“Fifteen minutes later I was an expert. That's all you need. I think I was even getting the upper hand, which is very simple with a guy. Anything seems to turn them on.”

“All I need to understand is the unwritten law of warriors," he said firmly. "And women and children are never sent to do our work without our protection." He pointed to the trees, emphatically. "That's the language I share with them.”

“Oh God, Frankie, I breathe in rhythm with that man. You think that's not my flesh and blood after all these years?”

“It's how they've stayed popular for so long. By not doing anything that will make them look like fools. They never leave home without their safety nets and I think, good for them, but the thing with safety nets is this. I got tangled in them so many times and the Stella girls always seemed to leave me dangling, upside down, to the point where I almost couldn't breathe anymore.”

“It's too late. Seventeen-year-olds don't need fathers.Oh god. I'm thirty-four years old and I need a father. I can't even begin to think what my daughter needs.”

“If I want more, I need to go and get it, demand it, take hold of it with all my might, and do the best I can with it.”

“You seem to have a problem with me," he says in typical Griggs fashion.I can tell he regrets saying it when he is treated to one of Hannah's long cold gazes."I think it will be a while before I forgive the trip to Sydney," she says flatly."Fair enough. I think it will be a while before I forgive you for what you put her through over the past six weeks."I watch them both and for the first time it occurs to me that I'm no longer flying solo and that I have no intention of pretending that I am. I have an aunt and I have a Griggs and this is what it's like to have connections with people."Do you know what?" I ask both of them. "If you don't build a bridge and get over it, I'll never forgive either of you.”