‘If you’ll follow me.’ The hostess leads us through the restaurant. A waiter walks past holding a plate with an abstract design made from swirly trails of orange dressing that circle a small green salad. I’m glad I dressed up. I’m wearing boots with heels, black high-waisted pants and a silky purple top tucked in. Mum’s necklace sits on my collarbone as always—I’m hoping it will bring me luck tonight. I also brushed on mascara and a smidge of lipstick.

The hostess seats us at a table next to the fire and hands us menus.

A moment later, a waitress appears. ‘Hi, my name is Lexie and I’ll be serving you tonight; can I get you some drinks to start?’

We order hot apple cider and I quickly scan the food choices. It’s nearly all meat and fish, and I don’t know what to order. The last thing I want is to offend my father when he’s taken me out for my birthday. Sometimes my diet and animal obsession are seriously impractical. My father whispers something to Lexie and she nods, taking the menus away.

‘I’ve prearranged a special banquet for us,’ he says. ‘All vegan.’

I’m taken aback by his thoughtfulness and how he’s included himself in the meal plan too. ‘Thank you,’ I say sincerely.

‘Finally we have time alone.’ He smiles. ‘And sorry again about Jaxon, that certainly wasn’t my plan. I hope you don’t mind too much having him around.’

I shake my head reassuringly. ‘Not at all.’ Which is partly true. Even though I’ve been in Alaska for the whole week, I don’t feel like I’ve gotten to know my man-of-mystery father as much as I want to. But Jaxon and I have been hanging out for the last couple of days and that’s been fun. I feel comfortable around him and he seems to feel the same. He’s practised all the songs he’ll be performing at the band competition, asking for my feedback on his lyrics and even changing a few words on my recommendations, which was flattering. His voice weirdly gives me goosebumps. I even met Trent and his other band mates when they came around to finalise the line-up for their show in a few days. Trent is good looking, part Japanese and grunge galore with an eyebrow piercing and one of those huge earrings that make your earlobe expand into a hole.

Jaxon wanted to know more about where I live, so we looked up West Creek on Google Earth. I zoomed out to the map of Australia and then the South Pacific after he insisted New Zealand was tropical. It turned into a world tour of all the places we both want to travel to.

‘Tell me everything.’ My father takes a sip of his cider. ‘Start from the beginning.’