Gab’s new year was The Great Unknown. Why did it feel that way? She knew she’d be working roughly full-time at the local supermarket, and she knew she’d be looking after Jack and cooking dinner every night. The next milestone her peers were waiting for was university offers. They were being released mid-January, a week or so after Gab’s eighteenth birthday. But uni offers weren’t really on Gab’s radar. It didn’t matter whether she got into uni or not, because she couldn’t go anyway—so she felt. She hadn’t told Mr. C. that yet, or anyone else. But deep down she knew. She’d put in preferences because that was the expected thing to do, not because she’d been planning on going anywhere. It had felt like planning someone else’s life, not hers; her path was already set. There wasn’t really a choice. Jack needed her. So did her mum. Gab was aware of the Jack-factor in her decision; she was less aware of the sense of responsibility she felt for her mother. She didn’t even know it was there. The weight of it had always sat upon her and she’d never known any different. For her, that’s just how life was.

***

Another day, another shift at the supermarket. That was how Gab saw it. She pushed aside the thought of the university offer she had received that morning. It didn’t make any difference—it was just another day.

Being a hot and blustery mid-January afternoon, the air-conditioned shop was a welcome change from both outdoors and the uninsulated granny-flat. Gab walked through the back door of the shop and into the tea-room with its kitchenette, putting her bag into a locker and donning her name badge and her checkout-girl persona. It was easy now, comfortable—not like when she’d first started. That had been terrifying and exhausting. She’d lie awake on Friday nights, terrified she’d miss her Saturday morning alarm and be late for her Saturday shift. And while working, she’d be so nervous she’d count back customers’ change all wrong—even when the sum was easy. But now it was all second nature. Gab knew all the regulars. She wasn’t fourteen years and nine months old anymore. She was an adult. Legally. This continued to surprise her.

Shoving a lolly into her mouth from the bowl on the tea-room table, she headed into the store.

“Hey Stacks!” called Jarrod from the deli, with the nickname he’d called her for years, ever since she’d begun stacking shelves.

“Hey Jarrod,” she called back. Mac looked up from refilling the fruit display with bananas.

“You’re on register two today, champ,” he said with a jowly grin.

“Gotcha.” Gab gave him a thumbs up and took her marks.

It was quiet today—far too hot for anyone to be doing much in the middle of the day—while smatterings of kids came through, buying all the ice-creams they could manage. Dirty hands smeared themselves over the ice-cream caddy, children counted out their pocket money for treats and most said “thank you” when they received their change. Gab felt proud of them when they did that.

4:51pm. Gab was clocking off at five o’clock. Busy wiping up after a dribbly pack of frozen peas on her conveyor belt, a quiet voice interrupted her thoughts.

“Hey, kiddo.”

“Oh, hey Mr. C!” she smiled when she looked up to see him.

“You can call me James now, you know,” he said. “School’s over!”

“Ohhh nah, couldn’t do that Mr. C!” she replied with a smirk.

“Course you can! You’re an adult now and I’m not your teacher anymore.”

“Maybe I’m an adult on the outside!” said Gab. He raised his eyebrows quizzically. “Besides,” she teased, “you just called me kiddo!”

“I was being metaphorical.”

“Sure, sure.” Gab was bagging up his frozen corn cobs, a kilo of Grannie Smiths, a loaf of bread, two cartons of oat milk.

“Seriously though,” he continued, “you’ve had more responsibility to shoulder than other kids your age.” That one got her in the guts, so she focused on scanning his groceries fast as she could.

“Are you walking home, Mr. C?” she asked, before she could stop herself. He nodded and she continued: “I’m finishing my shift in… ,” she checked her watch, “three minutes. Do you want to … umm… I mean…” Why was this suddenly so difficult?

“Want to walk together? Great,” he said easily. “Let’s talk. I’ll wait outside while you finish up.” Gab nodded.

Mr. C (or James, as she couldn’t bear to call him) took his bag of groceries and stood outside the front door. Elsy arrived to replace Gab at register two, and Gab went to get her bag. She joined Mr. C. out the front, her heart beating harder than she cared to admit. She didn’t know why.