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She rolled her eyes. ‘If I must.’

Jane Doe stood up in the pen, dislodging the pups clinging to her side, and clambered over the high lip of the gate to settle down beside him. She rested her head in his lap. ‘We liked each other. A lot. And when school was out, we got together.’

‘Like,togethertogether?’

‘Yep. And your mum fell pregnant.’

‘With me.’

‘With you, Poptart.’

‘And you were like eighteen? Dad. That is so not cool.’

He chuckled. ‘Thanks for the heads up. Anyway, the thing about carrying on like you’re an adult, means you’ve got to start behaving like one. We had to make some difficult choices, both of us, and so I gave up my plan to go to university, and your mum returned to finish her teaching studies in Sydney. I went with her and found a job to set us up as a family.’

‘You lived with Mum when I was little?’

‘Sure. But after a while we worked out we were going to be better parents, and the best of friends, if we lived separately.’

Poppy was quiet. ‘And that’s what Mrs Fox was talking about.’

‘Yep. Small towns love their gossip.’

‘Dad, I’ve just spent the last week working in a café. I worked that one out before I learned how to ring up change on the till.’

‘I just don’t like to think you’re the target of anyone’s loose talk.’

His daughter tucked the pups up against the hot water bottle. ‘Why’d you come back here, Dad, if you didn’t like the way people talked about us?’

‘I didn’t come back, at first, not for years and years. Your grandparents always came to us because I was … bitter, I guess. But after a while my bitterness was gone and all I could remember was what I loved about Hanrahan.’

‘I guess it’s not the worst place I’ve been to.’

He smiled. ‘Don’t get all mushy just because you’re leaving today.’

‘But the gossip’s pretty bad, Dad. You wouldn’t believe what I hear when I’m cleaning tables. It’s like being in Year Nine all over again.’

‘True. But still … let me give you an animal analogy. Would you stop loving Maximus if he had a flea?’

‘So the flea is the gossip and the dog is the town.’

‘Uh-huh. I loved growing up here. I love having Old Regret outside my window just waiting for me to look up at each day. I love knowing people on the street, them knowing me, even if it means they know every darn thing about me, good and bad. I wanted you to know a little of what it’s like to grow up here in Hanrahan, before you go away to university or get a job or go travelling and get all grown up.’

‘Yeah, Hanrahan is definitely not Sydney.’

He grinned. ‘You worked that out too, huh?’

She rested her hand on his knee. ‘I don’t hate it here as much as I thought I would.’

If happiness was sunshine, he’d have started glowing right there, that moment. ‘I’m so glad to hear that.’

‘Is this the right time to ask you if I can keep Maximus?’

‘Only if I can keep Jane Doe.’

She grinned at him. ‘You’re okay, Dad. Even if you are a total dork about some things.’

‘You too, Poptart. Listen, me and Hannah are having a meeting in the office, but then we can get some early dinner, pizza perhaps, if you like, before we head down to Cooma. If you’ve got any goodbyes to say, better say them now, okay?’