‘Last time Dad was arrested, nobody helped out. Seriously.’ He mumbles into his hands before raising his head to look at me. ‘Trent tried to ask his father, but he just gave him a lecture. Then Adam sweet-talked the police, got him out, and next thing my dad was crying into a cup of black coffee, apologising …’

‘Wow. So we need Adam.’

Jaxon sighs. ‘Yep.’

‘Well, let’s find him,’ I say. ‘Screw the fifty grand. This is more important.’

‘But that’s a lot of money. I don’t want to ruin it for him.’

‘Adam will be super pissed if you don’t tell him. Don’t you think helping you and your dad is more important to him than killing a grizzly bear with some stupid Southern hick?’ I hope so, anyway, I don’t add.

‘Not all Southerners are hicks, FYI. Or hunters. And they’re after a bull moose, anyway,’ Jaxon says. ‘Can’t hunt bears now, wrong season.’

‘If there are moose in the city, why does he have to drive so far away?’

‘You can’t hunt in the city. They’re driving to a preserve now where it’s legal.’

My phone beeps—another message from Oliver. I put it on silent; there’s only so much I can deal with at once.

‘You don’t need to come, Sky.’ Jaxon stares at me. ‘It’ll totally freak you out.’

‘I’ll be okay,’ I say, not sure if I mean it.

He gets up and puts his hand on my shoulder. ‘It’s my stupid dad and my stupid problem—you stay here.’

Jaxon, Melody, Autumn, Oliver, Lucy and her dad … I think of all the people who helped me, rescued me, when I had my stupid problem with my stupid father, and wonder what to do. I can’t leave Jaxon to handle this alone.

Over dinner, Jaxon tells my grandparents his father is asleep and will be fine by morning. Really, he’s planning to leave at midnight and get to the Lodge, catching Adam and Ralph before they leave pre-dawn. I divert my grandmother’s attention, asking her about the conservatorium, and soon she’s draining the last of her rosé, chuckling with memories.

If they really knew what was happening, Mike would be pissed we’re messing with Adam’s income and my grandmother may think gaol would do Jaxon’s father good. And they’d be worried about the whole Jaxon-driving-in-the-sub-zero-snow-to-find-Adam situation. Better they don’t know.

My grandparents go to bed at about ten, leaving Jaxon and me watching TV. He’s banging his knee frantically, clearly not concentrating. After a while, he tells me he’s going to try and catch an hour of sleep before leaving. When I go upstairs, there’s a noise coming from my father’s room. When I press my ear to the door, I hear crying.

Chapter 16

Chapter 16