Buckley family tree

Chapter 1

Generally, Keri wasn’t someone who picked up men in bars. Hadn’t done it before, in fact. Not even when she was considerably younger and arguably more likely to succeed. Not that she had anything against people who did. No judgment there.

In fact, her cousin Charlie had left with a guy she’d been flirting with for most of the night, which meant that her flat, where Keri had been sleeping on the sofa for the past couple of weeks, was possibly a no-go area.

They’d come into the bar a few times since Keri had arrived in Adelaide as it was Charlie’s local when she was home from her army job. Keri could see why. It was often packed and Charlie, being a single lady, liked a bit of ‘R ’n’ R’ when she was on leave.

She’d be lying if she said the bartender hadn’t caught her eye on the first night. In fact, to avoid staring at his ruggedly handsome face she’d watched his muscular arms as he’d poured the tonic into the gin that she’d ordered, before realising that staring at his arms was probably even more pervy. Which seemed more like a twenty-something Keri thing to do, not a respectable Keri in her forties. Although, she guessed the bartender looked roughly the same age as her, so surely that made it a bit less creepy?

“The bar guy’s hot,” Charlie had shouted as Keri placed their drinks on the slightly sticky table.

“Is he?” Keri had feigned indifference. She’d barely looked at him for the rest of the night — at least she’d tried her best not to. But he was there when they’d returned a few nights later.

And now tonight, there he was again. After Keri made her way to the table with her round, Charlie said; “I think the bar guy was checking you out. You should ask him what time he finishes, offer to buy him a drink or something.”

“He wasn’t. He’s doing his job. I’m sure he’s friendly to everyone.”

They looked towards the bar where the hot bartender was currently scowling at a man who was propped up on one arm, waving the other and spilling beer as he spun a rather involved story.

When Charlie left, with barely a wave in Keri’s direction, she hadn’t bothered to mention whether Keri was still welcome to sleep on the sofa. She didn’t want to go back to Charlie’s and interrupt whatever she would find her crazy cousin doing. So, surprising even herself, Keri had taken a seat at the bar and ordered another drink from the hot bartender.

Fuck it. She was in a city far enough from home where she knew basically nobody and she hadn’t got laid in over a year. This guy had lovely hazel eyes, interesting tattoos and a vibe that might be saying ‘I’m interested’, if Charlie was to be believed. She was also a day out from a road trip with a bunch of cousins she mostly hadn’t seen in years. Into the outback where men like this could well be few and far between. Which was probably why Charlie was getting whatever she could now. There was no reason Keri couldn’t do the same. She took the plunge.

“Can I buy you a drink?” she asked him. Not the most original pick-up line, especially in a bar. Where was her game?

“The owner of the bar is pretty casual about the staff drinking but I don’t drink while I’m working, Even when it’s quiet like this.” He took a cloth and wiped up a few drops of spilled soda. “But I finish up in about half an hour so if you want to hang around, I’d be happy to take you up on your offer then.”

“I’ve got nowhere to go,” she grinned.

He gave an easy smile and turned to put back a bottle of bourbon on the shelf. Keri swiftly tugged her sweater down, hoping to nonchalantly and casually show off a bit of cleavage and the lacy bra she’d put on that evening.

A short time later, hot bar guy said something to the other bartender and poured himself a beer. “What can I get you?”

“I thought I was buying?”

“Perk of the job.”

“Right, of course. Then I guess I’ll have another G&T, thanks.”

He poured her drink, slid it over, then came round to the other side of the counter. There were only a dozen or so people left in the bar by now. The arm-waving guy from earlier was drunkenly trying to put a casino token into the jukebox.

“Let’s grab a seat by the window. It’s the furthest away from the music and if I have to hear ‘Beds Are Burning’ one more time tonight, I won’t be held responsible for the outcome.”

Keri followed, possibly checking out his denim-clad arse as she did so. If she was, in fact, checking it out, she’d have said it was a pretty nice one.

“So you like working here?” she asked once they’d slid into their seats, cringing internally at her lack of anything intelligent or flirty to say. She was rusty. All of her. Outside faced a garden bar which was empty, umbrellas tucked away for the night and beyond that a car park. An engine started and headlights came on. They were bathed in light for a moment and then the car pulled out onto the road.

“It pays the bills. I know the owner so I work here casually when she needs extra help. Happens quite often. Bar staff are always taking off without notice.”

Keri tucked that away into her memory bank. She’d be needing a job when she got back, and after everything that had happened over the past year she didn’t think she’d be going back to sales in a hurry.

“I might keep that in mind,” she said.

It seemed as though he was about to say something but at that moment their knees brushed under the table and Keri stopped thinking about future job possibilities.

“You have nice hands.” Her voice came out all low and breathy.

“You have nice lips,” he said.

They stared intently at each other for a bit. He was half smiling and Keri hoped she wasn’t grinning like an idiot. She wondered how he’d got the scar on the edge of his eyebrow and what it would be like to kiss him. She was thinking that she’d really like to find out, when he reached over and tucked one of her curls behind her ear.

“Sorry, it was about to go in your drink.”

“Thanks. It’s always a mess. The joys of curly hair.”

He took a sip of his drink. “It’s nice. I like it.” He looked down into his beer for a bit, his large hands curved around the glass. They were indeed very nice hands, the kind that looked like they’d not shy away from putting up a bookshelf or opening a tricky jar of pickles. Or other things she could think of.

“Look, when I said before I had nowhere to go, I meant it. I literally have nowhere to go tonight. I’m sleeping on my cousin’s sofa and she’s gone home with some random guy. I don’t normally do this, but if you were up for it ...?”

He looked up from where he’d been contemplating his beer and studied Keri silently for what was probably only a few seconds, but stretched into eternity.

“I’m up for it.” He drained his drink in two large gulps.

If Keri had imagined they’d throw themselves at each other the moment they walked through the door like sex-starved characters from a romcom, she’d have been disappointed.

They parked in the driveway of a small but neat one-level brick house. It was a squat rectangular block, like a child’s drawing, sitting towards the front of a small section. The front yard was fairly bare from what she could see from the dim porch light, but inside it was modern and tidy, an open plan kitchen and living area with wooden floors and large doors opening onto a deck at the back. There were looming shadows of trees outside, possibly eucalyptus, but she couldn’t see much more than that. The room was on the small side, and it was overly warm, even though it was winter. It was definitely the room temperature, although Keri felt more like the heat was happening to her internally, like a built-in combustion heater. As though reading her mind, he crossed to the window and threw it open letting the cool night air waft inside, then switched on some music. It was sultry and jazzy. Definitely not bar jukebox music.

“Can I get you a coffee? Or another drink?”

“Whatever you’re having,” she managed to say, her throat gone dry with nerves. While he made drinks in the kitchen, she took a seat on one end of a puffy brown sofa.

He returned with two glasses of water with ice and lemon and sat down near her. They picked up their glasses in unison and took a sip, then laughed awkwardly. When they’d both put their glasses back down again, on wooden coasters, he turned towards Keri, put both hands up to her face and kissed her gently. His hands were warm and slightly calloused. His lips were firm but gentle. He tasted of malt and lemon and heat surged through her, quickening her pulse. Maybe it had been too long but she struggled to remember the last time she’d had such a good kiss. As the intensity increased, Keri found her arms coming up around his shoulders, pulling him towards her as though she wanted to climb into him. She did want to climb into him, she realised. There was the feeling, right there, that she’d clearly been repressing when they’d first got inside of wanting to rip her clothes off, and his along with them. She let out an embarrassing sort of a moan and he stood pulling her to her feet. They kept kissing for a bit, light kisses and then deeper, their bodies pressed together and his hands sliding to just above her bum but frustratingly not straying any further.

Hot bar guy pulled away to look at her. “Do you want to ...?” He indicated towards the hallway, and Keri took it as meaning there was a bedroom back there and they should retire to it immediately.

She gave him a nod. He took her by the hand and led her the short distance into the bedroom.

He was quick to whip off his shirt, discarding it neatly on a chair beside the window, and Keri found her eyes straying. A light dusting of hair and a nice chest, not too perfectly chiselled to be intimidating but firm looking and tanned. She felt the prickle of anticipation. But also nerves.

“Ah, can I quickly use your bathroom?”

“Sure, out the door and further down the hallway, first door on the right.”

Keri closed the door behind her and made her way swiftly down the hall. There was a large picture of some sort on the wall, the bathroom doorway opposite. Not wanting to linger too long, Keri entered and quickly peed. She stared at herself in the mirror while she washed her hands; she was flushed and a bit dishevelled but didn’t look as much of a wreck as she thought she might have after all the kissing. In fact, she thought she almost looked sexy — in the dim light. There was no towel, so she opened the cupboard under the sink. The first thing she noticed was a pack of pink lady shavers. And a half full box of tampons.

There hadn’t been any other signs of a girlfriend or partner that she’d noticed but then again, it was a minimalist decor and she’d been extremely distracted. Was it an old girlfriend? Or a current one? Did she live here with him? Was she out of town? More aware now, Keri noticed a floral print kimono-style gown hanging on the back of the bathroom door.

If there was one thing she hated, it was a cheater. She also hated confrontation, but perhaps there was a logical explanation. Probably an ex-girlfriend. Although if someone was an ex, wouldn’t he get rid of their stuff? He was clearly not a slob, from what she’d seen of the rest of the house. She cracked open the door. Right opposite was the framed picture she’d vaguely noticed but hadn’t looked at before. Now she did. Hot bar guy and a woman. A much younger woman. She was in a pair of skimpy denim shorts and a bikini top. His hair was slightly shorter but it looked recent-ish, maybe taken the previous summer. He was behind the woman with his arms around her waist, and her face was twisted up to his. They were smiling and looking deeply into each other’s eyes. Definitely not something you’d keep if this was an ex. The door to the bedroom was still shut, and with a confusing mixture of disappointment and repulsion, Keri snuck back into the lounge where she’d left her bag. She took a deep breath and told herself not to panic, but also that she wasn’t overreacting. She cursed her impulsiveness as well. This was why she never did this kind of thing. This was why you didn’t dive wantonly into bed with someone without getting to know them a little bit, or at least asking them about their current relationship status.

Luckily her phone still had some charge to order an Uber. She’d finally found her shoes, nestled under the comfy brown sofa, when she was startled by a sudden loud squawk.

The window was still open from earlier and something was now perched on it. A large white bird with a yellow crest. It squawked again, its beady black eyes glinting at her in the dim light, clearly not happy with Keri’s presence or maybe wanting to be fed.

“Shhh,” she hissed. The bird let out an even louder caw, followed by something that sounded suspiciously like ‘hussy’.

“Stop it.”

It squawked again.

Terrified that she was going to be caught sneaking out, Keri picked up a shoe and heaved it in the direction of the noisy bird. There was a thud and a faint flutter and it disappeared, along with the shoe, out of the window.

All was silent again, aside from the background music still playing. Keri stealthily made her way to the door, as much as she could, hobbling on her one shoe, but the lock looked complicated and possibly noisy. She looked at the open window. It wasn’t huge but probably big enough for her to squeeze through and hopefully not a huge drop to the ground. The Uber was now three minutes away, according to the app.

Keri threw one leg out and perched somewhat precariously before clambering over the sill. She landed in a clumsy heap on the ground. She was far too old for climbing out windows, she realised belatedly.

Next to her was the remaining shoe. Alongside it was the offending bird. A sulphur-crested cockatoo. It lay with its scaly grey feet in the air, murky eyes still somehow accusing, but looking very, very dead.

“Shit. Fuck. Shit.” Keri leapt to her feet, brushed off her jeans and picked up her shoe, which she used to tentatively prod the bird. It wobbled slightly but showed no further sign of life.

Had she killed hot bar guy’s pet cockatoo? What was the polite thing to do in these circumstances? Leave a note maybe: ‘Sorry, I think I accidentally killed your bird, who, by the way, may have called me a hussy, but thanks for the almost sex’?

If she went back inside and confessed to him, it would be extremely awkward plus she’d have to confront him about the whole cheating thing. Whatever story he had to explain his girlfriend, she didn’t want to hear it. Even if she had killed his pet.

The Uber pulled up, forcing her to make a decision. Turning away from the scene of the crime, Keri slid guiltily into the back seat.

Charlie was notoriously late for everything. Keri had told her they had to be at the tour company by ten, and at nine-thirty she finally blew in the front door of her flat looking like she’d — as Grandma Joan would say — ‘been ridden hard and put away wet’.

“I only need to throw a few things in my bag,” she said pulling her matted blonde hair into a quick ponytail as she went down the hallway, “and I’m good to go.”

‘You’re not even remotely packed, are you?” Keri sighed, following her down to her bedroom.

“I am,” Charlie insisted, rummaging on the floor of her wardrobe, flinging out shoes and a battered squash racquet. “Mostly.” She emerged with a pair of hiking boots and a duffle and gave the rest of the cupboard’s contents a futile push backwards with her heel. “I don’t suppose I have time for a quick shower?”

“Aren’t army folk supposed to be all perfect corners and organised and shit?” Keri watched as Charlie flung a pile of clothes into the bag and started to strip off last night’s dress.

“Don’t you start,” Charlie sighed. “You sound like my mum. Anyway, how was the rest of your night?”

Keri trailed after her to the bathroom where her cousin fiddled with the shower taps and rummaged for her cleanser under the sink.

“Not as successful as yours, I’m guessing,” Keri said. “Want me to pack you some toiletries?”

“You’re the best.” Charlie stepped into the stall. “Mine’s the red toothbrush.” Keri looked over at the sink where two plastic toothbrushes sat in a cup.

“Wait, why do you have two brushes?” she asked as she found a toilet bag. “Whose is the purple one? You live alone.”

Charlie drove a Skyline with a modified engine and tinted windows. It was littered with empty coffee cups, water bottles and protein bar wrappers. They pulled up to the tour company car park with the stereo booming and Keri’s stomach half a mile behind them. It was 10.45am. Keri gave herself a mental pat on the back for telling Charlie the wrong time. They were fifteen minutes early.

Several of the group were already there. Her cousin Darren and his wife Michelle stood next to a mid-sized silver Mercedes coach. Niall had mentioned the couple were having problems and even from the car, she could see the tension between the two of them. Next to them was her cousin Kevin, talking and gesturing and looking as imposing as ever. He looked both the same and yet so much older than the last time she’d seen him, but then again, it had been years. He was a big tall guy with that width and solidness typical of rugby players, even as they aged.

She and Charlie wandered over to join them, carrying their bags. Charlie gave her brother a punch on the arm before hugging Darren and Michelle. Keri hugged them all, feeling weirdly emotional.

“Inside getting crap from the vending machine with Jayden,” Kevin said. Charlie looked up from the trailer where she had flung her duffle, looking surprised.

“Jayden managed to break his arm yesterday,” Darren told her. “Two hours into sports camp. We were at the hospital most of the night getting it set. So he’s coming with us now.”

“Shit,” Charlie said, “bummer. There goes your ‘no kids at last’ holiday.”

“Still, Zach will be thrilled,” Kevin said. “He won’t be the only kid now and he’ll love getting to know his second cousin. They’ve never had much chance with living so far apart. It’s not like when we were kids, catching up every year at the ranch.”

“Is Phil with them?” Charlie asked. Kevin rubbed a hand along his jaw and sighed.

“Actually, we lost him.” Everyone looked at him. “You know what he’s like,” Kevin added.

They did. Phil was the youngest brother of Kevin and Charlie and he was, if you put it nicely, a total flake. Keri hadn’t seen him for years, but she’d heard he was basically a drifter, getting odd jobs as a ski instructor, bartender or fruit picker and spending his days surfing and his nights getting drunk.

“He came on the flight with us from Coolangatta,” Kevin said. “But after we checked into the hotel last night, he took off to get ciggies and that was that. Hopefully he gets here soon. He’s got all the details from the email.” He didn’t sound overly confident.

“Nah, she’s too important and busy,” he laughed. Suzanne was number three in his family and the one that all the parents had bragged about when they were kids. She had always been the high achiever, raising an unrealistically high bar for the rest of them, going to medical school and graduating with honours before going on to specialise in neurosurgery.

Keri felt a twinge of guilt. She’d planned to catch up with Suzanne after she arrived in Adelaide two weeks ago but had put it off. It wasn’t that Suzanne was a horrible person, far from it; another one of her outstanding qualities was that she was also very nice, it was just that she made Keri feel like such a failure. Especially now.

“Glad you could make it though, Keri,” Darren said. “It’s been way too long.”

It was odd looking at Darren, Keri couldn’t help thinking. He was an identical twin, and his brother Niall was Keri’s best friend, yet to her, they looked and seemed so different. Perhaps because he’d married and had kids and Niall hadn’t, he seemed so much softer. Less defined and more worn around the edges.

Two boys emerged from the office. The younger of the two spotted Charlie and gave her a broad grin. The older one slouched along behind him, his arm in a sling, looking surly.

“Hi, Aunty Charlie.” Zach, the youngest, gave an awkward wave, holding onto a stash of chips, cans of Fanta and packets of nuts. “Dad, Linc says we have to make a detour to get Naomi.”

“Bloody Naomi,” a voice said from behind Keri and she turned to see Niall, grinning broadly. Keri squealed. It was so good to see him. She and Niall had always had the best friendship. He was her rock. They told each other everything and kept in touch religiously, even when he was deployed. They hadn’t had a good catch-up in ages though. Sitting on a bus for hours through the sometimes monotonous outback would be ideal for catching up with everything they’d been up to. She flung herself at him now, wrapping her arms tightly around his waist and pressing up against his solid chest. She wanted to cry.

“Hello, Pash,” he said into her hair, squeezing her firmly in return. “I missed you too.”

“If we’re all ready,” he said, “we need to get this show on the road.”

She and Niall pulled apart. She turned slowly. She knew though, before she even saw him. Something in her gut. She knew that voice.

He stood beside the bus, keys and clipboard in hand. Eyes cold. Mouth a firm line.

At primary school she’d swung on the playground monkey bars all lunchtime not realising she still had her beloved Care Bears shorty pyjama pants on instead of knickers.

When she was thirteen she dropped a wrapped tampon out of her bag where it landed at the feet of Dean Dawton, hottest boy in school. He had picked it up and pretended it was her pet mouse and made a huge scene. She’d had to fake tonsillitis for three days.

On her twentieth birthday she had thrown up on a bouncer as he escorted her out of a nightclub. She’d been drinking cosmopolitans all night, which had seemed such a pretty pink colour at the time, and she had to buy him a new pair of white Nikes with her birthday money.

In her thirties she’d made the error of calling a major client Mr Cock-burn not knowing it was pronounced co-burn and lost the account.

Then there was the court case, and the shit heap of her life after Chad. Although that was more than humiliating. More like soul destroying.

This wasn’t the worst thing life had thrown at her, Keri told herself. She had had far worse. But her face felt like it was on fire and her gut churned.

