The way that Cassidy had described Melbourne, Cadence expected to be walking through something like the Sahara with a few smatterings of buildings here and there. That’s not at all what she saw through the SUV window as they made their way to their accommodations. In fact, very little of it looked deserty at all, though her understanding was that the sand was not far away.

The hotel wasn’t the nicest they’d ever stayed in, but it would do. Her mom, Liz, who was taking over for ...