go.

‘No, it’s my fault, I shouldn’t have gone.’

It was her fault, Amy was so sure. If she’d never have got pregnant, they could have worked things out. She loved her daughter more than anything, but Gracie was the only reason, deep down, that she’d chosen Damien over Lance. She’d acted out of some sense of duty, and to avoid the disappointed looks from her parents when they found out she’d got pregnant by a man she didn’t love.

But she got scared. She didn’t think she was strong enough to cope on her own. But she now realised that she wouldn’t have been on her own.

Did you mean it when you said for me to call?

‘Yes’. She had, she may have been embarrassed about admitting it but she wouldn’t have said it if she didn’t mean it.

I don’t want to get in your way and dredge up old memories you’d rather forget. So if you really meant it, I think you should call me. I was never very good at making the first move.

‘What makes you think I am, Mr. Wilkinson?’ Amy suddenly felt butterflies in her stomach, that she hadn’t even felt when Annalise recorded her initial message. It was only a joke then, some distant fantasy that she thought was just wishful thinking. But knowing how he felt back… It was different. Things had suddenly got serious.

I’ve decided to stick around in Erinsborough for a couple of months, catch up with Toadie and the others. So, er, you know where to find me.

Lance grinned, returning to his usual self. He looked around. Glad I got all that sentimental stuff over with before the others got home. Can’t have anything tarnish my manly reputation. See you soon. He paused. I hope.

He blew her a kiss then the tape cut to black again.

“Who was that mum?”

Gracie appeared in the doorway and wiped her face on her sleeve. Amy reached out an arm and she came and settled down beside her on the floor. Grace snuggled her head into Amy’s jumper and she stroked her hair.

“That was an old friend of mine. Someone I haven’t seen for a long time.” Amy thought for a moment. “How do you like the sound of a little trip?”

Gracie lifted her head. “Where?”

“Melbourne.”

“That’s where you used to live right?”

“Yep.” Amy took a deep breath. Was she crazy? Probably. Was she making a huge mistake? Maybe. But her gut instinct told her to drop everything and follow her heart. She was determined to get her man. They could make things work if they really wanted to. And she wouldn’t mind going back. Hell, she would have travelled to Timbuktu if Lance was there.

“When are we going?”

Amy looked down at Gracie and shrugged. “How about tomorrow?”