She tried to find some anger, knowing that this guy was a total player. A rotten cheat. And a man in his ... forties? Dating someone half his age. A sleazy stereotype. But all she could see was his cockatoo, feet sticking up, glazed eyes — dead on the cobbled path. She should have at least left him a note, she thought in hindsight, regardless of how uncomfortable that confession would have been. Then he wouldn’t be looking at her like someone who — well — killed his pet bird. Which is exactly how he looked. Pissed off. Angry. Hurt.

And hot. He was bloody hot. All Chris Pine-y and kind of grizzled while she was all frazzled and sweaty as she loaded her bag into the trailer and went to the open bus doors.

“Name?” he asked, and she realised in a rather humiliating rush that they had never even exchanged that information. Who was she, going home with a stranger without even knowing his name?

“Keri,” she managed to say after an awkward amount of time had passed while he waited, his face a complete blank. “Keri Buckley.”

He ticked her off his chart with those lovely big hands holding his pen. She opened her mouth to say something, then realised she couldn't think of anything appropriate.

‘Sorry I left without saying anything? Sorry I killed your bird? Sorry you didn’t get a shag while your girlfriend wasn’t home?’ Anyway, did he have the right to be so judgy (if indeed he was — it was hard to tell)? Keri had every right to be mad at him too. Why was she feeling so bad? He had a girlfriend. A very young, probably very naive girlfriend and here he was acting like he didn’t even know Keri. Although admittedly he didn’t really know her much at all.

“Name?” he said again and Niall gave her a small nudge up the stairs. “Niall Buckley,” he said cheerfully. “Nice to meet ya, mate. I’m guessing you’re our driver?”

Keri sat down in the nearest seat. Shit. He was the driver? I mean of course he was. Logically, he wasn’t going to get them all on the bus and then leave them to drive it themselves. But it was hitting her now. If he was the driver, he would be with them the whole trip. All the way to Canyon Moon Station. With them. With her. Fuck. Sometimes it felt like nothing was going right for her. She wanted to cry. Or punch something. Or wallow in self-pity.

“I’m so excited for this trip.” He slung an arm around her shoulder and gave her a squeeze. “We all get to hang out, we get to be together for the first time in ages, and I’m gonna win the scavenger hunt and bank 100k.”

The money. She needed to focus on the money. If she won the scavenger hunt, she could pay back her loan and start fresh.

“You okay, Pash?” Niall frowned. “Did they follow you again this morning?”

Shit. The reporters. She’d temporarily forgotten them after last night and then getting here for the trip. A quick look out the window showed she was in the clear, thankfully. But it was a good reminder. She had more to worry about than Linc. He was a blip and she could pretend she didn’t know him. Hadn’t recognised him even. Maybe he hadn’t even recognised her? She looked up. Caught his eye where he was scowling at her. He looked away, smiled at Charlie as she climbed on board, eating a packet of Zach’s chips, then at Zach who took the seat behind the driver’s, clearing a space for Jayden who ignored it and sidled down to the back of the bus.

“Okay, everyone,” Linc said loudly. “I’m Linc, your driver and guide for the next ten days. Please let me know if there’s anything I can do to help on the trip. Also if you need a toilet stop at any stage. I’ll go through accommodation options later when we get to the Clare Valley, and we have dinner booked at a vineyard out there.”

He smiled around the bus until he got to Keri and Niall where his face went blank. Keri was fairly sure he recognised her.

“But firstly, we have a couple of small changes. I believe we’re missing Phil? He’s been sent a copy of our itinerary and hopefully he’ll catch us up.” He looked at Kevin as he said this, who nodded.

“And Naomi, who has requested a pick-up from Hahndorf. That’s a little out of our way, so we’re going to switch up our initial plan and grab some lunch there if that suits everyone?”

Everyone murmured agreement, and Linc took his seat at the front, turning on the engine, pushing buttons to lever up the steps and shut the door.

Chapter 4

“Bloody Naomi,” Niall said. “It’s so typical of her to make everyone rearrange things just to suit.”

“To be fair, Hahndorf is lovely,” Michelle said from behind them. “So it could be worse.”

“What’s she doing in Hahndorf anyway?” Keri asked. “Isn’t she working in Adelaide these days?”

“No, she’s moved,” Darren said. “Got a job with another clinic.” Keri could think of nothing worse than working as a dental technician. She ran her tongue across her teeth, trying to remember if she had flossed that morning.

“Well, it'll be good to see her,” Keri said. “It’s been years and I still think of her as that little kid trailing behind us with her Cindy doll.”

“You might find she looks more like a Barbie doll herself these days,” Michelle said. “Man, I’m dying for a coffee.”

“I’m so sorry I missed your dad’s funeral,” Keri said to Darren and Niall, which she realised was a terrible segue the minute she said it.

“Speaking of — major news to report on that front.” Niall looked around the bus cautiously. “I’ll tell you later. But what’s up with you and Linc?”

“Nothing? What? What do you mean? Linc? The driver?” Keri was awful at playing it cool.

“You’re awful at playing it cool,” Niall told her. “What’s up? Did you guys shag?”

“NO!” Keri said far too loudly. She slid down a little in her seat. “Almost shagged,” she whispered.

“Ooh Pash, do tell,” Niall said with a grin.

Against her better judgment, she did.

“Okay, that’s pretty bad,” he said when she got to the end. “You killed the man’s pet and ghosted him, leaving him with no cockatoo and a hard cock.” He laughed loudly at his joke. “No wonder he looked at you like you were Schapelle Corby at a Narcotics Anonymous support group.”

Keri groaned and slumped down further in her seat.

Hahndorf was a quaint little village with a tree-lined street that housed German-influenced businesses. Butcher shops, bakeries, candy stores and cute handcrafted goods, as well as restaurants with lederhosen-wearing men touting their wares, and your regular pharmacy and everyday stores thrown into the mix. It was busy, so Linc took a side street and parked at the back of an art gallery in a large car park.

They were meeting Naomi at a wine bar and restaurant on the main street and Linc had rung ahead for a table. Naomi wasn’t there so they all sat and ordered drinks while they waited. Linc waited until Keri sat down and then went to the opposite end of the table.

“Okay, yeah, he’s pissed,” Niall said. “Either for the ghosting or the bird, but he’s not happy.”

Keri started to wish she hadn’t told him any of the gory details.

“Who’s not happy?” Charlie asked, coming to sit on the other side of Keri. “Hey Niall.”

Niall half stood, as if he was going to hug Charlie, then sat down again, knocking his knife off the table and then having to duck under the tablecloth to retrieve it, where he mumbled a hello to Charlie.

“I’m starving,” Charlie said. “I think we should order. I feel like a good old beef burger.” She looked up from the menu. “Do you think German cows still make English moo-ing sounds?”

“What?” Keri asked.

“Like do they say ‘moo’ or more like ‘meuh’ do you think? This was a typical Charlie comment. Her brain worked in mysterious ways. Keri spent a pointless minute contemplating what to answer.

“They say ‘muh’,” Niall supplied.

“How do you know that?” Charlie asked.

“Because I read,” Niall said. “You should try it. You have enough time surely, sitting round in your office while we do all the hard work out in the real world.”

Keri sighed to herself. This was a longstanding argument between the cousins. They were both in the army, but in very different fields and it had always been a bone of contention with them. It had been this way when they were children too, always debating and super competitive.

“Guys, come on, try to be nice. No arguing. Let’s kiss and make up,” Keri said.

Charlie stood up suddenly, tilting her chair so that it wobbled and almost fell backwards. “I might go to the loo. For a wee.” She sounded like it was extremely urgent. God, she was weird.

“She is so weird,” Keri said, and Niall murmured something vague from behind his menu.

“Naomi’s running late,” Linc said, putting down his phone. “We may as well order lunch.”

Charlie came back and the waiter came to take orders.

“It’s a shame Joni couldn’t make it,” Kevin said to Keri. Joni was Keri’s older sister and she and Kevin had been closer in age.

Keri shrugged. “Yeah, but she never comes back to Oz any more. She loves Thailand, and she has no money for flights for her and Sage.”

“How old is he now?” Michelle asked.

“Twelve in September,” Keri told her. “I haven’t seen him since he was eight though. Thank God for FaceTime.”

“I’m eleven,” Zach called out from next to Linc. “It’s a hard age.” Everyone tried not to laugh.

“I bet,” Keri said at the same time Linc said “It is.”

‘Better than forty,” Kevin told him. “I hated turning forty.”

“I’m surprised Stephen is having a party,” Darren said, “but it’ll be great to see the ranch again, and Uncle Peter and Roger.”

There were murmurs of agreement and Keri thought about the last time she’d been at Canyon Moon. It had been over twenty years, and if she was honest, she’d never really imagined going back.

The waiter arrived, distributing drinks. Keri sipped her espresso martini and sighed happily.

“What did you do for your fortieth?” Darren asked her. Her happiness subsided somewhat with the memory. She’d been with Chad then. Living the high life. They’d stayed in a luxury resort and had oysters and champagne, then fairly good sex on the sun lounger. She’d thought she had it made. It left a bitter taste in her mouth now to think about it.

“Nothing exciting,” she told him, “and certainly nothing like a scavenger hunt. Remember those days?”

“I always won,” Charlie said.

“You did not, I did,” Niall insisted.

“So,” Kevin quickly raised his glass. “We should have a toast. To cousins. And to Stephen for organising this adventure.” They all raised their glass.

“And may the best man win,” added Niall.

“You mean woman. That prize is mine.” Charlie air-punched above her head.

“What is it Stephen does?” Linc asked. “That he has that much money to offer up for a game?”

“He makes computer games,” Zach told him. “He’s the best. He made Master of the Revolution, which is awesome. And he’s super rich and cool.”

Most of the table laughed.

“Cool was not how we would have described him as kids,” Darren said with a grin.

“No,” Kevin said, “he was very uncool.” He topped up his beer, draining the bottle. “Eddie though, he was cool.”

“Did anyone hear from him in the end?” Keri asked. “Last I heard he was in Indonesia.”

“Stephen told me he hadn’t replied to any of his emails,” Kevin said. “He seemed to think he hadn't been back in the country for years. When was the last time any of you saw him?”

“I haven’t seen him since Niall and I had our twenty-first. He was in South America when Michelle and I got married. I wouldn’t even know what he looked like these days,” Darren said. They all murmured agreement.

“We’re shit at keeping in touch,” Charlie said, and they all cheers-ed to that.

“Apart from me and Pash.” Niall pulled Keri in and gave her a sloppy kiss on the cheek. “We’re inseparable.”

Across the table, Linc scowled at her and looked away.

Keri felt a moment of guilt for not keeping in touch with her cousins as much as she had with Niall. They all had busy lives though, in different parts of the country, and she didn’t have as much in common with the others. They were family though, and it was nice that when they did get together, for twenty-firsts and weddings, and the occasional funeral, they all slotted straight back into things as they had when they were kids.

Her burger arrived and she swatted Niall’s hand away as he tried to swipe a chip from her plate.

“Hey hey, guys, it’s ... me,” someone said. Keri turned to look. She could feel the entire table collectively turn towards the strange man who had appeared out of nowhere and then bumped into the table, rattling the glasses. Keri reached out to steady hers. Who was he? He did look vaguely familiar.

The silence stretched. Nobody spoke.

Chapter 5

After a beat, the man gave them a huge smile. “Cousin Eddie,” he said, holding his arms wide, as though offering himself as a gift. “Fresh off the plane from Bali.”

They all gaped at him for a few moments before Niall leapt up and drew him into a hug. “Eddie, man, good to see you.” He slapped Eddie on the back and pulled over a seat from an adjacent table, cramming him in between himself and Kevin. “It’s so cool you could make it.”

Eddie had a backpack with him, barely bigger than a school bag. “Looks like you’ve mastered the art of travelling light.”

“Years on the road will do that for you.” He ran a hand through his tousled blond hair. Either sun-kissed from his travels or artificially highlighted, Keri couldn’t tell.

“We didn’t know you were coming, man,” Niall said.

“I was in the Borneo rainforest tracking sun bears and didn’t have any internet for weeks.” Eddie peered around at them all. “When I arrived back in Bali and checked on my emails, I thought, hey, why not catch up with the fam and it’s Steve’s birthday, so what better excuse? It’s a big one, isn’t it?”

Niall laughed. “You must have forgotten how he hates to be called Steve. And yeah, his fortieth, like the invitation said. You always were shit at reading the fine print, Ed.”

“I guess the prize money was an incentive too.” Charlie cut a massive chunk from her burger. “I know it was for me. Which of us couldn’t use a hundred grand?”

Keri thought about her own reasons for needing that hundred grand and then became aware of the sound of a suitcase being pulled along the cobbles. Around them, people moved their chairs out of the way as Naomi teetered towards them, completely oblivious to how much room she was taking up in the small space between tables. She pulled behind her a huge pink suitcase, a matching smaller case balanced on top of it and a large tote bag slung over her shoulder.

Michelle wasn’t wrong. Naomi did indeed look like a Barbie doll in her high-heeled boots and faux fur coat. Her blonde hair was artfully piled on top of her head and her jeans looked as though they’d been sprayed on. She pushed her oversized sunglasses up onto the top of her head.

“Hey guys, has anyone ordered me a drink?”

Linc cleared his throat. “You’ll have to make it quick.” He stood and held out a hand for Naomi to shake. “I’m Linc.”

Naomi looked him over and, obviously liking what she saw, ignored his hand and leant in for a hug instead, pressing herself into him as though he were a long-lost friend. “Well, hello there, I’m Naomi, the fun cousin,” she purred.

After returning her hug briefly he took a step back, almost colliding with his chair. “Here, grab a seat and I’ll get you a drink. We need to head off in about half an hour.” He offered Naomi his seat and she smiled up at him.

Typical, Keri thought. She’d probably be exactly his type. Although maybe too old.

“I’ll have a Campari spritz and some kind of salad.” She watched him go and then peered around the table at them all. Keri wondered whether she secretly needed glasses.

“Hello, brothers, cousins. Keri, hello, I’d forgotten how mad your hair is.” She did a little wave, then her eyes lit on Eddie. “Sorry, who are you?”

“That’s Eddie,” Darren told her. “You know, the one you spent all your days trailing around the ranch after when you were little?”

Eddie looked a little alarmed at that.

“Huh, you turned out surprisingly good looking,” Naomi said.

“Naomi,” at least half of them groaned.

“What? He was a funny-looking kid,” she insisted. “It’s good you got your teeth fixed, Ed.”

“I quite like my crooked front teeth.” Charlie sopped up the juice from her burger with the last of her fries. “Gives me character.”

Linc returned with Naomi’s drink and a sandwich, saving them from any further dental discussion. “Fifteen minutes, folks, and I want you all back on the coach.”

He left then, presumably to go back to the bus himself, and Naomi screwed up her face and took a tiny bite of her sandwich. “I don’t really eat gluten. So, what have you all been up to?”

“Waiting for you, mostly,” Niall replied snarkily. Naomi was the baby of their family and had always been a bit spoiled. Niall and Darren were the ‘boys’, Suzanne was the bright, studious one, and Naomi the princess. Niall didn’t have a lot of patience for her. His parents, Keri’s Uncle Noah and Aunt Denise, had always given her whatever she asked for, but maybe not so much of their time and attention. Naomi seemed to seek that from wherever else she could find it.

“Well, I’m sorry I’m late but I had a nail appointment and today was the only day they could fit me in. Normally they have two girls doing hands and feet but one of them went into labour, which was such a pain.”

“How about we take the boys down for a quick look at the sweet shop?” Michelle said to Darren, who readily agreed and they set off.

“I’d be a seahorse if I could,” Charlie announced. They all looked at her, waiting for her to say something to make that sentence make sense. She sipped her beer.

“Okay, I’ll bite,” Kevin said. “Why’s that, Charlie?”

“Why’s what?”

“Why a seahorse?”

“Well, the males give birth. Then I wouldn’t have to. I might be keen to have a kid if I didn't have to push it out my fanny.”

“Yes, quite,” Eddie agreed. “They only carry them around though, they don’t have to push them out.”

“Like penguins,” Charlie agreed.

“Sort of.” Eddie reached for a glass and knocked it over, fumbling for serviettes while Naomi screeched about her shoes.

Keri listened to it all vaguely. She’d noticed a woman at the side of the restaurant staring intently at her and was sure she had seen her before.

“Niall,” she said quietly, pulling out a cap and her sunglasses, “I think that might be a reporter. Over by the pot plant.”

Niall did a terrible fake not-looking look-over and frowned.

“Could be,” he said. “Let’s make a move, shall we?”

Keri dug in her bag for a cap and tried to tuck some of her unruly hair into it, then stood to pull on her denim jacket.

“We’ll see you at the bus?” Niall slung an arm over her shoulder. “And don’t fuck around, Naomi, we’re not waiting.”

“What’s the rush?” She sipped her drink. But Eddie was also standing and fumbling for his bag on the back of his chair.

“Come on, cousins.” He gave them a wide smile. “Let’s hit the road, shall we?”

His teeth were super white, Keri couldn’t help notice.

“I haven’t finished my drink,” Naomi whined. Charlie picked up Naomi’s glass and downed it in one.

“You have now,” she said. “Let’s go.”

Chapter 6

By the time they arrived in the Clare Valley, Keri was sporting a headache, what with stressing over the reporter and the awful tension between her and Linc. He’d been perfectly chatty with all the others — although a little bit cold to Niall maybe — but he hadn’t even made eye contact with her once. She wasn’t sure if she was mad or hurt about it all. She really wanted a shower or a painkiller. Or several drinks. Or to go back in time and start again.

They pulled up at a long, brick, one-level motel next to a tree-shaded reserve and close to the small village. Linc announced he would go and sort room keys and payment at reception.

“So, can I quickly check — who’s bunking with who?” he asked the group. “I had nine people on my list but now we’ve added Eddie and Jayden, and lost Phil. Stephen prebooked four rooms but they have another one spare, so,” he looked at his clipboard, “I had Phil, Kevin and Zach together but maybe we could put Jayden in with Zach, and Eddie in with Kevin, if you’re all good with that? Then I’ve got Charlie and Naomi, Darren and Michelle, and,” he looked up at Keri briefly, “Keri and Niall.”

Jayden made a sweary groaning sound at the back of the bus. It was pretty much the only thing he’d said most of the day, Keri thought.

“Sounds great,” Darren said super cheerfully.

“Remember, one of us will need to help Jayden with his cast before he can shower,” Michelle said, looking pointedly at Darren.

Jayden groaned again. “I’m not a baby,” he muttered. “I can do it myself.”

“So let’s get settled in, and we’ve got dinner in ...” — Linc checked his watch — “twenty-five minutes.”

They met at the vineyard restaurant, a quick two-minute walk from their motel. It was in a large barn, with lots of stainless steel and wooden tables and a large fireplace made of schist that was the focal point of the room. At the back was a glass wall that showcased barrels of wine and what looked like a separate tasting room which was now closed. Charlie went off to use the bathroom.

They were all seated at one round table. Naomi and Eddie were yet to arrive and Linc was up at the bar sorting drinks for them. Keri sat down next to Zach and gave him a smile.

“How come it’s just you?” she asked. “No Mum or Tyler?”

