I sip my tea, his words hanging in the air like pretty shiny bubbles that haven’t yet popped. Like father like daughter. Are we alike after all? Maybe, just maybe, my fantasy is coming true and this trip will be the start of a new life. Together. Somehow.

Chapter 6

Chapter 6

‘Let’s get back to town—what do you think, Sky, Jaxon? We can stop on the way for lunch.’

I brush the snow off my bum and Jaxon replaces the sat phone in its box. He still hasn’t gotten through to his dad.

Yesterday, we hiked again until my legs cried in protest. But I was a trooper and barely complained. Okay, I may have whined a little.

We discovered more tracks—lynx and hares and other small ‘critters’ as they call them here. With the sun shining brightly, the cold didn’t dig too deeply into my bones. By six in the evening, I was more tired than I had been my entire life, fell asleep before dinner and didn’t wake until this morning.

We pack up camp and load the car. I pull my weight, loading the gear, feeling proud of myself. I survived snow camping and hiking in winter in Alaska, I’ve seen wild wolves and signs of bears, and I’m feeling way more comfortable with my father, who seems significantly less the ‘loser’ my mum told me he was, and more the ‘good guy’ like Jaxon thinks. And what’s more, Jaxon’s become a friend. It feels like weeks since I arrived rather than five days.

Adam obsesses about cleaning, folding and packing everything neatly; now I know why his house is so organised. He starts the engine and reverses the truck back down the track. Our campsite diminishes before my eyes, the only sign we existed the melted snow from the morning fire.

The car heater’s blasting, my toes thawing and I’m ready for a steamy shower.

Soon, the snow’s twinkling again and my phone finds a network. I forget the scenery as bings and beeps light up the screen like fireworks.

Miss you heaps, Oliver writes. He’s attached a video. When I first came across him online under the name WildRider, I was awed by all his animal videos, which he seemed to create with zero effort. He’s also an amazing researcher—he helped me find all the info I needed to care for Chirp when she was just a little chick, and then when she got sick with TD, a common affliction in meat chickens that makes them lame. WildRider found ways to help Chirp—lots of sunlight and Vitamin D, as well as the vet’s suggestions of painkillers and a restricted diet, saved the day.