‘Get away from me!’ Martha screams, as she runs back to her car threatening to call the police. Jonah having been spooked into leaving, there’s one cop in particular Martha decides to phone – only to find herself disappointed when he, Jack, ignores her call in favour of making plans for his engagement party. The panic’s not over yet. Even though Irene’s on her way over to help, Martha is horrified when Jonah makes a second appearance, and she can’t help but feel sceptical when he leaves a can of petrol in the road for her before taking off again. Is this all just a trick? We never get time to find out; as Jonah watches Martha getting out of her car to fetch it, Jack’s car appears from nowhere and blocks his path. (We knew he couldn’t stay away for long.) While Irene and Martha make their way back to the diner, it falls to Jack to take Jonah to the station and unearth the truth about his reappearance. And the news isn’t as Martha would have hoped. Jonah’s story checks out: he’s on parole and is only back in town to sell Mamma Rose's farm. His attempts at explaining all this to the band of enraged Summer Bay residents who’ve gathered in the diner receive a predictably frosty reception, and a shaken Martha, by now consumed with the embarrassment of having involved Jack, is soon back to planning her break from the town in the hope that everything will have returned to normal by the time she returns. Little does she know that Jonah’s prepared to go to any lengths to talk to her. No sooner has she left for the car than he’s got her cornered, determined to make her listen to what he has to say. She manages to escape his clutches this time, but it doesn’t look like he’s ready to give up…Seeing doubleMeanwhile, Annie is having no luck getting through to Geoff about Bruce; they haven’t seen him for weeks now and she misses him terribly. ‘If he wants to apologise, I’ll listen,’ Geoff says stubbornly, rejecting her pleas to go over to the farm. But even if Annie reluctantly agrees to stay away, she just can’t shake off the feeling that something’s wrong. Her instincts prove right when, having asked Reverend Hall to check on him, Bruce is admitted to hospital. Annie is heartbroken to learn that he hasn’t been eating properly and has failed to keep up with taking his medication. As a consequence, his blood pressure is dangerously low and he’s going to need ongoing care – which, during their tense visit to the hospital, his grandchildren offer to provide.

No matter how poor his health, though, Bruce isn’t going to forgive them for leaving the farm; he’s got a new farmhand now, and one who’ll appreciate the value of what he’s doing. Enter Jonah – or, as he’s known to Bruce, Michael. But why is he using an alias? Are Jonah’s intentions really so innocent after all?

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