“Tyler has exams soon for university. He’s at Bond. He gave me this sweatshirt.” He showed her the too-big jumper he had on with the university crest across the front. “And Mum said it would be good for Dad and me to do something together, but I think she wanted to stay home without us all.”

Out of the corner of her eye, Keri saw Linc head over to the door where Naomi and Eddie stood looking a little lost, and direct them to our table. A waitress followed with a tray of wines.

“Since we’re in one of the best wine regions in Australia, and especially for Rieslings, I thought you might like a tasting of what’s on offer,” Linc said with a smile. He was rather beautiful when he smiled, damn him.

“Linc, hun, sit next to me,” Naomi insisted. “I need a photo. How’s my hair? Eddie, you sit on my other side. I want to be next to the best-looking men here.”

“Naomi,” Darren said, screwing up his face, “that sounds a bit inappropriate when one of the men is your cousin, right, Niall?”

Niall made a weird noise and picked up his water glass to take a sip. Charlie stood abruptly and announced she was off to the loo again. Keri wondered if she had a UTI.

They did the wine tasting before settling on a nice Riesling for the table and ordered food which arrived looking beautiful and smelling even better.

“Darren,” Michelle said, sounding irritated, “can you at least help Jayden cut up his steak? He only has one hand, remember.” She looked around the table. “Honestly, why is it always the mothers who have to direct the fathers for these things?”

There was an awkward silence, since she was in fact the only mother at the table, unless you counted Charlie’s brief stint as a stepmother — and she’d been more the cool friend to the teens than a bum wiper and parent helper. She’d told Keri she was still in touch with them, and was still on good terms with their dad, but they had a mother and that was fine with her. Aside from that, between the rest of them, their experience with children was pretty limited.

“So, Linc,” Kevin said, “I take it from the email that you own the tour company?”

“I do,” Linc said. “Or part own it anyway. The other half belongs to my ... to Toddy.”

“Who’s Todd?” Zach asked.

“He was a friend,” Linc told him.

“So Todd Lincoln is from your first names?” Zach asked him.

“No, last names actually.” Linc fidgeted with his cutlery with those manly hands of his. Was it her imagination or did he look uncomfortable?

“So your name’s not Linc?” Zach asked between a mouthful of burger.

“No, Lincoln is my last name.”

“What’s your first name?”

“I can’t tell you.”

“Why? Is it a secret?” Zach looked excited.

Linc laughed. “No, it’s just embarrassing.”

“Now we all have to try to guess what it could be,” Charlie said.

“I bet I get it,” Niall said, shovelling in his risotto.

“Ten bucks says I do,” Charlie countered.

“Ford?” Darren suggested.

Linc shook his head. “Nope.”

“Bartholomew?” Kevin guessed.

“Nope.”

“Abraham?” That was Eddie. Everyone laughed.

“What does it start with?” Niall asked.

“No clues,” Charlie yelled, punching his arm.

The guessing went on for a while until the waitress came to clear their plates.

“So you said was a friend. About your partner Todd?” Michelle said. “Is there a story there?”

Linc finished his wine and nodded. “Yeah. The usual. He’s done me over is the gist of it. Taken off and left me with a bit of debt and wanting me to pay him out. Took off with my best driver too, so I’m filling in for her actually. This isn’t my usual work, to be honest.”

“Hey,” Charlie said suddenly, “you’re the hot bartender. Keri, it’s the hot bartender. The one from the Drunken Doozy.”

“Yes, I realise that, Charlie.” Keri tried to sound casual. She could happily have strangled her cousin at that moment without a smidgen of remorse.

“I ... er ... I’m only there occasionally for a bit of extra cash,” Linc said.

“So bartending and running your own company? You’re a busy man. Probably the last thing you feel like doing is being stuck with us lot,” Niall said.

“Ah, it’s not too bad,” Linc smiled. “My mum’s in Alice so it’s a good chance to see her. Normally I couldn’t go because I couldn’t leave my dog, but she died a few weeks ago, so ...”

Everyone made sad ‘ohhh’ noises and Linc looked uncomfortable.

“Shit, sorry, it all sounds a bit like a bad country and western song, doesn’t it? But honestly, it’s all good. The dog was the worst bit. It’s hard losing a pet, but the rest I’ll get over.” He laughed. “Anyway, who’s for dessert?”

Keri sat looking at her menu without seeing it. The others had started talking about the scavenger hunt, but she wasn’t listening. She felt terrible. First poor Linc lost his dog, and now she’d gone and killed his bird. She was an awful, despicable person.

Another hideous thought struck her. Did he even know the cockatoo was dead? Had he found its little cold body? It had been flying round free, so maybe he thought it was late coming back. Was he worried when he couldn’t find it and he had the neighbours keeping an eye out for it? Should she tell him? But she couldn’t think what to say.

She was going to hell.

Keri was relieved to flop down on the bed and kick her shoes off. The room was basic but clean, the bathroom had a large shower with great water pressure and Niall had turned the heating on, so it was starting to get nice and cosy. There was a big fluffy quilt on the bed and she had snagged the extra pillow from the small wardrobe to use on her side of the bed.

“Sorry to hear Darren and Michelle are having problems,” she said as Niall took the other side. Never one to be shy, he had removed his shirt and jeans and was sprawled out in a pair of Snoopy boxers. He tore open a bag of butterscotch candy, unwrapped a piece and tossed it into his mouth.

“Yeah, well, hopefully they’ll sort things out. They’re good together really. They probably need to find stuff they’ve still got in common. You know, rekindle the spark.”

Keri scoffed. “How long were you married again, Mr Marriage Counsellor? Five years?”

“Almost seven.” He sat up and threw a piece of butterscotch at her. It bounced off the side of her head and landed on the bed. “What happened after Dad’s funeral didn’t help. I think it hit Darren hard for a bit.”

Keri sat too so they were facing each other, legs crossed and knees bumping, like they had when they were kids. “Okay, this sounds serious. What happened?”

“Yeah, Mum had a few too many sherries at the wake and decided that ‘knowing the truth’ might help us grieve. She confessed that she was already ‘with child’ —- or children, as it turned out — to this other guy when she and Dad married and the secret has been festering inside her ever since.”

“I know. It was a bit of a shock, to be honest. Turns out, Dad knew though. The guy had buggered off and Dad was already on the scene when she found out. She said he’d always seen us as his and never felt any differently towards Suzanne and Naomi than he did to Darren and me. It was mostly Dad who didn’t want to tell us, and that was why. He didn’t want us to think he loved us any less.”

“That’s, well, it’s kind of a shock, to be honest. Your dad was a good man though, so I’m not surprised about that bit. Are you okay about it?”

“Yeah, I still feel like he’s my dad. Darren was a bit pissed that they’d kept it a secret and that Mum couldn’t remember the guy’s surname. He talked about trying to find this other guy, but last time I talked to him he’d decided not to. I think he’s come to the conclusion that Dad will always be our dad too. Naomi, of course, was all dramatic about us being only half siblings.”

“I’m sure she’ll use that to her advantage at some point in the future.”

“That’s a given. Sorry I didn’t say anything before now but I wanted to tell you in person. It seemed like too much for over the phone, or a text message.” Niall plumped the pillow on his bed and leant back against it, giving Keri a sly look. “So, my spidey senses say things are still weird between you and the tour guide. Are you going to talk to him about it?”

“They’re not weird. I’m sure we can be perfectly civil to each other. I just have to stop looking at his hands and imagining what he could do with them — because he’s a cheating arsehole.”

“Niall, seriously, shut up, you drongo.” Keri leapt on top of Niall and started to tickle him until he was cackling. He grabbed a butterscotch and shoved it in her face, upending the bag over the bed.

Niall wriggled easily out from under her and crossed the room, opening the door while Keri sat up and tried to gather up all the toffees scattered on the bed.

“Sorry to interrupt,” he said, not sounding very sorry at all, just surly. “Not too early of a start tomorrow but I wanted to make sure you’re both at breakfast by nine. I’m not waiting for stragglers.”

“Sure thing, I’ll set an alarm and give Keri a slap on the arse if she refuses to get up.”

“How’s your mum?” Niall asked when he’d shut the door and Linc had gone. He’d let in a burst of cold air from outside and Keri pulled the doona over her, wondering how Niall wasn’t freezing his bits off.

“I wish you’d put more clothes on,” she said with a grimace. “You’re making me feel cold.” Keri unwrapped a toffee. “Mum’s good, although I haven’t seen her for a while. Last I heard she was headed to Darwin in a camper van with a guy she met in Brissie. Before that was the yoga retreat where she hooked up with one of the instructors. She resurfaced months later with two new piercings, a tattoo and an STI. I gave up worrying about her a long time ago. She always seems to survive somehow, like a hyena, living off other people’s leftovers.”

“Yeah. Man, she has some bad taste in men. Except for Bevan, the mechanic guy, I always liked him. Shame that never worked out.”

“Yeah, Bevan was the closest I’ve ever come to having a dad. He taught me so much. Especially practical stuff. He’d never change the oil or brake pads on my car, always made me do it myself. Whenever we talk he always reminds me if the registration is due, even now. The only unfortunate thing was that I met Chad through him.”

“Chad,” Niall drawled, in a terrible American accent. “You’ll be glad that’s all over. Sorry I couldn’t make it for the court case.”

He pushed himself off the kitchen counter he’d been leaning against and went into the en suite where he gave his teeth a ten-second brush. Still in his boxers, he pulled back the covers and hopped into bed.

“No, it’s off-putting enough having to look at your pasty body, I don’t need a pillow wall.”

Keri made a gagging noise, then got up and brushed her teeth, taking considerably more time and care than Niall, thinking about Naomi as she did so. She also washed her face and moisturised.

“I never expected you to be there for the case,” she said, when she’d hopped into bed. “It was a bloody nightmare though. For a while, I thought he was going to get away with it and it’d look like I was the guilty one. Jesus, Niall, I could have ended up in jail.”

“That was his plan, wasn’t it, for you to take the blame? It’s always that way with filthy schemers like him.”

“How could you not? Good looking, world class racing driver, the golden boy who charms the pants off everyone he meets. Those people he scammed would have felt the same way. He used you, Pash, but luckily you had a good lawyer who was able to prove you weren’t involved.”

“Which is great, but also why I’m now in debt, and why I’m on this trip, hoping to win a hundred grand.”

Niall laughed. “Well, we both know you haven’t got a chance. I’m definitely going to win, but I only want to beat Charlie, so when I do, the money’s all yours.”

Keri lay in the bed an hour later, trying to sleep and marvelling at Niall’s ability to fall asleep instantly. She thought about Chad and the scavenger hunt money and going back to the ranch. Then she thought about Linc and his hands and then his dead bird and how she’d missed out on what might have been really good sex, going off his kissing ability. Everything seemed a little bit of a disaster in the dark of the night. She hoped they would look better in the morning.

Today we went to catch the bus for our trip to the ranch. We flew up yesterday — Dad and me and Uncle Phil who was pretty fun on the plane. But he went out late last night to get something from the shop and he wasn’t there this morning. Dad said he will turn up eventually.

Anyway, we are going on a bus, but it's not a big one like a school bus, it’s only got seventeen seats and it has a trailer thing to put all our bags and stuff on. The driver is called Linc and he seems cool. He has lots of tattoos on his arm and he looks a bit like Thor.

I hope the ranch is cool and there are no snakes. I’m going to ask Linc if he has a snake-bite kit on the bus, just in case. We have like two hundred snakes here and half of them have venom and eleven of them can kill you — I do not like snakes!!!

Dad said we would have lots of fun together just him and me since Tyler is at uni and Mum is staying home to run the store. But when we got there Jayden was there and Dad said I should sit with him. He was supposed to be on a soccer camp but he broke his wrist. I asked if I could sign his cast and he pulled a face at me and then went on his phone the whole time. His sister got to stay at soccer camp. I always forget her name but Dad said she is better at soccer than him. I guess that is true because she didn't break HER arm!

We had to stop at a place where they had a candy shop so I got some lollies with some of the money Mum gave me. I didn’t eat any yet though because I don’t want to share it with Jayden if he’s going to be mean. I got red frogs, and watermelons and Clangers, and a licorice wheel and Bertie Bott’s Beans and Taffy and a Twinkie!

On the bus are me and Dad, Jayden, and Linc. Then there’s Darren and Michelle who are Dad’s cousins and Jayden’s mum and dad and they are pretty nice.

Then there’s Niall who is Darren’s twin but they don’t look really very alike. Not like Peyton and Willow at school who I don’t know who is who and they pretend to be each other. That would be cool to be a twin and play tricks on people.

Then there’s Dad’s other cousin Keri who has hair that’s all springy. Niall calls her Pash because of something to do with an old soft drink they used to have, which is a weird name for a drink because it means kissing but Dad said they used to drink it when they were kids. Then there’s Aunty Charlie who’s pretty cool. She’s in the army like Niall but they were both just in normal clothes, not uniforms. And no guns or grenades that I could see.

Then there’s Naomi (Dad has lots of cousins) who has a really annoying voice and those plastic nails and big funny lips. Oh and Eddie who no one knew was coming and who looks a bit like the boy Barbie doll guy.

Why do grown-ups always have to mess up your hair when they see you? Like you’re a dog they’re patting.

We stopped at a place called Clare Valley for the night and I got stuck in a motel room with Jayden. I think he might hate me, just because he’s thirteen and I’m only eleven, which isn't fair because I can’t help that.

We went out for dinner and it was all fancy and stuff. I had a cheeseburger but it had all this weird sauce in it and that holey cheese like in cartoons that tasted gross.

Linc’s bus company is called Todd Lincoln Tours because that’s him and his friend’s last names. But he wouldn’t say what his first name was and everyone was trying to guess. Darren said Ford and Eddie said Abe which was dumb and everyone laughed. Linc says it’s an embarrassing name. I’m going to start a list of ideas. So far I have Ralph, Chuck and Barney.

Linc said he might rename it or sell the business though because his friend isn’t there any more. And his dog died which was sad.

Everyone was talking about the scavenger hunt and how their cousin Stephen is making it a big reward for the best present because he’s rich. He’s rich because he invented ‘Master of the Revolution’ which is the coolest game ever! But there’s no way to game on the whole trip so I have some of my books with me. I’m on chapter two of the new Young Detectives series but I can’t read on the bus or I’ll get car sick. Or bus sick I guess.

I had to bring some homework too. Mainly maths because I’m behind, which sucks because everyone thinks I’m good at it since I’m half Chinese. Which is not cool because that’s just dumb. Not everyone in China is good at maths — I don’t think? Or sucks at sport. Even if I kind of do. And that sucks too because we have a sporting goods store and everyone thinks I must be good at sports like Tyler. Mum says it’s called a stereotype.

I think Dad wishes I was good at sports like he was. He was going to be a Wallaby but then he busted his knee. I'm good at e-sports but I don't think Dad thinks that counts. Even though you can make millions at it.

I hope Jayden is going to turn the light out soon. I’m really tired but I don’t want to ask him because he might think I’m still just a little kid.

I swear it wasn’t how it looked. Valerie and I were talking and she dropped her earring and it was the angle of the photo. I mean, she’s practically my MIL!

But Dani is going off about it, and she’s told me she’s changing the locks on the flat and the wedding’s off, and I imagine the press are ALL over it, right? Hopefully her mum will calm things down and tell her we weren’t doing anything.

So, I gotta lay low a bit. Ya know? In case any other photos emerge that look worse. ’Cause I may have had my fly down at the time so it might LOOK really like she was giving me a blowie.

So can you make a statement? You’re so good at that shit, Mols. Spin it a bit so I don’t look like a wanker?

And did you hear back from that audition I did? I thought I really nailed the character and they seemed keen? I could do with the work, to be honest.

I was in Hahndorf, at Dylan’s place. He said I could hang there till the dust settled, but his missus was a bit septic. Anyway, I was getting some coffee and I overheard this group talking about heading up to a ranch on the other side of Alice Springs, and I thought now that could be a go.

There was a reporter hanging around, probably wanting to rat me out, so I’m grabbing a ride with this group and sort of pretending to be their cousin Eddie.

I mean, that sounds a bit mad, I know, but no one’s seen him in years (I overheard them talking about it) and it could be a really good way to hone my skills if I immerse myself in this Eddie character. Method acting, ya know?

And no one will be looking for me in the Northern Territory, will they? Things can die down a bit.

I just have to work out who the hell everyone is. They’re all cousins so far as I can tell and the ranch is a family one. It’s called Canyon Moon so I’ll have a bit of a google and I’m making notes so I can keep track of who’s who.

I was a bit worried they’d recognise me, being famous and all, but so far no one seems to have. Perhaps they didn’t watch ‘She’ll be right, Nate’, or it’s the glasses I pinched to disguise myself. They’re bloody awful though. Like being all fucked up on drugs without the buzz. Whoever they belonged to has shit eyesight, I’m telling ya.

Oh, btw, just say for interest sake, if Val WAS actually giving me head — would there be any good way to spin that? Or no?

Niall sleep-talked. Keri had forgotten that about him, until he started up at around four am. She tried putting a pillow over her head, which only muffled him, then threw said pillow in his direction. That worked for about ten minutes and then he was off again, yelling at someone about the importance of starch.

At five-thirty she decided to get up and go for a run. It was cold. Colder than she’d been expecting so she did a quick stretch and set off. It was starting to get light and the silence was broken only by the odd chirp of a bird as it rustled in the overhead trees. She ran towards the town first, on the footpath, trying to regulate her breathing and find pace before circling back to the far side of the reserve where she planned to cut through to the motel car park where the bus sat.

At first she was wary, searching for reporters and stressing over the events of the last few days, but after a while, her mind went lovely and blank and she found herself listening to the sound of her feet hitting earth, and her breath going in and out.

She was in the zone when she tripped over the small tent, unhooking a lead rope with her sneaker. The tent was tucked in at the edge of the reserve, barely noticeable in the shade of the trees. She came to a halt, trying to gain her balance, cursing under her breath. Then she saw Linc.

He’d hooked up a shower over a low-hanging branch and he was naked. Butt naked. The water ran down his firm back, trickling over perky arse cheeks and down his muscled thighs. It was like a porn movie and a re-enactment of her favourite Outlander scene all in one. It was the hottest thing she had ever seen and Keri made a weird moaning noise in the back of her throat. She hoped she was far enough away that he couldn’t hear her but Linc seemed to sense her presence. He turned around and saw her and she yelped, setting off at a panicked gallop until she was behind the bus, her heart thumping, mind racing and all her other bits tingling and demanding attention.

She let herself back into the motel room, quietly closing the door and leaning against it, one hand over her mouth, the other on her stomach, her face bright red at the thought of what she’d seen and what he must have thought of her watching him.

“You look like you’ve been on one hell of a run,” Niall said from the bed.

Breakfast was at a cafe down the road where they, thankfully, sat at three small tables and Linc wasn’t at hers. Keri avoided looking at him, or attempted to. He was so solid and firm and she was weak. It was the hands she blamed. And the rest of him. But he was sitting with Naomi, Zach and Kevin, and, no, she wasn’t looking at all.

