Page 23 of Sugarloaf Ridge Lies

Chapter Six

Jerry

Emily takes our order.

“Cheers.” I hand her our menus. She looks between Liv and me and bites down on her lower lip.It won’t be long before the rumour mill finds out about this.

But do I care?

Not one iota.

I wipe my damp hands on my jeans, stare into Liv’s striking blue eyes, and mentally slap myself. Last night I had this beautiful woman in my arms, and this morning, sober in the bright light of day, it’s as if I’ve forgotten how to string a sentence together without jumbling my words. If I don’t get my shit together soon, she won’t stick around.

“What about your folks?” I ask, trying to gain some momentum with the conversation.

She stiffens. I’ve hit a nerve, already.God damn it.

“Um.” She sighs. “My father and I are estranged, and my mother...” She trails off, eyes glistening.

I reach for her hand, not knowing what else to do.

“I lost her,” she says, her voice thick. She fiddles with the silver heart charm on her necklace and smooths her hair at the side of her face. Her gaze shifts to the posy of peach roses set in a mason jar in the centre of the table.

Well, fuck.

I lost mine too. But I can’t tell you that...

My heart turns to stone and sinks in my chest. “I’m sorry, sugar.”

Thoughts of my birth mother scramble in my head. How can I continue to grieve for a woman I never knew? For a woman who I had such hatred for when I finally found out the truth of my birth story, only to discover in the last year that she’d given me up for my own safety? That she’d rung my Aunt Bernie every year on my birthday for almost ten years to make sure I was okay, until she vanished, or worse. There is still so much I don’t know about her.

But I can’t share that with Liv.I’m the long searched for baby who was abandoned on the steps of the Sugarloaf Bakery. I can’t reveal one of the town’s deepest secrets because that secret could expose my family, the one that cared for me, almost to their detriment.

Liv pushes a fleeting smile to her lips. “I’m not sure I’m ready to talk about family, yet. There are some things—” She sniffs back. “—that are still pretty raw.”

“Sure. I get it. No pressure. We can talk about whatever you want.”

Our meal arrives, and for a second, I wish it came with a side of whisky.

“Where’d you grow up?” I ask. “In the city?”

“No. Country Victoria. Melbourne for a bit, then in our nation’s capital Canberra for my teaching degree.”

“Cool.” I nod and take a bite of my hash brown. “I’m born and raised in Sugarloaf Ridge.” I wink. “My family runs Banridge Station.”

She nods and works on a mouthful of her eggs. “Oh, that’s where the bonfire was.”

“Yup.”

“And you have siblings? Apart from Finn?”

“No. Just Finn.”And a long-lost sister...I hate that I can’t talk about Daynah like that. I’m so bloody proud of her. She’s the best. Out of the two of us, she got all the sensible genes. She has her head screwed on right, that’s for sure.

“Is he younger? Older?”

I swallow hard. “We’re twins.”Liar.

She smiles. “That’s cool. So, when did you move near the Falls?”

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