Something sophisticated. Something mature.
George.
Impressed with my name choice, I smiled, eyed George again and then looked at the weird rodent who lay on the grass, chewing.
“Jayden, I swear to God, I’ll find the crocs and give you a shove so you can get to know them better if you carry on.”
My brows shot up. “What did I do?” I whined. “I showed you my list before we left the States, and not one thing on my ‘awesome shit to do in Australia’ list did you veto.”
George woke again.
“Fuck me. For a start, they’re not even kangaroos. They’re wallabies.”
Wide-eyed, I glanced at the wallaby. The creature still munched away, ignoring the bag of tasty treats I’d bought to get close.
“I feel cheated. Where are the kangaroos?”
“They all died. They’re gone. They no longer have them at Australia Zoo.”
Opening my mouth to respond, I was cut off by a loud wail. Both Ryan and I looked down at the small boy standing just to our side. The kid was sobbing, staring up at us. The man next to him quickly picked up the loud kid, shooting us a dirty look while reassuring his nosey kid that the kangaroos weren’t dead.
The shake of my shoulders was inevitable. The laughter that followed was loud and abrupt, enough to startle the wallaby and make it jump up and bounce away.
Still laughing, I glanced over at Ryan. He was struggling to contain himself, his lips twitching, the amusement evident on his face.
“Come on.” He tugged on my arm. “I think we need to get out of here before we’re kicked out.”
We left the pen, still grinning. “You know, you’ve probably scarred that kid for life,” I teased.
“Piss off,” he mumbled under his breath, side-eyeing the overwhelming number of people with young kids about. “You want to keep looking around or are you ready to go?”
“I’m good to head back.” We’d arrived at opening time this morning. It was now past lunchtime, and the weird burger I’d had with beetroot had freaked me out too much to eat it. “I could definitely eat.”
Ryan nodded. “Can do. We can stop somewhere on the way back.”
Weaving through the crowds was straightforward. Our height advantage made it easy for people to see us coming and step out of our way.
Before long, we exited and headed to his pickup truck that was apparently a ute. I didn’t think I’d ever tire of the fun Australian sayings, especially since over the last year or so, I’d heard Ryan sound less American during our catch-ups and calls. A given, I supposed, since he and Nate had got together.
The last year had been hands down the most frustrating of my life, though. And the strangest.
It made sense to add confusing to that list too.
Sometimes it was only my calls to Ryan and Nate, who’d been in Vegas with Ryan playing for the Vegas Stallions, that kept me grounded. Now, this vacation to Australia was as far away from my life in Minnesota as I could get, finally giving me the space I needed to get my head on straight. Or at least that was my plan. The jury was still out with how successful that was.
We headed to an eatery on the beach. It was worth the drive just to see the waves rolling in and the almost white sands.
“You want to sit outside?”
“Definitely,” I answered, loving that not only could we do so without phones and cameras being pointed in our direction, but that it was winter here, yet the heat was just the right side of perfect.
Ryan ordered our food at the bar and returned with drinks. I’d quickly become addicted to the sugary sweetness of lemon, lime, and bitters, and smiled contently when I took a sip. “Thanks.”
Ryan nodded in response and took a seat at my side so we could both take in the view of the Coral Sea.
“I finally understand why you were such a wuss in Minnesota during winter.”
Ryan snorted a laugh. “Right. This is what I’m used to in winter. Bright blue skies, low seventies, bloody perfect. Sure, you can freeze your ass off at night, but come midmorning on the Sunny Coast, bliss.”