He’d hardly spoken to her as they gathered for breakfast. He’d glared and said ‘You and Niall sounded like you were having a good night’ and then spent the rest of the time being all nice and smiley and attentive to Naomi, which didn’t matter at all. Was no skin off her nose and she really had barely even noticed. Even when he laughed at a lame joke of Naomi’s and thanked her when she said he had lovely teeth. Which he did, but who cares?

She thought about the tent. Had he given up his hotel room last night? Had he been cold? Did he have a sleeping bag? And what did he sleep in? Was he a pyjamas guy? Boxers? Or ...? She took a sip of her coffee and burnt the roof of her mouth.

“Is that Phil?” Niall suddenly put down his coffee cup and pointed out the window where a man was getting out of a sleek black Jag. He was wearing faded board shorts and a hoodie, his hair pulled back in a low ponytail, his face stubbled.

“Who the hell is he with?” Charlie swivelled round in her chair to get a better look. A woman stepped out of the driver’s side, her legs cased in leather pants, and her grey hair in a sleek bob. She looked like money, with her red-bottomed heels and a designer tote over one arm. Phil looked like a homeless man beside her as they walked up the road.

There was a clatter beside them as Eddie stood up from his table, knocking the tomato sauce bottle into the salt and pepper shakers which rolled loudly onto his plate.

“I need the bathroom,” he said. “I’ll see you all back at the bus. Don’t wait for me, I may be a while.”

“Dude, TMI,” said Jayden, but Eddie was already crossing to the restroom and after a few seconds where he stood, looking indecisive, he pulled open the men’s room door and was gone.

“Dash In A Real Rush, Hurry Or Else Accident,” said Charlie. They all turned to look at her.

“That’s how you remember how to spell ‘diarrhoea’,” Charlie said in a tone that suggested it was obvious.

“That’s a good trick.” Zach pulled out a notebook from his backpack and wrote it down.

“Seriously, Charlie,” Kevin said, “sometimes you are so like Uncle Peter when he was young, it’s scary.”

He went out onto the street to look for Phil, and since everyone was finishing up anyway, they all chugged back their coffees, and ate the last bites of their meals and followed after him, leaving Linc to pay the bill with the card Stephen had apparently supplied.

Phil was alone, leaning against the bus and smoking a ciggy when they found him. At his feet were a pack and a green reusable shopping bag.

“That’s Valerie,” Phil said. “I met her this morning. Or last night? I forget now. It was dark. It was after some drama with her hubby. She gave me a ride ’cause she was headed out this way looking for some TV star who she’s in love with. Her daughter is the weather chick.”

There was silence while they all tried to process this, then gave up. Even Charlie was quiet.

Linc arrived and unlocked the bus and the trailer for Phil’s pack. Phil hung on to the carry bag and it clunked loudly as he boarded the bus. They all followed him, finding seats.

“Right,” said Linc. “As soon as Eddie gets back, we’ll get going and make our way to Port Augusta. Does anyone have any questions?”

“Do you know what to do if one of us gets bitten by a snake?” Zach asked, sliding up to sit beside Linc with his notebook.

Niall headed to the back of the bus to stretch out and get some sleep and Keri found herself sitting behind Kevin. Zach had positioned himself shotgun beside Linc and was chatting away as he drove, his ever-present notebook poised as if he were a miniature investigative journalist on an important mission. She hadn’t seen Kevin for a good few years and they hadn’t been the closest as kids. Keri had thought he was bullyish and bossy. Now she realised it was likely to be mostly because he’d been the oldest.

“Zach seems to be enjoying himself,” she said, leaning her arms on the seat in front. Kevin turned so he was pressed against the window and could talk to her.

“Yeah, he’s a good kid. Always bookish, you know? With Tyler I always knew where we stood, from when he was tiny. Sporty, like me — and Stace too — but Zach,” he laughed, “no idea where we got him. Did you know he could read before he even started school? Stacey used to take him with her, back when she was still playing hockey, or we’d be at one of Tyler’s games and there’s Zach, on the sideline with his head in a book. I admire that kind of serenity. He’s just himself, doesn’t care what other people might think.”

“She was happy to stay behind and keep everything ticking over. She’s always been better at that than me, and just between us, I think she finds our entire family a bit much when we get together. It seemed like a good time to get to know Zach a bit more. Find out what makes him tick. Get him out in the outdoors too, you know?”

There was a call from Phil, further down the bus. “Hey, Eddie, how about a song? You were always up for that at the ranch.”

“Eugh, that’s from that dumb kids’ show all the nerds used to watch,” Jayden said.

“All right then.” Eddie cleared his throat and started singing ‘Sweet Home Alabama’. He had a good voice and most of the bus joined in.

Niall pulled away the T-shirt he’d had covering his face and sat up. “Jesus, Charlie, you sound like a strangled flamingo.” He started to sing, louder than any of them.

The sleeping arrangements were pretty much the same in Port Augusta as they had been the previous night. Phil had claimed he didn’t need a room and wandered off when they got there. This time, they were staying at a campground on the outskirts of town and were in cabins spread about the site.

Keri wondered where Linc was sleeping. It got pretty cold at night to be camping and she was surprised Stephen wasn’t paying for a room for him. Was he in the tent again? All cold on the hard ground? She hastily put a stop to that line of thinking.

Linc had unhooked the trailer and taken Charlie and Niall into town so they could buy supplies. They were going to cook a meal for everyone that night in the communal kitchen. Both claimed to be a better cook than the other.

Keri used the alone time to listen to a podcast and then wandered through the grounds to see what everyone was up to. She found Phil, under a tree near the back fence, stretched out on a swag he had spread there.

“Hey, is that where you’re sleeping? I’m sure Stephen’s budget would stretch to another room for you.”

“Nah, I’m comfy here.” He sat up and patted the space beside him. “Come on, sit down and have a yarn. How’ve you been?”

“I’ve been okay. After this trip I’m going to find another grown-up job and get myself sorted.”

“Yeah, sorry to hear about all that shit. Kev caught me up on the plane.” He reached into the shopping bag he’d been lugging about and pulled out a bottle of rum. “Drink?”

“I’ve been visiting my boy Joel on the Goldie. Spent a bit of time together on the waves. We’re good mates but I think he got sick of having the old man around.” He deftly poured two generous slugs into plastic cups and handed one to Keri.

“He surfs then?” she asked. Phil had been a really good surfer and could have gone professional if he’d wanted to. He’d preferred the party life though, the alcohol, the drugs and the women. He wasn’t a constant in Joel’s life, but they connected whenever Phil was in the area.

“Yeah, he’s bloody good. He makes boards too, which is where his passion really is. He’s unbelievable at it. Real skill. He’d love to set up a full-time business doing it one day.”

“Works retail in a surf shop. But he makes the boards in his garage. He’s making one for a chick who’s moving up the circuit now. I’m bloody proud of him.”

“I’ll bet.” Keri took a tentative sip and gagged a bit. She wasn’t much of a rum drinker. Especially when it was straight up and cheap. “Do you have anything to go with this?”

Zach wandered over, dragging a thick stick behind him on the concrete path. “Hey, Uncle Phil.”

“Is it alcohol? I’m only eleven, you know. Are you going to sleep there?” He stared in disbelief at the swag, not budging from the path. “Not even inside or anything?”

“Yeah, sure. Nothing like seeing the stars at night and waking up to the sunrise.”

Zach pointed with his stick at a small pile of driftwood next to Phil. “What are those sticks for? Are you going to light a fire? Aren’t you scared of getting attacked by a snake though?”

“You gotta go somehow.” Phil took a large gulp from his cup. “And it’s too cold for snakes, I reckon.”

“Keri, Aunty Charlie’s looking for you. She said you have to make a tiramisu but you’re not allowed to tell Niall about it. She’s in her cabin, I can show you if you like.”

Keri pulled herself to her feet. She didn’t exactly spring up. It wasn’t as easy as it had been when she was younger, even though she was relatively fit. “Good chat, Phil.” She poured the remainder of her rum into his cup. “Take it easy and save some of that for later, yeah?”

Charlie pulled Keri inside, peered around behind her and Zach and closed the door.

“I need you to make your tiramisu for dessert tonight, and pretend I made it. I’m going to do pulled jackfruit tacos with pineapple salsa. Beat that, Niall.” She did a little dance and waved the plastic spatula she was holding, almost hitting Zach in the face.

“As long as you don’t divulge any of my secrets, okay?” Charlie made an action as though zipping her lips and Zach did the same.

“Okay. Can I take notes though?” He pulled out his notebook and perched cross-legged on the bed.

“Do you even have a beater for the cream?” Keri asked, looking around the small kitchen. It was identical to the cabin she was sharing with Niall, so she doubted it. She didn’t fancy spending hours with a fork and getting RSI for her efforts.

Keri pushed up her sleeves and got started making a good, strong pot of coffee, the mainstay of the dessert.

Charlie looked at her suspiciously. “I do, but you’ll probably tell Niall.”

Charlie paused to wipe her eyes with a tea towel, then went back to cutting up the onion.

“Well, you know how Stephen loves photography? He has a whole collection by some famous Australian artist apparently, worth a fortune. I’m going to take a photo while we’re on the trip, as a memento of all those childhood memories. Maybe a sunrise. Or a sunset if I can’t get up early enough. They’re stunning out in the bush, I remember.” She fiddled with the small oven and shoved a tray of cut pineapple into it. Keri could tell she’d over-filled the dish and it wouldn’t grill evenly.

“Why are you doing a scavenger hunt anyway?” Zach asked. “Isn’t that a bit weird for grown-ups?”

“It was something our Grandpa Bill got us to do every year,” Charlie told him. “Most of our families lived near Adelaide so we’d always start there, and we’d do the long drive up to Canyon Moon every summer, all together. We had to bring him the best gift, following his rules.”

“No bringing it from home. No money can change hands. No stealing,” Keri chanted.

“It just means you can’t buy the gift. It has to be traded, or found or made, not paid for,” Keri told him. Charlie passed Zach some pineapple to try.

They gathered for dinner, and pulled tables in the dining room together to make one large one. It was an enclosed room but had louvred windows all around that could be opened in summer. There were only a few other campers around at that time of year and most of them seemed to have stayed in their vans, so they had the place to themselves. Niall had also made tacos, in a weird coincidence, although his were beef. He had also made a fruit salad and there was plenty of wine. They all served up plates and sat at the table to eat.

“I think we stayed here once, on one of our trips,” Kevin said. “I seem to remember Aunty Janet and Mum cooking roast chicken. It feels familiar.”

“I remember that. And Stephen drank so much of that fizzy drink he puked,” Niall added. “Hey—” He turned towards Keri, grinning widely, and she knew what was coming next. “Do you want a Pash?”

“I’m going to my cabin,” Jayden muttered. He’d been silent for most of the day, head down tapping away one-handed at his phone and had eaten dinner without saying a word. He glared at Zach as he sloped out as though telling him not to dare follow. Keri felt a bit sorry for the younger boy.

“What’s the best thing you ever found for the scavenger hunt, Dad?” Zach asked, once Jayden had gone.

Kevin thought about it for a bit. “I was never very good,” he said, “but one year there was a country singer Grandpa liked staying in one of the roadhouses and I got his signature. Bruce Declan, his name was, but he signed it Bushman Bruce.”

They were all silent, as if not wanting to be the one to answer. At last, Darren cleared his throat. “That was the last year we were there. I don’t think any of us have been back since.” He looked around the group and they all murmured confirmation.

“Was that the year of the hide and seek?” Michelle asked brightly. “When Stephen got bitten by the snake?” She hadn’t been there, of course. It was well before she was on the scene. “Didn’t you all forget about him or something? And he was locked in the barn all night?”

“The barn was a whole bunch of buildings and Stephen was in an outhouse on the side,” Charlie said. “It was like a rabbit warren, there were loads of hiding spots.”

Darren added, “There was a lot going on that night and we probably got called in by Joan.”

“Yeah, I was in my room most of the night,” Kevin said. “I was a bit old for all those games then.”

“It was such a long time ago, who even remembers what happened?” Niall said. He’d been sitting next to Charlie and now he abruptly pulled his seat further away.

Naomi looked wide-eyed and innocent. “I was only eight, you guys would barely even let me join in. And the ranch was scary at night.”

“Pretty sure I was the one in the bedroom the whole time, Kevin,” Phil said, “the one we had to share? How about you, Eddie?”

Keri felt her whole body still. That was a night she’d sooner forget, so she didn’t reply.

“Anyway,” said Kevin, suddenly reached for the open bottle of wine, “who needs a refill?”

Keri held out her glass. “Me,” she said, grateful for the interruption. Kevin topped her up and she took a sip of wine and shivered, either from the cold of the night or from memories she’d hoped she’d repressed.

“I don’t know if you did win that year, Niall,” Charlie suddenly said. “I think that was the same year I found the stone with the pink swirl in it.”

“I doubt it would have made any difference,” Niall said. “I’d still have won.”

“Okay, I’m sick of you two always arguing.” Naomi held up a manicured hand. “Let’s talk about me.”

Keri glanced over at Linc and found he was looking back at her, an unreadable expression on his face. He pushed back his chair and picked up his empty tea mug. “I’m gonna hit the sack, early start tomorrow, everyone.” He crossed to the sink to wash his cup.

Naomi slugged back her wine. “Me too.” She got up quickly, leaving her empty glass on the table. “Night, everyone.”

She trailed after Linc, calling out to him to ask him something about the morning.

Keri imagined what would happen when Naomi caught him up. She’d flutter her eyelashes at him and offer to let him sleep in with her. He’d look at her more impressive chest and he’d say, ‘Finally, a Buckley who doesn’t plan to leave me with blue balls, having to wrap my strong, capable hands around my own big ...’

“Potatoes!” Niall shouted, jolting Keri awake. “We need at least five kilos.”

Keri groaned, reaching over to check her watch. It was almost six and Niall was now muttering under his breath about rosters and scrambling eggs.

She should go for another run, she thought. But she’d had too many wines the night before and her head protested the idea. She closed her eyes briefly until Niall started talking about full-fat cream. Maybe a walk. She dressed quietly and found her jacket.

The campground stretched out along the shoreline, the water buffering the sound of the early-morning freight trains across the harbour. The air was crisp against her skin as she slipped out the cabin door and stretched her arms above her head. She could hear a baby crying somewhere in the camp and the sound of someone whistling in the shower block, which only made her mind go to Linc. She set off across the sand, determined to stop obsessing over him, and his arse.

Last night had made her think about the ranch, and that bloody night of hide and seek. She’d been sixteen and stupid. Foolishly thinking herself in love with Brett, who must have been in his early twenties, and working for her grandparents on the ranch.

He’d seemed so grown up and she so badly wanted to think he was in love with her too. She’d pursued him all that summer, testing out her newfound flirting skills. Wearing skimpy tops to emphasise what she’d thought was the beginning of new and impressive breast growth, but had sadly turned out to be the whole shebang.

She’d wanted to kiss him that night. Had thought she was ready for more too, until he’d pulled down her shorts and his pants and she’d realised that what she felt wasn’t desire, but panic.

She should have said no. She knew that now as an adult, but at the time the idea of stopping him seemed like a signal to Brett that she was child, and that was the last thing she wanted.

It hadn’t been rape. Keri always told herself that. She’d thought you couldn't lead a guy on and then say stop, not back in those days, and she hadn’t said stop. She’d known what was going to happen and she’d regretted it immediately, but it had been uncomfortable rather than awful. It’d been a relief when Grandma Joan had fired him shortly after that night. Joan had blamed Brett for Stephen getting locked in that shed. In all the drama of Stephen being rushed to hospital, and the shock of him losing his toe, she’d been able to put that night out of her mind. But she knew Brett hadn’t been to blame for the shed, and she’d never said anything. She’d felt guilty for that, but not guilty enough to override the relief that she didn’t have to face him again.

They’d moved away after that summer. Her mother had found another loser guy to trail after, and they hadn’t been back. Keri had been able to put that night away. Not think about it again. Until now.

God, she had shit taste in men. They were all pricks, she thought, as she walked along the sand feeling moody and sorry for herself. All cheats and users that did you over eventually, one way or the other. She needed to give up on men. She didn’t need one. Screw them.

She would win the scavenger hunt, use the money to pay off the bank loan she’d had to take for the lawyer’s fees and start again. Maybe join a nunnery? Or explore lesbianism, although to be fair, she would likely be no better at picking women than men. Anyway, it was only sex. She could live without it, couldn’t she?

Out of the corner of her eye she saw movement and she turned, only to see Linc emerging from the water like Daniel Craig in that Bond scene, but without the really tight shorts. Unfortunately. His were board shorts, but even so, they clung wetly to his impressive thighs. Then there was his bare chest — good God. He was too much at this time of the morning, all glistening wet and slicking back his hair with those hands and bloody hell, even his feet were sexy.

He pissed her off. Here she was, all over men and resigned to a life of celibacy and he had to get up in her girly bits, all tempting and lickable. Plus he was a cheat too. With his poor baby of a girlfriend at home thinking he was working when really he was practising for the cover of Sports Illustrated. The wanker!

He was closer now, stalking up the beach like a cheetah. All lithe and predatory and ... a cheater. He was a cheater and she hated him and anyway, who swims in the middle of fucking winter?

“Are you bloody crazy?” she said, only it might have been more of a yell, like a fishwife or a banshee, and she realised she might have been overreacting a bit to seeing him in the morning when all he’d done was go for a very cold swim. But she did tend to overreact a smidge sometimes, and bloody hell, he had a six-pack and a happy trail and ... fuck.

She turned to stride off but his hand was around her wrist and he was saying “Keri, wait.”

Her heart was all erratic and she was shaking, but that was probably because it was cold and his fingers were freezing, even though his hand sent a warm shiver up her arm and for fuck’s sake, she had to get it together.

“I think we should talk,” he said. “I didn’t realise you were married, and this is my job and ...”

He looked a little confused. “Niall?” he said, as if she were a little simple and may have temporarily forgotten about a husband she had.

“What the hell? Niall? My cousin Niall? Why would you think we were married? Eww.”

“Ah, shit.” He picked up a towel and rubbed it over his hair and face. He did it for quite a long time while she stood there trying to work out why he would think she and Niall were together. Eventually she pulled at the end of the towel so she could see his face. He looked a bit sheepish. And he sort of tugged at his lip with his teeth and why was that cute?

“I guess I didn’t really think it through,” he said. Was he blushing? “I saw you had the same last name, and you were all over him at the depot, and you were sharing a room and ... I heard him say ... shit. Okay. Cousins.”

They stood there for a bit. Looking at each other. The sun was rising and campers were starting to emerge from their various sleeping quarters. She could smell coffee. He had great arms. All tattooed and muscled, and she was thinking about those hands again when he asked, “So why did you leave the other night?”, and she remembered the young girl with the dewy skin and perky boobs in the skimpy bikini and she was mad all over again.

“I’m talking about your girlfriend.” She put her hands into the pockets of her jacket. “The one you seem to conveniently forget when it suits you.”

