‘But, the Sydney Opera House? You must have been to see the symphony orchestra? Ballet? Opera? I hear the acoustics are just fabulous.’

‘I’ve never been to a concert there, actually. We went there on a school trip once, though.’

‘Never?’ She looks at Mike. ‘Well, you must come to Chicago then.’ Miriam claps her hands. ‘We’ll show you everything. A tour of the conservatorium where I still work a little; we’ll go to the ballet—oh, and my new favourite restaurant. Have you ever been to a hyper-local restaurant? Talk about saving the planet; they grow everything on their roof. Fabulous. The food in Alaska, well …’ She looks around the restaurant, frowning. ‘Let’s just say it’s not noted in Gourmet magazine.’

‘Life isn’t all fancy restaurants and tickets to the opera.’ My father sighs, like they’ve had this conversation before. Now I get why he said ‘snobby’. ‘Alaska is alive with—’

She chuckles. ‘Snakes? Rednecks?’

‘Very funny. I was going to say, nature. Wilderness where you can walk for days and not see a single soul. Walking on earth that, just maybe, no single other living human being has ever trodden on before you. And that’s what I showed Sky when we went snow camping.’

‘In the actual ice?’ Miriam asks. ‘Was it alive and beautiful, Sky?’

I feel the table vibrate as my father’s phone rings again silently.

‘I don’t know about alive,’ I say, putting the image of an orphaned deer out of my head. ‘But it was definitely beautiful.’

We finish lunch and return to Adam’s place. Oliver’s sent me a message with a sad-face emoji. Why don’t you want to talk to me? I miss you.

I open the clip he sent earlier. He has Bella and Tiger running laps around the park while he’s jogging alongside, panting as hard as they are—and they’re all smiling. Oliver with a huge grin and Bella doing her crazy tail-wag that looks like a helicopter. I almost expect to see her take off. Halfway through, Oliver falls to the grass, the camera goes haywire, and I see the dogs pounce on him with licks. Too cute.

I reply, Thank you for taking her out again! And I miss you too! Let’s talk tomorrow! I may have overdone the exclamation marks.

It’s the first time my grandparents have seen my father’s new house. My grandmother doesn’t seem too impressed, commenting on the unfortunate choice of bathroom fittings and carpet colour, and I feel bad for my father. After the grand tour, Miriam bustles about in the kitchen fixing a tray of coffee for everyone and tea for me.