Another one of his rare smiles flashed across his mouth, devastating in its power. He’d been joking.
“What’s an Australian doing in the north Georgia mountains?” she asked.
“It’s a long, boring story.”
“Then give me the short, not-boring version.”
He peeled the wrapper from his protein bar and took a bite. “I’m half Australian. My dad’s American. After my mum graduated from uni, she got a work visa, moved to Atlanta, and met my dad there. Two months later they got married, and nine months later they had me.”
“And?”
“Their relationship was a battlefield. It didn’t help that my mother was from one continent, my dad from another.” He chewed another bite of his bar. “Mum had only planned to stay in the States for a few years. Dad never planned to leave Georgia. When she wanted to return to Australia, there was no way he was going with her. They divorced when I was two, and apparently, that was the easiest and most civil thing they ever did. I think they were both relieved. Mum and I moved to Australia.”
“Did your dad remain in Atlanta?”
“Yes. He’s still there.”
“Where did you and your mom live?”
“At first when we moved back, we lived in her home city of Melbourne. When I was six, she married a cattle grazier who’d inherited a big piece of property in Victoria. Mum and I moved to the country. Over the next few years, my sister and then brother were born.”
“Are your mom and stepdad still married?”
“They are. Happily.”
“What became of your dad?”
Sam rubbed the tip of his pointer finger against the pad of his thumb. “He stayed single for a long time. Ten years ago, he married a nice woman who never wants to leave Georgia, either. They’re well suited.”
“Are you his only child?”
“I am.”
“How often did you see him after you moved Down Under?”
“At first, once a year when he’d travel to Australia to spend time with me. As soon as I was old enough to fly alone, I started seeing him twice a year, because one of those times I’d travel here to see him.”
She and Natasha were the beloved daughters of a long marriage. At times, Genevieve felt that her mom might love her a littletoomuch. Had there been times when Sam hadn’t felt loved enough? It had to be hard to live halfway around the globe from your father, to grow up as the only child of an unhappy marriage in a home that included your stepdad and the products of your mom’s happy second marriage—your half-sister and half-brother. “How come you didn’t stay on the cattle ranch?”
“Because it wasn’tmycattle station. When I was eighteen, I went to uni.”
“Where and what did you study?”
“I studied business at Victoria University in Melbourne.”
“Did you always want to own a restaurant?”
“Not at first. During the last two years of uni, I worked part time in a kitchen. It was then that I decided what I wanted to do. I went to cooking school, then worked as a sous chef.”
“Why did you move to America?”
He crossed his arms. No reply.
“C’mon.” She bumped his knee with her foot. “You know about my fondness for Oxy. I’d really like to know one personal thing about you.”
“I don’t like talking about personal things.”
“Yes, I realize. I didn’t like going through withdrawal. But I did it.”