His face looked even more puzzled. Her certainty slipped a little. But he probably practised that look. That innocent ‘whatever do you mean?’ expression. Chad had pretended ignorance too.

“Are you talking about Lia? Because she wasn’t really a girlfriend. I mean she drove the bus and we hooked up a few times, but I wouldn’t have said she was a girlfriend. And anyway, she’s with Toddy now ...” He stopped, wrapping the towel over his shoulders, and hunching in a little. He was probably freezing, and Keri was a bit lost.

“Well, why do you have a big picture of the two of you in your hallway then?”

He looked at her for a while, thinking, and then his face sort of creased up and he was smiling. Why was he smiling? Keri was getting that horrible sinking feeling that she might have jumped the gun.

He started to laugh. Loudly. She felt like an idiot, standing there scowling away while he laughed. Stuff this, she was going back to her cabin for some coffee. She started off across the sand, shoulders tense and fists clenched.

“Sorry,” he called out. But she kept going. “Keri, wait.” He wasn’t laughing now. She picked up the pace.

She heard him behind her. “Keri, please, wait. I’m sorry. But that picture? That’s not a girlfriend. I swear.”

She stopped. Looked back at him. She must have looked angry still. Disbelieving. Because he put his hands up in defeat.

Jayden hates me. He told me I was a baby and that he wishes he never broke his arm and got stuck with me. But he was crying when he said it and I think maybe he was sad because he has a sore arm. And his mum and dad fight a bit. Not like yelling and throwing stuff or anything like in movies but like that thing when Mum is mad and she goes all quiet and she says ‘whatever’ or ‘it’s fine’ but she sounds all hard and you think maybe it’s not fine? And Darren sighs a lot and I think maybe Jayden is just sad-mad maybe.

I texted Tyler and he said to ‘kill him with kindness’ which I don’t know what that means. Tyler said he is hung over which is because he drank lots of alcohol last night. I asked him why they say hung over and he said it was because you hung over the toilet. Once, when I was sick I threw up in my bed and there were bits of carrot all stuck on my pillow. I hadn’t even eaten any carrots. I wonder if Tyler had carrot in his spew too?

Anyway, we drove to Port Augusta and it was a kind of long drive and the roads were all white and there were lots of trees and not much else. I had to stop for a pee behind one, and so did Aunty Charlie. We sang songs too (on the bus, not while we peed) but not for very long but it was fun.

The place we are at has a beach and the campground has a playground and a pool. Jayden told me it was warm and dared me to go in without feeling it, but I did feel it and it was cold. Which is a mean trick.

Linc said he knows what to do if someone gets bitten by a snake. And that in winter they hide and I don’t have to worry but I still do. I found a stick so I can poke things that might be a snake and also hit one if I need to.

Oh yeah, Uncle Phil turned up! That was good. He tried to give me some alcohol. I think he forgot I’m just a kid. My mum always says I’m an old soul, so maybe that’s what she means.

Last night we had dinner that Niall and Aunty Charlie cooked and it was a competition to see who was the best cook and Niall’s was much better. Then they all sat and drank alcohol and talked and it was a bit boring. But then — they started talking about once, in the olden days when they were kids, and they were at the ranch and they played hide and seek and no one remembered to find Stephen and he got stuck in a shed and he got bitten by a — guess what — a SNAKE! Even worse, he had to go to hospital and they chopped off his toe!!! Dad said it wasn't a poisonous snake but it got an infection or something (the toe, not the snake) and they chopped it off! His big one! I am not so keen to go to the ranch now.

But, also, everyone was a bit weird about why Stephen was locked in the shed. And they all got funny about where they were. Phil and Dad both said they were in the bedroom, but one of them is not telling the truth I think and maybe there’s a MYSTERY there! So I am going to solve it!

I’ll be a detective and question everyone on their whereabouts — which is a weird word, like where-abouts were you instead of just where were you.

So I will ask everyone and write it in my notebook and then I’m going to tell Stephen who locked him in the shed and made him get bitten and stuff.

I saw a miner’s thumb in a jar once. It had dirt under the fingernail which was cool.

I haven’t done any homework yet and I ate all the lollies today on the bus and felt a bit sick.

I like Linc. He talks to me about stuff and answers all my questions. His dog that died was called Pogo and it was a bitser dog which Linc said is a mix of lots of dogs. It could do tricks like playing dead and shaking hands. He said his mum had a dog that was a bitser too and it was called Grover and it could go to the letter box and get the mail, but she had to give it a biscuit before he would give it to her.

Also, Linc is a mechanic and he has a motorbike and a cool car — a Mustang — but an old one, not a flash new one. And he lives in Adelaide and his name is also not Ronald or Humperdinck or Marmaduke which I tried to guess. And also he said not Randy which I don’t think is a really bad name but he thought it would be.

Linc said he likes the Bond movies like me and Daniel Craig is a good Bond but he doesn’t like Star Trek that much except he does have a Captain Kirk doll that his dad gave him and he loves it. I told him it was an action figure, not a doll, and he just laughed.

I asked Dad what he is going to give Stephen for the scavenger gift but he didn’t know and he said he’s not very good at thinking of gifts which is true. One Xmas he gave Mum a set of pots and pans and she wasn’t all quiet-mad like Michelle, she was all yell-y mad. And another time he gave Tyler and me Fitbits for our birthday and again for Xmas.

Anyway, we are going to Coober Pedy tomorrow which sounds really cool so I better go to sleep.

PS Aunty Charlie said that in the army only sometimes you get to throw grenades but they are just smoke ones for practice and then she said that she once saw a man smoke SIX cigarettes all at once! But not in the army so I don’t know why she told me that but still. She’s fun.

It was a long drive from Port Augusta to Coober Pedy. The long sandy road stretched out endlessly in front of them, no sign of any other traffic for miles, the landscape slowly changing from green grass to scrubby farmland and the occasional wind turbine in the distance. There was no sign of any people and only the odd farm animal. It was a stark contrast to the city, the vastness almost incomprehensible. Michelle and Darren had obviously had a fight and sat separately from each other, tension thick in the air around them. Charlie and Niall were being weird, even for them, and Keri was feeling super awkward about Linc.

She looked over at him, driving and chatting to Zach. She would have to apologise for making assumptions and jumping to conclusions that meant she had foolishly blown off sex with him. She couldn’t stop thinking about what she had missed. She sat across from him on the bus thinking way too much about that and trying to prepare an apology. But even if they did sort that, there was also the issue of the dead bird. It was all a bit of a mess.

She dozed off for a bit and woke to the sound of Eddie and Charlie deep in conversation across the aisle.

“But it would make more sense if they were called gummy bears, surely?” Charlie was saying. “They eat gum leaves after all.”

“Minor detail.” Charlie opened up a can of something fizzy that sprayed across both their knees. “Shit, sorry.”

“Maybe they don’t call them gummy bears because then people would eat them?” Eddie suggested. “I wonder what they taste like?”

“Minty, I’d imagine. They should call brown bears poo bears then, don’t you think? That would stop people eating them.”

“Well, whoever named the moose wasn’t thinking clearly, were they?” Eddie said.

“Guys, I think I’m hung over,” Zach declared out of the blue, prompting a scramble for something for him to throw up in. They settled on Kevin’s cap, but it turned out not to be needed in the end.

They finally pulled off the main road towards Coober Pedy. The earth had become increasingly orange and dotted with piled-up white mounds that sprouted up along the vast plains, like hundreds of giant moles had been digging homes.

Coober Pedy was a mining town. The opal capital of the world and home to hundreds of eager miners back in the day, which meant it was no place to be wandering around aimlessly, as she heard Linc telling Zach. There were over two hundred and fifty thousand shafts dug around the place and all of them were open. There had never been commercial mining here, and now it was mostly the old-timers who persevered in looking for the opaque gems. They were the only ones with the grit to survive the tough environment. Many of the men had been mining the same plot for decades, not wanting to give up the lease to someone else for fear they’d strike it lucky and they’d miss out on the spoils.

They drove through the town — really one big street with a few pubs, an Italian pizza restaurant and a few souvenir shops — before pulling into the big hotel. Keri had forgotten how dry and dusty it was, how it felt like your skin was coated in a thin layer of chalk and your throat went tacky.

Most of the buildings here were built underground. Around sixty per cent of the locals chose that over above-ground houses. There was no opal mining in town any more, but if you found opal in your dugout, you could keep adding new ‘bedrooms’ and dig away. One colourful local was renowned for having twenty-two bedrooms in his house to date. The dugouts were cool in summer when the temperatures were crazy hot, and the hotel rooms Stephen had prebooked them were also underground. There were no windows and the walls were a natural rock, rough in texture and mottled beige. It was eerily quiet and a little claustrophobic to start, but the beds were soft and the water pressure was great.

It was late in the afternoon and Linc suggested they all meet across the road at John’s Pizza Place at seven. Niall claimed to have come up with a good idea for a scavenger gift and disappeared, leaving a blissfully empty room for Keri to blob for a bit. She took a long bath and washed and conditioned her hair. Her skin was crying out for moisture so she slathered on some oils, put on a face mask and lay on the bed to read her book.

A few minutes later there was a knock at her door. It was Michelle. She looked exhausted, Keri thought.

“Can I borrow your phone?” she asked, her voice strained. “Jayden thought he’d left all his medication back at the campground and I sent Darren out to see if he could fill a new prescription somewhere here. I’ve found the painkillers, only now my phone is flat and I don’t want Darren to spend more money that we don’t have ...” she trailed off, looking close to tears.

“Oh Michelle.” Keri hopped up and pulled her in for a hug. “I’ll ring Darren now and let him know. Want to have a soak in the bath and do a mask and paint your nails with me?”

“Yes, please. That sounds bloody amazing actually,” Michelle said with a little laugh. “Do we have any alcohol?”

The hotel had dropped off a bottle of rosé and Keri and Michelle sat on the bed drinking, doing their nails and talking about life. Keri had always liked Michelle, but it was nice to get to know her a bit better one-on-one. Michelle was a primary school teacher. She and Darren had met at teachers’ college and been together ever since. Darren had gone on to do high school teaching and they had married and bought a house before Darren decided to retrain and get his masters.

“It was a real strain financially,” Michelle told her. “We had some savings, but not a lot, considering what teaching pays, and the mortgage was fixed. But we muddled along, and it was all okay until we had trouble conceiving. IVF wiped us out.” She blew on her nails to dry them. “Financially and emotionally, if I’m honest.” She laughed sadly. “It’s funny, everyone thinks Jayden and Hayley are twins because Darren is one, but really it was all in the hands of doctors. And three tries before we could get it right.”

“So it’s money that’s the issue?” Keri poured out the last of the bottle into their glasses.

“Well, it’s always tight. Winning the scavenger hunt would help. But it’s a lot of things really. Resentment that he got to study while I worked, bringing up kids, lack of romance. Lots of little things. And now we seem to have gotten into this place where we can’t seem to talk to each other without snipping and arguing.”

“I hope not. I really do love him, honestly, Keri.” She grinned. “I still find him hot, and when we do get round to getting it on, he’s still got it, you know? Still makes me feel all hot and bothered and horny.”

“Well, maybe you need to have a really good shag?” Keri laughed. Then she thought about Linc and her smile faded a little. “God, I want that,” she said softly.

“What, a shag?” Michelle grinned. She leant over and patted Keri on the knee, almost spilling her drink into her lap. “There’s always alcohol to make things better,” she said.

“True.” Keri finished off her glass. “How about we get dressed and go find a bar to have a drink in?”

It was almost six o’clock so they went straight to John’s Pizza Place since it served alcohol and was close. Keri texted Charlie and Naomi and suggested they join them too but only Charlie showed. After they ordered more wine and Charlie got a beer, they sat at an outside table to people watch, only there weren’t many people to watch. Two older men in almost identical checked shirts nursed glasses of wine and yiros — a type of Greek wrap which was stuffed with lamb and salad — that Keri thought looked delicious. Jayden sidled over, trailed by Zach.

“This is quite nice.” He picked up the menu and skimmed it. “Is the emu pizza good here?”

Keri tried not to laugh. He was so earnest. “I’ve never tried it myself,” she said. “We came here as kids every year but they only had the basic flavours then. I always had to share a vegetarian with my sister because she refused to eat meat.”

“Don’t have the kangaroo one.” Charlie winked at Keri. “You’ll be jumping around all night.”

“I think I’ll get the Tropical. That sounds kind of like a Hawaiian pizza,” Zach said. “That’s what I get at home.”

Jayden came back with the Cokes. He set Zach’s down in front of him, sloshing it a bit on the metal table. “Can I get something to take back to my room?” he asked Michelle.

“No, I’m getting a burger.” Jayden took a seat as far away from everyone as he could and pulled out his phone.

“I’ll share with you,” Charlie told Zach. “As long as we get chips with gravy and garlic bread as well.”

In dribs and drabs the rest of them arrived. Linc was fresh from a shower, hair still damp, wearing pale jeans and a mossy-green sweater that clung to his body. Keri wondered whether it was possible to be jealous of an item of clothing.

Naomi was in a clingy hot-pink dress, makeup immaculate and wearing ridiculously high heels that were coated in a thin layer of dust. She placed a dainty handbag on the table and produced a travel pack of wipes that she used to clean her seat before she sat.

“Eurgh, this humidity is awful for my skin,” she pouted, “and I couldn’t get my eyelash glue to stick.”

“What brand is it?” Eddie asked. “The True Beauty ones are good.” He looked around then quickly added “So I’ve heard.”

Niall laughed. “I had a girlfriend once who wore those things all the time. One night she lost one and it wasn’t till the next morning that I found it, stuck to my pubes.”

“Niall!” Kevin hissed, flicking his head towards Zach who was listening intently.

“Why was it stuck ...?” Zach started but was thankfully interrupted by the emergence of their waiter to see if they needed more drinks.

They ordered drinks and food. Naomi had again managed to wedge herself in between Eddie and Linc. Keri wasn’t sure why that irritated her so much. Especially when Naomi laughed too loudly at a joke Linc told and put her hand briefly on his thigh.

“What’s the weirdest thing you’ve ever eaten?” Zach asked, watching with consternation as Niall pulled a slice of his emu pizza from the plate and crammed half of it into his mouth.

“I had garlic snails at a French restaurant once,” Charlie said. “They served them in the shells and everything. Barfed them straight up afterwards though.”

“When I was in Bolivia I ate roasted guinea pig,” Eddie told them. “It was the night before I climbed Machu Picchu. That was an adventure, I’m telling you.”

“It might have been a few days before. I’ve been to so many places I’ve lost track. That’s me, Eddie the adventurer.” He almost knocked over his wine, then took his glasses off and polished them with a napkin. He put them in his pocket afterwards rather than putting them back on.

“I’ve only been to Hong Kong to visit my Por Por,” Zach said, “but I want to go to America one day.”

Naomi leant in close and whispered something to Linc and he laughed. The corners of his eyes crinkled in amusement. His sleeves were pushed up, exposing an eagle tattoo on his forearm and a crest of some sort poking out from the top of his sleeve. Keri slugged back her wine and emptied the rest of the bottle into her glass.

“How about some shots?” Zach said. They all laughed when he added, “What are shots anyway?”

Michelle laughed so hard she snorted. Keri was glad she seemed to be feeling a bit happier.

“Michelle and I will have another bottle of whatever this is,” she said, waving the bottle towards Linc.

“I’m not sure that’s a great idea.” Darren had only had the one beer and had been very quiet. “Michelle, I think you’ve already had enough.”

“For God’s sake, lighten up, Darren.” Michelle drained her glass. “You’re never the life of the party, are you?”

“Go ahead then. If you want to make a fool of yourself and feel like shit in the morning, be my guest.”

Keri noticed Jayden had stopped playing on his phone and his head was ping-ponging backwards and forwards between his parents.

“So, Keri, I love your top,” Naomi said, breaking the tension. “Did you buy it in Adelaide? We should take a photo while you’re looking good. That colour’s much better on you than that grey hoodie you usually wear.”

Keri looked over and noticed Linc was staring back. She looked down at the top in question. It was the same one she’d worn that night in the bar. Linc suddenly gave her a wicked grin and she found herself smiling back, most likely blushing a little bit. He stood languidly. “I’ll get the drinks. We’ve got a free day tomorrow, so nobody needs to be up early.”

“Not for me, I do need to be up early.” Niall stood and pulled on his jacket. “Night, all. Try not to crash about too much when you come in, Pash.”

“Why are you getting up early?” Keri asked, but he gave her a mysterious look, touched his finger to the side of his nose and sidled off.

“I’m going to check out the museum tomorrow, if anyone wants to join me,” Michelle said.

“Remember when we were kids and we used to go noodling?” Kevin said. “Zach, you and Jayden should try that tomorrow.”

“There’s a place here in town where you can sift through the mullock — that’s the dirt mounds brought in from the opal mines,” Kevin said. “You might find a bit of opal. I’ll take you both if you like.”

“Nope, none of us ever did,” Charlie told him. “But some kid found a piece that was worth about ten thousand bucks once a few years ago.”

Even Jayden looked interested. “I suppose we could have a try,” he said. Zach had a big smile on his face.

“It must be about time for you boys to go to bed,” Michelle said, going to get up.

“I’ll take them.” Darren shot her an apologetic look, probably realising he’d been a bit of a dick earlier. “You stay here and have another drink, love.”

He mouthed ‘Sorry’ at Michelle and herded the protesting boys off, across the street.

“You should go and have a shag.” Keri nudged Michelle after he’d wandered off with the boys. She and Michelle both started cackling.

“I’m too drunk,” Michelle said, then added with a grin, “and I don’t want to.”

“Huh?” Charlie almost spat out a mouthful of beer. “What are you on about?”

“Keri’s horny and wants a shag,” Michelle said loudly as Linc and Phil arrived back with the drinks. “But not with her cousin.”

“I may have pulled a couple of birds who are staying down the road,” Phil said. “Going to head off with them soon, so my room’s free if you want it.”

“Where are you sleeping, Linc?” Naomi asked. She’d reached out and was patting his knee again, like he was a pet labrador. Or perhaps a tawny leopard would be a more suitable description of him.

Linc turned quickly to Kevin, as though he hadn’t heard her. “So, you’re in sporting goods? Phil was telling me you were a rep rugby player. Is that how you got into that field of work?”

Kevin, always happy to talk about sports, obliged and started telling Linc about the store he and Stacey owned and how they had plans for a second one in a mall opening in a new subdivision. Linc moved his leg and Naomi’s hand slipped off his knee.

Keri looked at Naomi who was pouting. She felt oddly satisfied as she took a sip of her wine.

“It’s lovely here, isn’t it?” Michelle said, her voice slightly slurred. “All red and brown and sandy. Like being on Mars.”

They made their way across the road back to the hotel. Linc was right behind Keri and he reached out a hand to steady her as she stumbled on the gravel.

“Listen, I’m sorry about the shower thing the other day. Please don’t mention the tent, okay?” He looked embarrassed. “I’m trying to save money,” he muttered.

