"But maybe not for us." Garth sat up and grabbed her arm, holding on until she met his gaze. "Look at you, working double shifts so we can pay the rent. You won't open the mail because it's all bills and bad news. We can get out of this town and start again, Sami. Too late for Mum, but maybe not for us."
She gazed at his face, his eyes were huge as he looked at her.
"I know what you’re saying is true. But it grates we had someone out there and didn't know. Why didn't Mum tell us about her father? What made her keep her family a secret from us? Are we so undesirable we had to be hidden from them?" Sami shook her head and gave a bitter laugh. "I can't believe anything would be so bad she didn't keep in touch with her parents."
"Call the solicitor back and see what you have to do now. I would love to move somewhere new where nobody knows our business. Have a fresh start, Sami. Please."
She took a deep sigh and lifted the coffee cup to her lips. Sipping slowly she tried to sort out her jumbled thoughts.
Yes, we have debt up to our eyeballs. No I will never manage to pay it all off at the rate I'm going. Yes, I would love a new start where nobody knew our business.
She had to have the guts to make the break from everything she had ever known. Even though the job at the pub was not what she wanted from life, it would be hard to walk into something new. Change scared her more than the dead end life they had now.
Sami put down the cup, picked up the scattered papers and read them again from start to finish. "Okay. I'll go into town and sign these before I send them off. It will give us time to think about what we are going to do."
Sami uncurled her legs from the couch and stood up. "I need a shower and then I'm going into town to get this paperwork done."
She walked toward her room and stopped at the door, turning to look at her brother. "I need to know why, Garth. Why did Mum not tell us about her family? Why keep something like that from us?"
"Maybe the solicitor guy knows. Let's go down there and find out."
"Yeah, maybe he does." Sami surveyed the dingy flat she shared with her brother. The walls were a dirty faded-white and the landlord had made no attempt to brighten the place with a fresh coat of paint before they had moved in. The basic kitchen looked as though it had been fitted in the pre-war years. A cramped combined bathroom and toilet smelled of damp and mildew. The shower constantly dripped and the rusty stain down the bathtub pre-dated their arrival. In winter the flat was freezing, bearable in spring and would no doubt be boiling hot in summer, something neither of them looked forward to.
The sound of dogs barking brought her back to the present. It was probably just as well the solicitor woke her up. The possibility of a sleep-in was overrated, living in the middle of town made it impossible most days. Sami craved the peace and quiet of the country again and a small spark of hope flared in her chest. Could this be what they needed?
Surely the farm couldn't be any worse than living in this dump in the roughest part of town?
Chapter 2
"Look how green it is, Sami." Garth looked through the open window, the big grin on his face showing how much he was enjoying being somewhere different to the red desert where they had both grown up. The rolling green hills spread as far as the eye could see, lush trees swayed in the soft breeze and the scent of green grass wafted through the open windows of the car.
"I don't think I've ever seen grass like this, not in real life anyway." Sami couldn't help but be infected by his enthusiasm. "How much farther do we have to go?"
Garth looked at the folded map in his hands. "Um, probably about eighty kilometres to Singleton. Then we have to find the solicitor’s office." He shuffled the papers and pulled out a single page and looked at it. "John Street. Doesn't look too hard to find. Only a small town. One street in and one out. Should be a breeze."
Sami cranked up the radio in her old car as they cruised down the highway toward their new life. She sang along with the country music until they neared the pretty little town and then turned the radio off to listen to Garth’s directions. If they could have bypassed this part, she gladly would have done so. But Mr Newland had insisted she collect the keys from his office so he could welcome them into town.
More like check us over and try again to convince us to sell. Once the paperwork had been returned to the office, things had moved quickly. Sami had given in her notice at work and packed up what little possessions they had, stowing them in the back of her old Holden station wagon before hitting the road.
They drove down John Street. Gold leaves fell to the footpath, scattering over the road in the soft breeze.
"Keep your eyes out for a parking space, Garth. We might have to do a bit of leg work, this street is super busy." They drove through a set of lights watching for a space.
"There, that car is going." Sami pulled into the vacant space and turned the engine off before she undid her seatbelt.
"Okay, let's
