The mystery donor of the Surf Club discloses their identity, and Xander appears ready for romance after Dana sets him up with Harper on Home and Away in the UK the following week.
As house band Lyrik remains unavailable following the success of the “Salt by the Sea” fundraiser, Xander (Luke Van Os) responds to Felicity’s (Jacqui Purvis) desire for additional events by hosting the restaurant’s first romance night. Will the recently hired events manager, nevertheless, unintentionally fall in love?
After putting her marriage to Tane (Ethan Browne) to rest for the last time, Flick called a staff meeting last week to let the employees know she was back and fully committed to the company. First on the list was giving Xander the responsibility of planning their upcoming major event.
Xander’s initial suggestions of a trivia night or a board game night didn’t impress Flick, who explained that she wanted to draw in young professionals. However, after discussing some ideas with Dana (Ally Harris), the two brought up the idea of a seductive romance night to Mackenzie (Emily Weir).
Dana is eager to incorporate her sister Harper (Jessica Redmayne) in the upcoming “Moonlight at Salt” festivities, even going so far as to propose a date to Xander without her knowledge!
Since she made the mistake of viewing her ex-fiance’s social media accounts and discovering that he had a child with his new partner, Harper has been feeling especially lonely.
At a point when Dana was about to lose it all, Harper ended up abandoning Tom on their wedding day, leaving him standing at the altar, and he had her pick between her sister and him.
Xander isn’t thrilled, reminding Dana that he hardly knows Harper, but Dana feels it’s her responsibility to make up for Harper’s sacrifice by setting up her sister with someone new.
To Harper’s dismay, Xander had a change of heart and shows up at the Beach House that night to invite her to join him at Salt!
As everyone looks at Dana, she quickly drags Harper into her bedroom so she can get dressed. Harper is determined that she will not be forced into going on a “blind date,” much less being someone’s comfort zone.
Dana mentions that Xander and Harper would be each other’s sympathy dates, and Xander, who is only a few feet away in the living room, can hear all that is said.
Harper is eventually persuaded to try the evening, and when they sit down at Salt, they both admit that it seems strange.
While everything is going on, Mali (Kyle Shilling), who had purchased evening tickets in hopes of spending some quality time with Rose (Kirsty Marillier), is let down when he finds out that she has to work.
Mali still decides to go to Salt, but he quickly realises that he is missing Rose. He tells Xander that he feels almost single again right now.
After spending some time with Mali, Flick decides to end the evening.
Rose realises that one benefit of being a Senior Constable is that she may switch shifts at short notice, so she comes just in time.
But Rose is shocked to see her brother sitting at a table, seemingly on a date with Harper, when they go back upstairs.
Mali has to switch seats with Rose during the evening because she is so distracted that she can’t stop watching Xander and his date.
Harper and Xander confess they had a good day as he leads them home, and the next morning, everyone is curious to hear the gossip.
Is this the beginning of a relationship between Harper and Xander?
Next week, in another part of Summer Bay, Nicholas Cartwright’s character, Cash Newman P.I., has a “breakthrough” in his enquiry into the anonymous donation to the surf club when the anonymous donor ends his suffering and reveals their identify.
After he was suspended and later resigned from the police force over being demoted and given less responsibility, Cash went to private investigation when surf club secretary Roo (Georgie Parker) asked for his assistance in locating the source of a $30,000 gift.
Roo became suspicious since the donation was precisely the amount the team had lost after James Lugton’s (Simon Henderson) support was withdrawn.
She immediately stopped using the money, even though she had been told the donation—which was made through a solicitor—was legitimate.
When John (Shane Withington) put it to a committee vote, Roo was quickly overruled. As a result, when John was planning to spend big money on new walkie-talkies, Roo surreptitiously recruited the former copper after he offered his services.
Cash still hasn’t made any progress on the case by next week. We were shocked when they refused to provide the name of the anonymous contributor to the solicitor who handled the donation.
Cash informs Roo that he used his police connections to threaten to smoke them out, but he acknowledges that he isn’t really able to carry out the threat.
As soon as John learns about the probe, he becomes upset and objects to Roo’s payment of Cash with surf club money.
When John tries to remind Cash that Roo is the only one who can fire him because she hired him, he points out that she is the one who needs to let him go.
When John accuses Roo of wasting surf club money, Roo quickly flips the script on him by reminding him of the costly items he has planned.
But Roo agrees to make a concession and pay Cash out of her own money after Irene (Lynne McGranger) persuades her to cooperate with John rather than oppose him. John consents to reduce his personal expenditures in exchange.
Soon after, Cash gets a strange call from someone who hasn’t needed to get in touch with him in a long time. Cash asks the caller if they understand how much drama they’ve caused as they admit that they are the ones behind the contribution.
But instead of telling Roo and John who they are, Cash tells them he’s going to pull aside from the enquiry because he’s reached a dead end.
Cash tells them that he will not get paid for his work and reiterates that the money is coming from a legitimate source, so they don’t need to worry.
John and Roo agree as Cash walks away—neither of them takes anything he says seriously.
Will the mystery of the donation ever be solved?