They stood facing each other and although the night was chilly, his eyes looked like warm amber gemstones in the dim light. She could feel his hand, circling her wrist. The hairs on her arm felt like they’d been electrified.

“Sure. I wanted to say, I’m ... uh ... I’m really sorry. About yelling at you this morning, on the beach. Not only that, about everything. About that night. Jumping to conclusions. Also, there’s something else ...”

“Whoops.” Michelle shuffled into Keri, almost knocking them both over. “Can you help me to my room? I think I’m a bit tipsy.”

Keri put an arm around Michelle’s waist, then turned back to Linc. He’d taken a step away and he gave her a rueful smile. “Talk later.” He lifted an arm and waved. Then he set off in the opposite direction.

“You have such springy hair,” Michelle said. “It’s like something very springy.”

So we’re in Coober Pedy and I have to say this whole trip is a nightmare for my skin and hair. I’ve had to use off-the-shelf products and I don’t have my tooth-whitening kit or my hairdryer or anything. And I’m running on only three sets of clothes. I may have to buy supermarket underwear! I tell you, it’s dire. If they offer me a part on ‘Celebrity Treasure Island’, say no, okay?

Dani isn’t returning my calls. She’s threatening to chuck all my clothes out on the street. Can you maybe talk to her? See if you can get my stuff for me? Some of those suits are bespoke, and there’s my Xbox and that art installation piece I got last year. Oh and my Cool Kids Award. Please? I don’t know who else to ask.

I also may have made a tactical error in that I rang Valerie to find out what was happening her end to make sure she wasn’t going to talk to the press and totally make up a story that we had been hooking up since Xmas day or something like that.

But I may have said too much and she showed up in Clare Valley and keeps texting me.

She claims she’s gone and left her idiot husband for me and she’s in love with me, and things have gotten a bit tricky.

On a brighter note, I’m really embracing this Eddie character. I’ve added some back story that I think is convincing, and they definitely don’t suspect me. They’re not bad people actually. One of them is quite a babe ...

I think I look rather dashing in glasses, actually, quite smart. I might get some just for the aesthetic.

“I’d definitely be a duck if I could choose,” Charlie said. “It’s clearly the superior animal.”

“You’d be a duck instead of, say, a lion? Or a wolf?” Niall said in disbelief.

“Plus, of all the animals they have the longest ...” Charlie looked around. “P. E. N. I. S.”

They all laughed, as the waitress arrived with their breakfast. It was almost nine and Keri felt great after getting to sleep in. Niall had gotten up super early, telling her he was doing something for the scavenger hunt and she’d happily gone back to sleep after he left.

She really needed to think of something for Stephen herself but it had been a long time since she’d seen him, so she was struggling to think of a gift that would win her the prize. All she could remember about him was that he was mad on sci-fi, especially Star Trek, and hated anything minty. It wasn’t much to go on.

“Ducks can also close one eye and shut off half their brain,” Eddie said suddenly.

“Now that would be handy,” Naomi said, making Niall snort his coffee out his nose.

After breakfast, Keri found herself at a bit of a loose end. Kevin had taken Zach and Jayden to try their hand at noodling, Niall and Charlie had disappeared, Darren was joining Michelle to check out the museum, and Naomi and Eddie had gone on a possibly futile mission to find a gym.

She wandered up the road to the petrol station and bought a vitamin water and a couple of chocolate bars, checking the magazine stand by habit to make sure there was nothing new about Chad. Dating a professional race car driver had caused attention, but nothing like what the scandal of the court case had caused. She’d found him too often splashed across the cover of a trashy magazine, with some awful reference to her — designed to make her seem at her worst.

There was nothing new today and she was hopeful that now her name had been cleared, the media would leave her alone.

Back in the hotel car park, she found Linc with his head under the bonnet of the bus. She peered around him to see what he was doing and saw he was disconnecting the fuel hose. He looked over his shoulder and gave her a rather gorgeous smile.

“Changing the fuel filter?” she guessed. His eyebrow raised slightly and he nodded. “Want some help?”

“Nah, I’m good,” he told her and she felt a bit gutted until he added, “You could keep me company though.”

She leant against the side of the bus and drank her water as he pulled off the air filter cartridge.

Keri did some quick maths in her head, guessing he must be close to her age like she had suspected.

“Yeah, that’s right. Her mum and I were together all through high school.”

“That must have been a life-changing moment, finding out you were going to be a dad?” Keri handed him a flat-head screwdriver so he could remove the hose to the turbo.

“Thanks. Yeah, totally. Scared me shitless to be honest. Neither of us was ready.”

“What size socket do you need?” she asked. “Quarter?” He nodded and she passed it over, taking the screwdriver and putting it back in the tool box.

“We got married. I wanted to do the right thing by her, you know? But we split when Jade was two.” He unclipped the electrics and took off a clip.

“That sucks, sorry. I guess you were both very young.” She handed him a wrench so he could lift the filter.

“Yeah, but it was more that she didn’t trust me. I was busting a gut, working long hours, and she was always convinced I was cheating.” He looked up. “I wasn’t,” he said adamantly. “Trust is a really big thing for me. Like no trust is a deal breaker.”

“Anyway,” Linc laughed softly, taking a new filter out of its box, “Jade is the best. She works for a car rental company in Perth, and I try to see her as often as I can. That photo was from a music festival we went to last summer.”

“I really am sorry for assuming the worst about you,” Keri told him, feeling like an arsehole. “I honestly regret ruining that night.”

He gave her a long look before turning back to the engine and sliding in the new filter.

They worked together in silence for a bit while Linc reattached lines and hoses. Keri passed him tools and wiped others before she put them away.

“Bevan — my stepdad,” she told him. “Well, one of my mother’s exes anyway. They never got married but he was the only one who stuck around for any length of time. He insisted I learn how to change a tyre, and my oil, clean my spark plugs, that sort of thing.”

“I’m the same with Jade. Everyone needs to know how to maintain a car, and it saves money too.”

“My dad was a mechanic. Owned a garage. I was always trailing after him, getting under his feet, so he taught me. He was amazing with cars.”

“Yeah, he was my idol. He wanted to run a custom car shop one day, and I always saw myself doing it with him, you know? And later, on my own. But Toddy suggested we get into the tour bus thing and it’s probably a pipe dream now.” He finished up and closed the bonnet, wiping his hands on a rag. She gave him the packed-up tool box and he put it in the trailer.

“No, it’s fine,” Keri grinned. “It’s no big deal. Mum was always open about her ‘free-spirited’ ways.”

“No, I have an older sister, Joni. She’s Mum’s mini-me. She lives in Thailand with her son, Sage. Father also unknown. Sage’s, that is. Well, Joni’s too, I guess,” Keri told him with a grin. He laughed. It was a good laugh. He laughed with his mouth wide, his teeth showing. He hadn’t shaved for a few days and his stubble was growing out and he really did look like Chris Pine. Keri wondered if Chris Pine had such nice hands though. She might google that later.

“So, why does Niall call you Pash? I’ve noticed that a few times,” Linc asked and Keri could feel her face flaming as she covered it with her hands.

“Do you remember that stupid soft drink ad years ago, with the kids all Bugsy Malone style in the bar? The one where the serving girl says ‘Do you want a Pash?’” Linc nodded.

“Yeah, that was me,” she said awkwardly. “I was the Pash girl, and Niall, being the immature dick he is, thinks it’s hilarious to keep calling me that.” Linc did a weird sort of laugh and she looked up at him, grinning in embarrassment. “My mum made me do it, but I got some great pocket money out of it while it was on the TV.”

“I remember I really liked that Pash,” Linc said. He sounded a bit embarrassed to admit it. “So what do you do now?” he asked. “Still modelling or acting or whatever?”

“No,” Keri laughed, “God, no, that was a one-off. Mum thought it would be lots of fun and very glamorous but it was pretty boring. Especially for her since she had to hang on the set as my chaperone. No, modelling wasn’t for me.” She was trying to think of what to say. She didn’t want to get into the whole mess with Chad, and ruin the easygoing vibe they had going.

“I was mainly in sales. I worked for an ice cream company as a rep for years, then moved into car financing.”

“Nothing financed,” she laughed. “I actually have a Jeep Wrangler.” She finished off her drink. “It’s an old one, a ’96 with a soft top. Completely impractical, a bit of a gas guzzler and a mid-range safety rating, but I love it. Bevan is always on at me to sell it, but I’ve had it so long I can’t bear to part with it — unless someone offered me a trade up to a Ford Bronco.”

“Oh man, they are nice. I doubt we’ll ever get them here though. They’ll never bother with right-hand drive.”

“Yeah, he’s great. He’s been a real constant in my life. I guess I think of him as my dad really.”

“Go on then.” Phil slid onto the pleather seat next to Keri. “Wouldn’t say no. I’ll have a whisky and a beer chaser and maybe a packet of chips? I haven’t had breakfast yet.”

Linc left for the bar and Keri turned to look at her cousin. He was in the same clothes as he’d been wearing yesterday, tiny sticks all over his pants like he’d slept under a hedge, his man bun a matted lump, sticking out weirdly to the side. He had the sour smell of old alcohol on his breath and his skin, and his clothes smelled of stale sweat.

“Bunked with a couple of new mates, I guess you could say,” he said, fishing into his puffer vest pocket and pulling out a small reddish disc covered in lint. “Want a Berocca?”

She declined. Linc returned with the drinks and Phil dropped the fizzy tablet into his beer before opening the chips and stuffing a mouthful in.

“I ordered some wedges too.” Linc slid her drink across the table. “I can grab other stuff if you want more?”

“Wedges sounds good,” Keri told him, sipping her drink. Linc sat and made a weird face, before leaning across his seat and sliding open the window next to the booth. “Need a bit of fresh air.” He gave Keri a wink.

“God, these early mornings are just hideous,” Naomi complained, climbing the stairs to the bus in a tiny pair of shorts. They had a sparkly star plastered across the left bum cheek. “You’re such a meanie,” she pouted at Linc. “I need my beauty sleep, you know.” He smiled blandly at her and she frowned. Keri guessed she was hoping he would protest that she was beautiful enough.

They were heading back up the Stuart Highway today, planning to stop at Erldunda for the night. It was a good five hours of driving. The whole highway from Adelaide to Alice Springs was a long one, over fifteen hundred kilometres. Keri was pleased to see Zach had given up his shotgun seat alongside Linc and she took it, hoping they could chat more on the way.

Charlie and Niall boarded, deep in discussion about what constituted a sandwich.

“But a taco isn’t two pieces of bread,” Niall was saying. “Quesadillas use two wraps, so they fit the criteria.”

“It’s the same as a hotdog,” Charlie insisted. “It’s got filling in between the split bun, so it’s a sandwich.”

They stopped at the Marla roadhouse for a bathroom and coffee break. Keri and Linc had chatted about cars, travel, food and music and Keri realised she really liked him. Not in a ‘he’s attractive for a one-night stand’ way either. He was a nice guy. Smart and funny. And also hot.

She decided she needed to pluck up the courage to tell him about his cockatoo before they got back on the bus, in case he took it badly. If he was furious, she would sit at the back of the bus the rest of the trip feeling sorry for herself.

But after they got their drinks, Linc excused himself to make a few calls and fill up the bus with diesel and when she finally tracked him down he was helping out a couple with a flat trailer tyre.

“You’re a very handy man to have around, aren’t you, Linc?” Niall said with an exaggerated wink at Keri, who went bright red and scuttled off to the bus in defeat.

They got going again, only for Naomi to insist an hour or so later that they stop at the South Australia/Northern Territory border for the loo. When she came back she made a huge fuss about getting a group photo and then rearranged everyone to her liking. It took ages and Darren started to get pissed off.

“For God’s sake, Naomi, can we go now? I’m so over you taking a thousand photos so you can choose the best one of you for your bloody social media.”

“I just want one more,” she whined. “Kevin had his eyes closed in that one and Eddie was too close to me.”

“You’re so vain,” Darren shouted. “Taking hours each morning to get ready, having to straighten your hair and put on bloody makeup just to drive in the goddamn bus. You don’t see Charlie or Keri giving a fuck how they look. Why did we have to get the vain sister?”

“Half-sister! I’m your half-sister,” Naomi shouted, glaring petulantly at Darren.

The group went silent. Everyone but Keri and Michelle looked back and forward between Naomi and her brothers, confused and waiting to see what was going on.

“Right,” Darren agreed quietly. “Half-sister.” He turned and went back to the bus. Michelle followed him.

They all trailed back to the bus, Eddie tripping over on the stairs as he got on. Linc started the motor and there was an ominous silence, bar Naomi’s sniffling.

Eventually, Niall cleared his throat and started talking, telling the group about his father’s funeral and his mother’s confession.

“Wow,” Charlie said. “Who’d have guessed Aunty Denise was holding on to that all those years?”

“Yeah,” Phil agreed, “but at least it makes it less creepy that you and Niall got it on as kids, right?”

“Well, it makes them not blood related at all, doesn’t it? So not, you know, so gross and all that,” Phil said.

“He means, what are you talking about them getting it on?” Keri said. Niall had gone bright red and Charlie was slumped down in her seat with her hands over her face.

“Should we maybe talk about this later?” Michelle suggested carefully, looking pointedly at Jayden and Zach.

“We didn’t ‘get it on’, we only kissed,” Niall insisted, and Charlie groaned loudly.

“It was a one-off,” Niall said. “That hide and seek night.” He looked mortified. “We were kids,” he said. “It was an experiment.”

“How did you know they kissed, Uncle Phil?” Zach asked, pulling his notebook out of his bag. Phil went bright red.

“I didn’t want to divulge my hiding place and they turned up near where I was hiding.” He cracked open a can of beer and took a long gulp, swallowing several times before answering. “And they were arguing about how if they’d ever kissed anyone before, they’d be the best at it. I didn’t think they were going to do it, so I stayed hidden in the barn.”

“So you weren’t in the bedroom then?” Zach said. “That’s a lie! Why did you say you were?”

Phil shrugged. “I was doing something private.” He winked. “Studying a magazine I’d found.”

“How about we play I spy?” Kevin suggested loudly, patting Zach on the shoulder.

Niall was still standing in the aisle and avoided Keri’s eye as he bypassed the seat next to her. He dodged Charlie as well, until he’d reached the back, where he pulled out his phone and earbuds and sat with his eyes closed.

Everyone seemed to think this was as good a time as any to have a nap, and when Keri opened her eyes again, Linc was deftly parking the bus between two large caravans.

“Kulgera Pub. Apparently the central-most pub in Australia,” Linc told them all, and they sleepily disembarked and headed inside. “Thought we could have a bit of a stop, get some food or use the rest rooms.”

It was a nondescript building, a little off the main road, and as well as the gas bowsers, it had a courtyard, toilets, a sports bar and a small selection of grocery items.

“Man, this place is a bit ancient,” Jayden said as he lined up with an armful of snacks. Keri had just pulled a slightly squashed Cornetto out of the freezer and had to agree. She put it back and found an Icy Pole that looked like it hadn’t been sitting there since Icy Poles were invented. The place was full of pub merch; caps and bottle holders that looked like they were relics from the eighties. Niall was ahead of them in the line and she heard his loud guffaw.

Everyone turned to stare at him, and at where he was pointing. Not only the people in their group but everyone in the roadhouse at that time. Behind the counter, beside a faded Grease movie picture was a peeling poster showing a smiling curly-haired girl in a pair of pink and white shorts, sipping a bottle of orange fizzy drink.

“Good Lord,” Keri groaned. Linc was standing behind her and made a sound that could have been a laugh but turned into a small cough.

“How much for the Pash poster, mate?” Niall asked the young guy behind the counter.

The boy turned to look at it. He scratched at his greasy hair and after a bit of confused consideration carefully unpinned it and handed it over to Niall. “You can have it, dude. It must be at least fifty years old, I reckon.”

Niall rolled the poster up, tucking it amongst his purchases and gave Keri a punch on the arm as he passed her in the queue.

She paid for her ice block and the snacks she’d selected, thankful that the shop assistant was oblivious to the fact that she was the same person as the young girl in the poster.

Outside, Keri slipped around the side of the building and leant against the side. The corrugated iron was sun-warm beneath her shoulders. Cigarette butts were scattered at her feet and the heat caused the faint smell of nicotine to waft up. She opened her Icy Pop, relishing the cold, sweet stickiness and closed her eyes against the glare. She loved her family but it was nice to get a couple of minutes to herself before getting back on the bus after all the drama and tension earlier. Darren and Naomi were avoiding each other and so were Niall and Charlie.

She sighed and opened her eyes again, and at that moment Linc appeared around the corner. He gave her a grin when he saw her.

He grinned even wider, and leant on the wall next to her. “It wasn’t that bad. I don’t think anyone else realised. Seeing how young you were though, it kind of seems like an inappropriate slogan now.”

They both laughed a bit, and then Keri realised he was looking at her quite intently and that his face was very close to hers.

She stared back, pretty sure she was holding her breath, and moved towards him, just as he reached out and cupped the side of her face with his large, capable, sexy hand.

Linc moved to meet too and kissed her. She closed her eyes and felt the warmth of his lips, the faint minty flavour of his mouth and kissed him back, until the sound of approaching footsteps made them pull apart and she realised the icy pop had melted all over her hand.

Keri spent a long time in the shower when they reached Erldunda thinking about that kiss. She would have been concerned about using up all the hot water except that she’d had to turn the temperature down quite low — because she was thinking about the kiss. Finally, Niall hammered on the door and she turned the shower off and pulled on clean sweat pants and a top.

“You’ve got a nerve, thumping on the door after that stunt you pulled today in the shop,” she said, glaring at him when she finally came out of the bathroom after deliberately taking her time moisturising her face and drying her hair to piss him off.

Except she thought of the pash that the Pash poster had led to and all the heat from her argument seemed to fizzle out.

“It was a shed, not a tree. And we were curious, we wanted to see what kissing was like.”

Niall was silent, considering. “I don’t know, it was like kissing your cousin, I guess. Except the weird thing is, ever since I’ve found out she’s not technically my cousin and I’ve been thinking about the ranch, I’ve kind of ...”

“Okay ... I guess.” Keri suddenly had an idea. “I’ll promise, if you give me that Pash poster. I don’t trust you with it.”

“Done.” He strode over and pulled the poster out from where it was stuffed into his pack. “It would probably give me nightmares anyway.”

Keri unrolled it and placed it on the bottom of her bag, well out of reach and out of sight. The paper felt old and fragile, slightly dusty. “So, you’ve kind of what?”

“It’s — well — I’ve been thinking maybe I’m attracted to Charlie. In more than a cousin-ly way. Maybe I always was and that’s why I kissed her back then. I sort of want to do it again, to see.”

“Hmm. That’s kind of ... I don’t really know what to say to that. In my head, you’re both still cousins.”

“I know, it’s weird. I probably won’t or anything. She’s only just found out about the not-really-cousins thing, so I’ve got no idea what she thinks about it all anyway.”

“Well, she’s always had terrible taste in men,” Keri said. “So I guess you could be in.”

“Hey!” He threw his towel at her, grabbed it back and disappeared into the bathroom.

