Next week on Home and Away in the UK, Mac pushes her friends away after

getting devastating news about Gabe, while Xander collapses after pushing himself too hard.

The blows just keep coming for Mackenzie (Emily Weir) next week, as she receives some devastating news.

Mac had recently forgiven and reunited with her ex-fiance Gabe Miller (Akos Armont), who had walked out on her four years ago after being paid off by Mac’s devious father Rick (Mark Lee). Gabe was delighted that he was given a second chance with Mac, after a bout with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma gave him a new outlook on life, but fate had other ideas.

After a minor surfing accident caused him to end up at the hospital, he discovered that not only was his cancer back, but this time there was no hope of it being cured.

Although Gabe reluctantly agreed to treatment for the sake of gaining more time with Mac, he soon realised that he didn’t want to put her through the pain of seeing him suffer.

After Gabe put on a brave face and sent her out for some gelato, Mac returned to the farmhouse to find Gabe had left her, leaving only a note once again.

Telling her friends that she was visiting her mum in the city, Mac made a secret trip to Brisbane in the hope of tracking Gabe down through his colleagues and friends, but came up with nothing. On her return to Summer Bay, she left one final phone message for Gabe, telling her that she would always love him, but was now saying goodbye.

Mac has since gained a permanent housemate in the form of Mali (Kyle Shilling), and he turns out to be the friend she needs next week when she receives a phone call at Salt from Gabe’s business manager. Gabe died that morning.

Felicity (Jacqui Purvis) immediately arranges for someone to cover for Mac at work, but Mac insists on putting on a facade and carrying on as normal. Resenting Flick’s attempts to understand how she’s feeling, Mac decides to head home after all, if only to avoid Flick’s attempts to talk about Gabe.

Flick tips off Mali who heads home himself, only for Mac to also rebuff his attempts to talk to her. Gabe didn’t want her to feel any pain over him, so she’s not going to waste any emotion.

Mali can see that Mac isn’t going to budge, so he respects her wishes and tells her that he will be in his room if she needs him.

As Mac hits the wine later that evening, her grief finally catches up with her as she allows herself to break down in a flood of tears.

Mali watches silently from the doorway, conflicted as to what he should do, but he ultimately decides to let Mac deal with things in her own way.

The next morning, Mac is in a much better place as she and Mali walk along the beach, thanking him for giving her space. She admits to feeling stupid that she thought she’d be able to have control over her grief, as Mali points out that you need to just let yourself go through it naturally.

With Mac realising that Mali clearly has experience in these matters, he opens up to her about losing his father whilst he was still a kid.