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I wipe at my tears again. I’ve not even made it to my mum’s front door and already, everything that I achieved in the past eight weeks has been wiped away. I feel deflated and defeated and on the verge of an anxiety attack. The press are never going to leave me alone. They’re never going to just let me get on with my life. I need to accept that this is it. This is my reality and it’s fucking shit.
* * *
I manage to stop my tears before we pull up outside my parents’ house. Luckily, I have a great suntan, so I don’t need any makeup and I can blame my red eyes on jet lag. Le
“Hope there’s biscuits to go with that tea?” My dad throws his head back and laughs, instantly reminding me of Cam. I push the little stab of emotion away from my chest and watch my brother’s reaction. He closes his eyes for a long moment while my mum squeals and cries and jumps down from her stool. I watch as Marley smiles at Ash and quietly says “You knew about this, didn’t ya?” and I can’t help but smile as she nods and he reaches out and takes her hand, kisses it and says, “Thank you.” I get kisses and cuddles from my mum and dad, then Ash.
“Look at ya, you sexy sunta
I shake my head. “I don’t plan to.” Although with all that’s just happened in the car, that’s probably not entirely the truth. I turn and look at my brother. I can see his eyes shining with tears. I shake my head. It’s the sob that’s trying to escape that I’m saying no to, but it doesn’t listen as I step into his waiting arms.
“Little sister Georgia, you’ve made me cry, you cow.” I laugh.
“Big brother Marley, you’ve made me cry, you wanker.”
“Language, Georgia, honestly, I hope you didn’t swear like that in front of Kathy and John.” I turn and look at my mum.
“When was the last time you visited Aus, Mum? Every other word is fuck this and fuck that. They even say shit and wanker on the radio.”
“Well, regardless, I don’t want the rest of the family thinking you wasn’t brought up the right way.” I smile and give my mum a one-armed cuddle; the other is around Marley, who doesn’t seem to want to let me go.
“I’ve missed ya, Mum. I’ve missed all of ya so much. It’s good to be home.”
We all make our way into the front room and drink tea and eat chocolate biscuits and have a general catch up. Len, Ash and Jimmie head off around three to collect their kids from school; before he leaves, Le
Bailey arrives just after Le
My dad and brothers are all drinking bourbon and my mum has poured me and her a wine. I really don’t feel like a drink, but I take a long sip from the glass and instantly feel my head spin. I’ve had no food of any substance since the half a burger I ate Saturday night. If I was still in Australia it would be late Monday night by now, meaning I’ve not eaten for two days. My mum’s in the kitchen clanging about as she unloads the dishwasher so I call her in to sit down.
“I need to tell you all something and I don’t want any of you getting pissed off or jumping to conclusions.” I look at each of the members of my family in turn. My mum crosses her legs, probably expecting the worse, my brothers all simultaneously sit back in their chairs and look at me over the top of their glasses. I smile at their likeness.
“Saturday night I went to the opening of the club that Jodie has been working on in Sydney. I didn’t want to but Jax and Brooke refused to let me stay home on my own and curl up in bed and cry like I wanted to.” I take a sip of my wine, my eyes darting between my dad and Marley as it’s the reactions from these two that concerns me the most. “Turns out that Cameron King is part owner of the club and I bumped into him there.” My dad’s eyes widen, Marley’s narrow as he sits forward in his seat.
“Cameron King’s got a club in Sydney now? Fucking hell, he’s gone up in the world, still, fair play to the boy; he’s always worked hard and tried to keep his nose clean.” Bailey rolls his eyes and then meets mine square on. My dad still treats me like I’m five years old when it comes to his business dealings, and he has no idea that I know exactly how his money has been made. Most of his dealings may be legit nowadays, but they most certainly weren’t in the past.
“Why are you telling us this, George?” Marley asks. I wipe the sweaty palm of my left hand over the knee of my tracksuit bottoms. I look at the velour and the way the colour changes as it’s brushed forward and back. I look up and meet Marley’s eyes.
“I was a bit of a mess Saturday night. It was not the best of days for me, and anyway, I was a bit drunk by the time I bumped into Cam. He realised this and he also knew that there were a few photographers about so we left the club.” I look at each of them, trying to gauge what they’re thinking. “Cam managed to get us out of a back exit and had his driver pick us up without being seen. I had a car picking me up at six Sunday morning to take me to the airport so I just wanted to go home. Like I say, I was a bit of a teary mess by the time we got back to my hotel and Cam didn’t want to leave me on my own so he came up to my room with me.”
“Hang on, hang on,” my dad interrupts. “I didn’t know that you even knew Cameron King that well. Why the fuck were you taking him up to your hotel room? I mean, he’s an all right sort of bloke these days, but I’m under no illusion that he’s still as fucking dangerous as he’s always been.”
“Frank, language, really.”
“Fuck the language, Bern. I wa
“Dad, look…”
“Dad, Georgia was seeing Cam for a while, back when she and Sean split up. I didn’t tell you coz I didn’t want it complicating things. We owned the club together back then and there was already a bit of friction.”
“You fucking what? You knew she was seeing him and you didn’t tell me?” Oh, for crying out loud.
“Dad, it was twelve years ago. For fuck’s sake, are you all go