The dining area was busy. The truck stop had a constant ebb and flow of travellers, stopping to fuel up, eat, use the restrooms or stay in their campsite or motel units to break up their travels. Several large groups were at the counter ordering food and paying for souvenirs and gas when Keri and Niall arrived for dinner. They both ordered burgers and took their order number through to the bar area, joining Naomi and Charlie, who had found a large table in the corner.

“Do you want to sit next to Charlie, or should I?” she asked Niall, and he stood down hard on her foot in reply.

“What does everyone want to drink?” He hovered on the other side of the table.

“I think the cute bar guy is coming over to take our orders.” Naomi faffed with her hair, and Keri took pity on Niall and took the seat next to Charlie. Niall put an arm around Naomi’s shoulder as he sat down next to her and gave her a quick brotherly squeeze.

“Perfect timing.” Linc slid into the spare seat beside Keri. She felt herself go all warm and toasty and almost couldn’t think of what she’d been going to order. Darren, Kevin and Phil joined them too, followed by Michelle and the boys.

“My name is Alois, what can I get for you all to drink tonight?” The swarthy young man beamed at them all, but especially at Naomi who was wearing her skintight jeans and a sheer low-cut black top with a chunky silver necklace resting tantalisingly between her breasts.

Naomi leant forward eagerly. “I’ll have a cognac, s’il vous plaît,” she said.

When Alois returned he’d put a little umbrella into Naomi’s glass. He gave her another huge smile.

“Doesn’t he have lovely teeth,” Naomi sighed as he left. “You can tell he flosses regularly.”

“Bloody hell, Noms, he must only be about twenty and also, you’re obsessed with teeth.” Charlie plucked the umbrella out of Naomi’s drink and put it into her own.

“It’s because it’s my job.” Naomi rolled her eyes. “Besides, you can tell a lot about a man from his teeth. It’s a sign of good character.”

Linc shifted in his seat to reach for his drink and Keri felt his leg brush against her thigh under the table. Was it intentional? She wanted to look at him but couldn’t. He didn’t move away and she could feel the warmth of him, pressing lightly against her. It made her think again of the kiss they’d shared earlier. Not that she’d really stopped thinking about it.

Their food arrived and Naomi complained that she was already sick of carbs and meat and was hanging out for a salad. Keri sort of knew how she felt. Her burger was massive with two huge meat patties and a pile of chunky fries. She skipped the bun and pinched Niall’s lettuce.

Alois was very attentive and after three brandy and sodas, Naomi seemed to forget she was craving a salad and tucked into her chicken burger before she relocated to sit on a bar stool where she said she was going to ‘practise’ her French.

Linc had shifted to talk to Kevin, taking his warm leg with him, so Keri inched her foot closer to his under the table, and instead kicked him in the ankle.

They had an early start the next morning and a long day driving so Keri excused herself. She dawdled back to the unit, half hoping Linc might catch up with her in the dark and they could test out the kissing theory again, but he didn’t.

Keri brushed her teeth and got into her pyjamas in the en suite and hopped into bed. Niall folded his laptop away. She thought about telling him about Linc, but it felt too early yet and she didn’t know if anything was happening between them or not. Besides, even though she and Niall told each other their deepest secrets, he wasn’t above trying to embarrass her for his own amusement. Clearly.

“Were you staring at her lips all night, wondering whether she’d taste like strawberries?”

Niall leant over and turned the light off. “Go to sleep, Pash, you’re nuts. I’ve gotta get up early.”

Keri burrowed under the thin bed covers. “What’s with this getting up early thing anyway? Is it something to do with the scavenger hunt?”

“You might as well tell me, you’re going to give me the prize money when you win anyway.”

“Well, I’m going to capture the best sunrise — or sunset. They’re spectacular out here.”

After Niall had left to capture his prize-winning photo, Keri didn’t really get back to sleep. She dozed for a bit and then got up and dressed. It was chilly outside so she put the heater on and ate a banana for breakfast. She wondered if Linc was cold.

“You’ve been keeping secrets from me,” he accused the second he’d closed the door.

Keri felt slightly panicked. She’d have to come clean and if he said anything to Linc, she hoped it wouldn’t blow her chances of anything happening between them. What if Linc thought she’d been talking to Niall and it completely put him off?

Right then they saw Naomi slinking past, still wearing last night’s clothes. It was enough of a distraction for now. Niall rapped on the window and Naomi almost jumped out of her skin.

“Shh, Niall, you’ll wake up the entire camp site.” Keri watched as Naomi scuttled off.

Keri was sipping a coffee, about to get on the bus when Charlie came up and punched her on the arm.

“You said you wouldn’t tell Niall my idea for the prize,” she accused. “Should have known you’d side with the enemy. He was out this morning, lurking around trying to capture the sunrise.”

“I didn’t tell him,” Keri said. She realised that was what Niall had been referring to when he’d mentioned keeping secrets. He hadn’t found out about her and Linc and she felt slightly relieved. “It’s just one of those weird coincidences.”

They got on the bus, Charlie and Niall doing a weird, awkward dance of ‘after you, no, after you’ and trying not to touch or make too much eye contact.

Linc gave Keri a warm smile and a ‘Morning’ from the driver’s seat and she felt like she was sixteen again, giddy with the excitement of a new crush.

The rest of the group were on board, ready to go. Phil had already gone back to sleep, leaning against the window. Naomi was unusually quiet, slouched in her seat wearing sunglasses, and Niall dropped down beside her to give her a nudge.

“Come on,” he protested. “Tell the group — did he say ‘Voulez-vous coucher avec moi ce soir’?”

“It is not,” he protested. “I can also say ‘Où sont les toilettes?’ and ‘J’ai envie de vomir.’”

“Yeah. No,” Niall said. “You may as well spill the beans, save us the hassle of dragging it out of you, okay?”

Naomi looked around the bus as if she was checking to make sure Alois wasn’t in earshot, despite the fact they were now heading up the Lasseter Highway.

“We promise,” Charlie, Niall and Keri said solemnly. Charlie even made cross-my-heart actions. They leant in to hear better.

“Well, it was all fine really,” Naomi said. “We went to the viewing platform and had some drinks and we went back to his room. And we — you know — ‘did it’.” She used her fingers for air quotes and Keri made a snorting noise that made Naomi glare at her and Niall pretend gag.

“Sorry, sorry. I won’t laugh, I promise,” Keri told her, trying to keep a straight face.

“What happened this morning?” Charlie asked, leaning over the seat in front.

“It was his teeth,” Naomi whispered, doing a theatrical shudder. Keri closed her lips firmly together and didn’t look at Niall.

“No, like dentures,” Naomi said. Her face looked like she’d declared that the Statue of Liberty was made of polystyrene. “He lost them in a jet ski accident. He had a plate for his top four incisors.”

Keri tried to hold back the laugh, but Niall had started roaring and Charlie was doing her Muttley the dog wheeze and she couldn’t help it. Naomi glared at them all.

“You said you wouldn’t laugh,” she said, crossing her arms. “It’s not funny. They were sitting there on his bedside table when I woke up. It was such a shock.”

That set them off more and Naomi thumped Niall on the arm as she got up and moved to sit further down the back of the bus. She dropped dramatically down next to Eddie, who was busy trying to take photos out the window.

Keri wiped her eyes, trying to compose herself, but they all started up again when Zach, who had obviously been listening in, said to Naomi, “He would have got heaps from the tooth fairy.”

I could sell it for lots of money if I want or keep it, or maybe give it to Mum. But she doesn't really wear girly stuff, so I might not.

Maybe that is why he did the meanest thing ever last night. When I got in my bed, I found a snake!

It was so scary and I screamed and Dad came running and Linc and Jayden’s mum and dad and it turned out it was plastic.

Jayden’s mum and dad were so mad at him, but then his dad said he was taking his phone away and his mum said that was too much and then they had a fight.

He had to go sleep in with them and Dad came in with me, so I hope he isn’t mean to me again.

I was really scared. I’m glad I had been for a wee or I might have peed my pants. It was a really realistic-looking snake — big — and it felt all cold and creepy like I think a real one would. Not that I’d EVER touch a real one.

After, Dad said it was okay to cry and I said he never does and he told me a secret!

On the hide and seek night he was in the bedroom because he was crying. I asked why and he said his Grandma Joan was mean to him when he told her something bad and she slapped him with her hand! Just like in the movies. She sounds like maybe she wasn’t very nice. She wasn’t anyone’s real grandma because that one died and their Grandad Bill got married again to Joan.

Oh, and Uncle Phil wasn’t in the bedroom that night. He was in the barn doing something with some pictures that he said was private (I don’t know what. Another mystery?) and he saw Niall and Aunty Charlie kiss! Gross.

I think kissing is weird because what’s the point? It’s just all lots of spit and wouldn’t your nose get all squished? I think if you like someone you would be better to give them something cool. Or just say that you like them. I asked Jayden if he’s kissed anyone and he said he has kissed loads of girls.

We are going to Uluru tomorrow and Linc said we are biking around it which sounds fun.

It is all dusty and orange out here. All the way it is just one really, really long road and everything looks the same. Except sometimes the road changes colour. There are things Linc calls road trains but they are just huge trucks, not trains. We passed one and it was sooooo long but Jayden said it wasn’t as long as he thought it would be.

Linc said he has a pillowcase in the front of the bus because in the night the trucks sometimes hit kangaroos and kill them. If the kangaroo is a girl it might have a baby joey in its pouch and it could still be alive so you put it in the pillowcase and look after it. You can even give it some Powerade to drink. Did you know that the baby can survive for about three days, even when its mum is dead? I think that’s kind of gross but really sad too.

I would not like to live out here. There’s no movies or McDonald’s or anything. If I don’t get to be a detective when I grow up, and I had to live here, I might be a kangaroo rescuer. But I would rather live next to Mum and Dad and be a game maker like Stephen. I asked Jayden what he would be and he said I ask too many dumb questions, but Mum says there’s no such thing as a dumb question, so ha!

I got a beer cooler for Tyler at the gift shop and a fridge magnet for Mum with some of my money. I’m going to get some Powerade when we stop next time.

“So, Eddie.” Keri sat down next to him at the camp table. “How’s Gordon?”

“That’s great. I hadn’t heard much about how he was getting on after the operation?”

“The operation. Yes. Right.” Eddie wiped his glasses with his shirt, put them on, then took them back off again. “No, he’s right as rain. Back to normal again now.”

Kevin gave him a funny look. “How did he get on with the renovations then? Were they all done before he got home from the hospital?”

“Eddie, you look like you might need some sunblock,” Michelle said. “Your face is getting red. I think I have some in my bag.” She fumbled around in her tote. Eventually she pulled out a tube of sunscreen and handed it to Eddie.

“Yes, it is quite warm, isn’t it, umm, yes, ahh, the renos. Nope, all good. All done. Yes.”

“Blimmin’ expensive though,” Eddie added. “You know how it is, kitchens and bathrooms, always more than they say it will be.”

“Well, I mean, I get that they had to do the bathroom, that’s a given, but what did they adjust in the kitchen? Gordon barely ever stepped foot in it. Excuse the pun. It was always Rona who did the cooking.”

“Well, they would have had to widen the doors, I guess?” Keri said. “For the wheelchair.”

“You might have a bit much sunblock there, mate,” Darren said as he joined them. “Your face is very white.”

“Diabetes, yes,” Eddie agreed. Keri wondered if he was all right. He was behaving very oddly.

“You’re being very weird, mate,” Kevin said. “Is your dad actually okay? There’s not something you’re not saying, is there? The amputation went okay?”

“Oh, that Gordon. My dad. Yes, who has diabetes. Right. No, he’s good. Box of birds. All things considered.”

“Anyway, I have news.” Darren looked at Michelle. He looked a little sheepish. “So Linc said since the cabins are two bedrooms, Kevin could go in with the boys, and he suggested Phil needed a room tonight so he can shower and stuff. So Phil would go with Eddie, and we could book in at the hotel down the road and upgrade for a night. Have a nice meal, celebrate our anniversary, what do you think?”

“Our anniversary was two weeks ago,” Michelle said, looking a little startled.

“Yeah, but I was doing end-of-term grading and we didn’t get much of a chance to celebrate it, did we?”

“Well, yeah, I mean that sounds nice,” Michelle said. “Do we need to dress up? I don’t think I brought anything flash enough.”

“I have a dress I brought for the party. Or you can borrow my top,” Keri suggested, and Michelle gave her a grateful look.

“The top would be great thanks. I think my hips might be too big for a dress of yours.”

“And your boobs,” Naomi said, coming over to the table with Linc who was carrying several bottles of water. “Are you still in a training bra, Keri?” She laughed. Keri could feel her face getting red. “I’d offer you something of mine, Michelle, but I’m quite small.” Naomi looked over at Linc and fluttered her eyelashes. “Apart from my boobs, that is.”

“The top will be fine.” Michelle reached over and touched Keri on the hand. “Thanks, Keri. It’s lovely.”

“So will you guys still be coming for the early-morning bike ride?” Keri asked Darren, feeling nicely flustered. “Or do you plan to sleep in?” She gave Michelle a wink and she laughed.

Linc reached into his pocket. “I thought you might like these too.” He handed Darren an envelope. “It’s for the Field of Lights. It’s a huge art installation and dinner — thought it might be kind of romantic.”

“Wow, thanks so much, Linc. That sounds amazing, I’ve heard about that — how much do we owe you?”

“Ooh, Darren, you’ll definitely be getting a bit after that,” Naomi sniggered.

“I’ve borrowed a tent off Linc so I can camp at the viewing spot and get a good shot of the sunrise and sunset. Gonna head over after dinner.”

“Hallelujah,” Keri said. “A night without listening to you sleep talk, although trust it to be the one night we have separate rooms.”

“You bloody do,” Darren said. “You were always yelling and carrying on when we were kids. Mum always thought we were up fighting in the night.”

“Oh, true,” Niall said. “Shit.” He turned to Keri. “What have I been saying?”

The Ayers Rock Campground was on a free bus shuttle service that took guests around to the various hotels, workers’ housing, a small set of shops and restaurants, the visitors centre and a camel farm.

Kevin volunteered to take the boys to see the camels and Darren and Michelle took off to make the most of their night off.

Naomi and Eddie went for naps and Niall offered to go with Linc to get supplies for their barbecue dinner.

Keri and Charlie decided to sit out by the pool. It was getting warmer every day and there were kids swimming. They sat at a table in the sunshine with a large bag of chips and a beer each.

“God, I don’t know. It was like a game of chicken, you know? I didn’t think he’d do it. Arghh, awkward.”

“Who knows. It was ages ago.” Charlie grabbed a handful of chips. “Still, it’s a relief to know we aren’t actually related by blood. Even without the kissing thing.” She laughed loudly.

“Did you know dingoes have bendy wrists?” Charlie said after a while. Keri looked at her.

“Was it? That was awful. That poor family. I can’t even imagine.” She looked around the campground. “I’m glad I’m not in a tent, I have to say.”

“Yeah. They have bendy wrists so they can climb trees and even open doors.” Charlie finished off her beer.

“Nah, but who’ll know?” Charlie stripped off her shorts. Her underwear wasn’t even matching, Keri noted. “I don’t think it’s that ...”

“Fuck, that’s freezing!” Charlie yelled, making a young mother turn and glare, and cover her small child’s ears with her hands. Across the other side, a group of dads laughed loudly.

Charlie heaved herself out of the side of the pool. “Bloody kids. Making it seem like it was warm,” she muttered. “How have they stayed in there this long?”

“Bugger.” She looked around. “Hey, kid, mind if I borrow this?” She pointed at a towel hanging on the fence. The kid shrugged and she pulled it off and gave herself a quick dry-off before throwing her clothes back over the top of her damp underwear.

“Remind me to tell Niall how warm the pool is later,” she told Keri with a grin.

They spent most of dinner having a heated (mostly between Charlie and Niall) conversation about who would survive the longest in a zombie apocalypse. Phil had arrived looking clean and fresh and almost unrecognisable.

“That was so nice of you to give Darren and Michelle those tickets. I googled it before and the food sounded amazing.” Keri passed him a plate to dry.

“Now I feel bad because I was going to see if you wanted to come with me, but I thought it would help things with Darren and Michelle.”

“Aw, look at you, the romantic. That was a very nice thought though. For the record, I’d have said yes.”

Keri laughed and flicked bubbles at him. “So, the tent Niall borrowed. Does that mean you need somewhere to crash for the night? Because you know I have a spare bed? Well, it’s bunks, but ...” She trailed off. He was looking at her, his face contemplative.

“Thanks, that’s nice of you,” he said and his voice was all sort of throaty and deep. “I was going to sleep in the back of the bus. I appreciate it.”

“I guess I’ll see you over there?” she said awkwardly. “After I have a shower?”

He made a weird noise in his throat as she left and she thought maybe he said ‘Now there’s a thought’ under his breath, but she wasn’t one hundred per cent sure.

She’d shaved her legs. Even though she kept telling herself nothing might happen. She’d also moisturised, but she would have done that anyway. It didn’t mean anything.

In the cabin, she sat on the edge of the bed wondering what to do with herself. What time would he show up? Should she sit outside and wait for him? Would that look weird? Her armpits felt damp. Had she put on deodorant? She sniffed a pit and then let out a little squeal when there was a light tap at the door.

Linc had had a shower too. His hair was damp and curling against his neck. He was in a pair of sweats and an old T-shirt and that shouldn’t have looked so good, but it did. Her throat went dry.

“Hey,” he said softly. “You still good if I ...?” He made a hand gesture into the cabin and she realised she was standing blocking the doorway like an idiot. She took a step back, opening the door wider.

“Thanks. I really appreciate you letting me share the cabin. I don’t mind roughing it but it’s nice to sleep in a bed for a night.”

They stood there looking at each other. Lazily eyeing each other up and down. It seemed like he was staring at her lips. Keri could feel her heart in her throat. She really wanted him. She wanted badly to kiss him again. Wanted to get naked with him and touch him and, damn, it was warm for July, wasn’t it?

“So, am I in here?” Linc asked, pointing towards the bunk room. There was so much heat in his eyes but Keri realised that he wasn’t going to make the first move. She gulped.

The sky was bright blue, an incredible contrast to the orangey brown of the landscape and the imposing rocks that were Uluru. Keri had forgotten that about the outback. That it didn’t rain much and that the sky always looked incredible. Uluru hadn’t really been somewhere they’d gone on their yearly pilgrimage as children, as it was a bit off the beaten track so she’d only been there once before, and she was excited to be biking around the giant sandstone formation that morning.

It was over nine kilometres around the base of Uluru, and standing three hundred and forty-eight metres above ground it was a formidable piece of nature. It became a national park in 1950 and a quarter of a million people came every year to see the spectacular sight. Keri could remember people going on about how unfair it was that you could no longer climb to its peak and how Charles and Diana did it back in the eighties. But the Anangu people believe it to be sacred and climbing Uluru had been banned in 2019. There were also several areas where they asked you not to take pictures and there was definitely an awe surrounding it that made you feel reverent, a feeling of deep spirituality to the rock.

She and Linc were late to the bus, but nobody seemed to notice they’d arrived together. Keri had hoped for an early-morning repeat of the night before but they’d slept in. It was nice waking up with someone in the bed next to her and with any luck they could arrange a repeat performance. She was pleasantly tired. They’d had hot, fumbling, desperate sex first and then spent a long, leisurely time getting to know each other afterwards.

Naomi had opted out of the bike ride and Niall and Charlie were alternating between acting weird and their usual bickering. Keri hung back so that she and Linc were the last to get their bikes.

“It’s so imposing,” she said as they biked the shady side. It was very close, looming almost, and although you could no longer climb Uluru there were places you could touch it. They had several photo stops and Linc was patient when Keri wanted to capture the rock from dozens of different angles. They pulled over at one point for a photo and a drink of water and let a family of cyclists pass them.

“I must bring Jade here sometime,” Linc said. “We could do a trip up to see Mum. She’d love this.”

“Yeah, a girlfriend at the moment,” Linc said. “She and Claudia have been together for around eight months, I guess. I haven’t met her yet except to say hi over Facetime. The last one was a boyfriend — he was bloody awful — but she had a long-term girlfriend in high school too.”

“That’s cool. It’s great that kids these days are free to be themselves. I remember it wasn’t like that back when I was in school.”

“Unfortunately, there’s still a sector of society who are homophobic. Mostly comes from the parents rather than the kids, to be fair.”

“Things have definitely changed,” Keri said. “You’ll meet Uncle Peter and his partner Roger when we get to the ranch. They’ve been together since they were young. But things were pretty hard for them back then. That night of the hide and seek, Uncle Peter got so badly beaten up he ended up in hospital on life support. They weren’t sure he’d make it for the first couple of days.”

“Guys. There were three of them. They were in Alice for the weekend, drinking at the local pub. When they left they were followed. Luckily Roger ran and got help or Peter would have probably been dead. I think they were charged with assault but it seemed they were treated quite leniently. We were all so caught up in the drama of Stephen and the snake bite that I don’t think we knew what was going on. It wasn’t until we were older that we found out the full story about why he was attacked.”

“Yeah. Grandma Joan stayed behind while the rest of the family went into Alice to be with Uncle Peter. All his brothers and sisters and Grandpa. Someone had to be with us kids, I guess, but I don’t think she really approved of Peter. She was a second wife after William’s first one died having Peter and she took on all the kids, but she was a bit of an old bitch, to be honest.”

“Yeah, they are, they’ve been going strong for over thirty years. They ran the station once Grandpa couldn’t and when he died they sold most of it and divvied up the profit amongst all the siblings. Peter wanted to keep his share and now Roger’s nephew and his wife help run it. The assault that night kind of explains why we all forgot about Stephen in all the drama though. As kids, of course, we were more focused the next day on the fact Stephen had lost a toe.”

“The toe? Well, Stephen hid in an old storage shed and got himself locked in somehow. Then the snake bit him. To be honest, the worst part was that none of us remembered he hadn’t been found. He would have been fine if we’d gone looking for him that night, but by the time everyone got back the next day from seeing Peter in the hospital and we realised he was still lost, his toe had sepsis. Poor bugger. Everyone felt terrible.”

“No, luckily, or things would have been much worse. It was bad enough the next day looking for him. He was lucky it wasn’t hotter considering it was summer holidays. He was quite dehydrated when we found him.”

“Well, that explains Zach’s fear of snakes,” Linc said. “He’s been grilling me on snake safety since we started.”

“Not ‘pash’ cute like you though,” he said with a smirk, “which is making me want one now.”

They spent a lazy afternoon at the campground, sitting by the pool, reading, talking and doing washing. Nobody felt much like going out to eat or cooking anything much so Charlie threw some sausages on the barbecue for dinner and they ate them with bread and tomato sauce. Zach and Jayden were happy, Naomi not so much, claiming she was practically vegan these days.

“I had a stint at going vegan once,” Eddie said. “Almost everyone in the entert— adventure travel industry is.”

“That’s only to survive.” Zach turned to Eddie. “Have you ever drunk your own pee, Eddie?”

“Nope, but once I thought I was going to have to hack off my arm to survive a rock fall.”

Zach’s eyes were wide with horror, tempered with a fair dollop of fascination too.

“Probably would be best not to mention that to Stephen when we see him,” Keri whispered to Linc.

Linc was looking thoughtful. “You know who Eddie reminds me of? There was a kids’ programme years ago that Jade used to watch. She was obsessed with it. He looks a bit like the presenter from that. Same teeth, or something.”

“Hmm, I think I know the one you mean.” Keri looked at Eddie, squinting a bit. “Nah, I can’t see it.”

Michelle was perched on Darren’s lap and they looked like they’d had a successful night alone. She’d raved about the dinner from the night before and how fantastic the art installation had been, but Keri felt pretty happy with how her night had ended up. Even Jayden seemed happier now that his parents were getting on better and he’d made a mumbled apology to Zach for scaring him with the fake snake.

Linc grinned, looking like a wolf about to dismember a kitten. “Swing by the bus later. I’ve got a balm that might be good for that,” he whispered filthily in her ear.

Keri did swing by the bus, after they’d packed up for the night. Linc’s tent was pitched behind it and there was dim lantern light coming from inside. She paused for a moment, wondering whether maybe it was too much — that she was asking for heartbreak having a holiday fling — but she plucked up the courage, unzipped the tent fly and crawled inside.

The next morning she woke while it was still dark and slunk out of the tent into the cold and back to her cabin, feeling satisfied and wonderfully weary. The door seemed jarringly loud as it creaked open and she tiptoed in.

“You’d make a terrible spy,” Niall called out from the bed. Keri somehow managed not to scream, her hand over her pounding heart. She went into the main bedroom where he was tapping away at his laptop.

“Couldn’t sleep,” Niall said miserably. Keri climbed into the bed next to him.

“Okay,” Keri nodded, snuggling down under the covers. She might get in an hour or two of sleep if she was lucky ...

“Okay, I’ll tell you,” Niall said with a sigh, as if she’d been at the ready with pliers and a cattle prod to get the information out of him. He put his laptop on the bedside table and turned to look at her. Keri waited.

“So anyway we were talking. I thought it might be good to clear the air, you know?”

“And we agreed that it was a relief that technically we’re not blood related, and that makes it less awkward about the snog as kids.”

“Well, that’s good,” Keri said encouragingly. Niall slid down the bed and pulled the covers over his head.

“What?” Keri pulled the blanket back off his face. “I couldn’t understand any of that.”

“Wow. Okay.” Keri wondered what she should say. The silence dragged and Niall groaned.

“Bloody awful,” Niall said vehemently. “Like the grossest thing ever.” Keri snorted. “Like so bad. We definitely should not have kissed. Erghh.”

“I won’t.” She shuffled down the bed further and pulled the blanket up over her shoulders.

“Maybe I should start calling you Pash,” Keri laughed and Niall thumped her with his pillow.

Keri thought about Linc while she was trying to sleep. Turns out thinking about Linc wasn’t a great way of getting back to sleep. Especially now she’d felt his hands on her and seen him naked. It wasn’t enough though; it had made her want to see him naked again. And probably again after that.

It was possible that if they had slept together after the pub, the night before the trip, that nothing might have come of it, so perhaps it was a good thing she’d run out on him that night. It’s not like she’d got to know every little thing about him since but she had known nothing about him, not even his name, and it might have ended up only being meaningless sex. It wouldn’t have stopped it from being mortifying the next day when she’d arrived at the tour depot and found out he was going to be their driver. Maybe if they’d shagged, it would have been even worse.

She groaned and pulled the pillow over her head. The cockatoo! She still hadn’t told him about the cockatoo.

Could it still be meaningless sex? Somehow it didn’t feel like it. There was something about the way Linc looked at her while she was talking, like he was truly interested in what she had to say, not doing it to increase his chances of getting into her pants later. He seemed to be interested in people in general. He was patient and kind. He didn’t roll his eyes at Naomi when she was being dramatic or make fun of Eddie, and he’d managed to get Phil to have a shower — which was a humanitarian service to all of them. He was lovely with Zach too. Plus she’d found out from Phil that the tickets he’d given Darren and Michelle were in exchange for fixing the air-conditioning on his mate’s tour bus. He really was lovely.

Niall’s head popped out of the covers beside her. He looked bleary and rumpled and not happy.

“Bloody hell, would you stop moaning and thumping about. It’s like being an unwilling spectator in a badly directed porn. Where were you anyway that you came creeping in at fuck knows o’clock in the morning?”

She gave up on sleep and propped herself up against the headboard, arms wrapped around her body against the morning chill. “Linc and I shagged.”

“You could have slept in the bunk room, not my fault you chose the bed,” Keri said.

“I was here first. You’re the one who was running around sexing buff bus drivers. Why would I sleep in a single bed?”

Niall threw back the covers that still remained on his side of the bed and swung his feet to the floor. “That’s it then, I’m gonna have to get up now.”

“Just good? Not spectacular, or mind blowing or the best sex you’ve had in your life?”

“It may have been the best sex I’ve had in my life. It was really good. Too early to talk about yet, even with you.”

“You like him. You think there’s potential.” He did little air quotes around ‘potential’ and Keri shoved him with her leg.

“Of course I like him. He’s a nice guy.” She covered her face with her hands. “Also, he’s fucking hot.”

She gave him another kick and he almost fell off the bed. “Fuck off. I’m telling you right now, if that’s what you’re hinting at, that I don’t have a thing for any of my cousins so a threesome is definitely out.”

“Eww, I don’t have a thing for you either. Or for the handyman. Also, Charlie’s not technically a cousin.” Niall got up and fished around in his pack for clean clothes. “Although now at least it feels like she is again.”

Naomi approached, sipping at a steaming mug of ginger tea. She refused to drink coffee or regular tea, claiming it stained your teeth.

“Morning, Linc,” Naomi said as he leant her a hand to mount the steps to the bus. “Such a gentleman.”

“Such a gentleman indeed,” Keri murmured, following Naomi. She was rewarded with a low laugh from Linc.

The drive to Kings Canyon meant backtracking over roads they had already come up, and then more of the same long straight barren roads to the canyon itself.

They spent a large portion of it discussing random topics, mostly instigated by Charlie.

“All I’m saying is that an extra arm would be way more beneficial than an extra leg,” Charlie said.

“But where is the extra arm? On your side? Out front? Behind you?” Niall argued.

“Well, the same goes for the leg. An arm on your head would be way better than a leg, surely?”

Keri sighed, looking over at Linc for about the hundredth time and admiring his jawline and his capable hands on the steering wheel. It had been a long time since she’d felt like this about a guy. It was both thrilling and a little unnerving.

“An extra eye,” he said without even thinking about it. “In the back of my head.”

Kings Canyon was a formidable and stunning block of burnt amber tones against the bluest blue sky. It was so picturesque it looked like Keri had used a filter on her photos. Known also as Watarrka National Park, the valley cut through two types of sandstone to form cliffs. It was huge, approximately a thousand metres long with the walls of the canyon stretching one hundred and fifty metres high above Kings Creek. Ancient sand dunes formed domes of compacted rocks at the top of the canyon.

They all filled up water bottles and put on sunblock in the mostly empty car park before they started. Naomi and Eddie had chosen to do a smaller creek walk and after some deliberation Michelle, Darren and Jayden decided to join them in case the rim climb was too much for Jayden in his cast. Linc left them the keys since they would be back well before the others.

They set off, Zach carrying the stick he’d refused to abandon from Port Augusta, and started the ascent. It was a long way up, the equivalent of about five hundred stairs, and despite being relatively fit, Keri was still huffing and puffing at the top. It was worth the climb though. The sun was gorgeous and the views as they walked across the top were stunning. It was surreal. She imagined it was a bit like walking on the moon, barren and yet beautiful at the same time. Niall and Charlie had, no surprise, taken it upon themselves to treat it like a competition and raced ahead.

“So what’s your plan for the scavenger hunt?” he asked her, holding out a hand for her as they clambered up an outcrop.

“I don’t know yet, to be honest. I’ve kind of gotten distracted from it all, to tell the truth.” She gave him a leery grin. He laughed.

Keri’s smile slipped a bit. She thought about evading the question. It seemed early in their relationship — if that was what it was — to tell him all her horrible ex-boyfriend traumas. But she remembered his comment about trust and its importance and it felt like a lie. A lie of omission maybe, but still too close.

“Yeah, the supercar that never existed,” Keri sighed. “I was the girlfriend.”

Linc stopped walking and she forced herself to stop too and look at him. His face was inscrutable.

“I met him through Bevan,” she said. Her hands were shaking and she put them in her pockets. “He works as a mechanic on the Bathurst circuit and I often go along and hang out when the racing is on. It’s kind of our thing.” Linc nodded, but didn’t say anything, so she carried on. “Chad latched on to me. I was probably a bit blown away by the fact that he would even notice someone like me, I guess.” Linc snorted. She ignored it. “We started dating. Although it turned out he was ‘dating’ a few people. Anyway, he convinced me to go in with him on this project for the SX80. A road car modelled on a race car and approved by him.” She looked at the ground. “I didn’t know it was all bullshit, I swear.”

“I believe you,” Linc said firmly, and she felt like a weight lifted somewhat off her shoulders.

“It didn’t look like it though. He’d faked invoices to get funding, and the sales and billing was supposed to be all me.”

“I saw a little bit in the news about it all,” Linc said. “He went back to the States, right?”

“Yeah, he’s being prosecuted there too but he has very good lawyers, so who knows what the outcome will be for all those poor people he scammed.”

“No, I got name suppression. I had good lawyers too. I was found not guilty. At a cost.” She tried for a laugh, but it came out sounding bitter. “So that’s where the money would go. Nothing exciting, sadly.”

“I’m sorry that happened to you,” Linc said softly, and Keri felt embarrassingly like crying. Then he was holding her. Standing on top of the world, holding her, and she’d never felt more protected and cared for in her life.

They stood like that for a long time, until another group of hikers came up behind them and someone cleared their throat. They pulled apart slowly.

“You’re welcome,” Linc replied, kissing her softly on the lips and then setting off across the rocks, pulling her by the hand he had taken, as though he hadn’t just rocked her world with his calm, kind support.

We went to Kings Canyon to do this big walk and we went up all these rocky steps to like the top of the world. Anyway, we were walking through this bit that looked like a mountain pass in Western movies and I saw a SNAKE!

And I was sooo scared and I yelled and Dad was like Indiana Jones and he jumped in front of me to save me and he would have totally been bitten and everything just to protect me. Which is pretty cool.

Dad was like a hero. And when I said why did he do that, he said it was because he loved me more than anything in the world, which made me get a bit sneezy in my eyes.

The walk was really long, but it was kind of cool. There was a bit with lots of steep stairs and there was a funny gate you had to go through. Half of us did the little walk instead of the rim one. Eddie said it was because he doesn’t like heights. Which is weird because once he said he climbed a big mountain and also he did bungee jumping.

I think maybe he might do what Mum says is called ‘not letting the truth get in the way of a good story’. Which I think is a nice way to say if you tell a lie.

Everyone is doing a lot of kissing. Jayden’s mum and dad are, Naomi and the toothless guy, and Keri and Linc too.

We still don’t know what Linc’s real name is. I said to Linc that he is like Rumpelstiltskin but he said he was definitely not called Rumpelstiltskin.

We are staying at a station tonight and they have camels, but also camel burgers! I don’t know if I want to eat one, but camels do smell and spit and Linc says there are lots of them, so maybe?

I helped Linc to sweep out the bus today and he got me a bag of lollies as payment. But they were a bit gross. They are called Cheekies and they are supposed to be chocolate flavoured but they tasted a bit like dirt. I gave one to Jayden and told him they were yummy and he spat it out and it got stuck to his cast. Haha. I told him it was payback for the cold pool.

Kings Canyon Station was a sprawling, working ranch with a campsite, permanent tents and a restaurant/bar as well as a small shop and petrol bowsers. The buildings were low, nestling into the dusty red landscape so that you could barely tell they were there.

Keri hadn’t been expecting much from the permanent huts, but they were surprisingly nice, as were the toilet and shower block. The bush tents sat with a backdrop of the George Gill Range, and the glowing setting sun behind them would prove to be beautiful. Inside the army-green canvas there was just room for two single beds and a shared bedside table, but they had electricity and even air-conditioning and the linen was soft and clean.

They all showered and wandered up to the bar. Sitting outside at long wooden tables, they drank cold beers and enjoyed the satisfaction of being on holiday. Zach told them a long intricate story about a snake he thought he saw and how Kevin had ‘saved his life’ from it. Kevin ruffled his hair affectionately. He looked relaxed, Keri thought. Less serious than when they had set off.

“What a great day.” She stretched out her legs.” The view from up on the rim was beautiful. I’m so glad I did it.”

“I reckon we could have taken a good twenty minutes off our time if we’d not had to wait for that couple with the baby,” Niall said.

“Well, they could hardly leave it in the car, could they?” Naomi said sagely. “It’s illegal.”

“Why don’t you check your Fitbit?” Kevin said. “The one I sent you for your birthday.”

“What do you mean?” Kevin looked puzzled. “You had it on when we left Adelaide. Why did you take it off?”

“A bottle of wine. In Clare Valley. For Stephen’s birthday gift.” He grinned. “Sorry, Kev, but I hardly used it, to be honest.”

“Shit, I really need to scavenge something.” Keri finished her beer. “Who else has sorted their gift so far?”

“Almost finished mine.” Phil got up to get another round and help Linc with the food order.

“Eddie, you stayed with Stephen once, didn’t you? After you got back from Papua New Guinea? What’s he into these days?”

Eddie took a long time to answer, indicating he was still chewing his bite of burger. “To be honest, I was so jet-lagged, I barely remember it,” he said eventually.

“Well, what was his place like?” Keri persisted. “Does he have any pets? What does he like to eat?”

It wasn’t much to go on, but Keri seemed to recall there was a reptile centre in Alice. Only she couldn’t buy anything. It was tricky. Maybe she would look up Stephen’s Facebook page and see if there was anything else she could glean from that.

“Remember the night Stephen got stuck in the shed?” Phil said. “Naomi, didn’t you pee your pants that night?”

Naomi squealed and hit Phil on the arm. “Shut up. I was only eight! And we saw Keri and the station hand guy snogging, remember, Eddie?”

“Yeah, that’s right,” Eddie said. “That station hand, I’d forgotten about that.”

Naomi glared at Keri. “You threatened to cut off my doll’s hair if I told anyone. It was traumatising.”

Keri tried to laugh along with all of them, but she felt like she had a solid ball in the pit of her stomach. She was relieved when Kevin said, “Hey, Keri? Can I have a quick word about something? Just while I’m thinking of it. I might have a job offer for you.”

“Zach, why don’t you go with them and get ready for bed now too?” Kevin suggested. “I’ll be over shortly to say goodnight.”

“Look, it’s not about a job,” Kevin said, “although we can always use you if you want something. But it’s about that night. With Brett, the ranch hand.”