Monday, July 26. 4:29 p.m. Southgate, Wellington, New Zealand.

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Daniel knew they were nearly there when Ana strained ahead like a horse on the final home stretch. She picked up the pace and dragged her chin up from her chest.

After her confession, the mood between them had progressed from mere awkwardness to flat out icy distance. Heartened that she’d confided such a painful part of her life to him, he’d thought getting that awful load off her shoulders would have drawn them closer together. His heart had ached for the young girl she’d been. How on earth had she come out of that experience unscathed?

Maybe she hadn’t.

As the minutes of silence crept by and the sun rose high then began to sink through the cloudless blue sky, the purpose of her timing became clear. Rather than let me share this terrible, hurtful part of my past because I don’t want to hide from you, he was starting to believe the sharing session was more this is why I believe all men are cheating scum of the earth.

So where did that leave him in Ana’s eyes?

Hell if he knew. He was probably lumped in with her dad, Theo’s father, and her late husband.

Gilded rays of fading sunlight blinded them as they turned onto a wide street. Ana ran, her looming shadow shambling alongside her. Daniel broke into a jog, his own nerves starting to spike at the thought of seeing his sister again.

Ana swooped into the driveway of a one-story home. A toddler’s plastic bike lay toppled on the grass, abandoned.

“Lyssa? Nadia?”

Ana trembled as though caught in the grip of fever as she called her daughter’s name. A step behind her, his hand drifted toward her shoulder in reassurance, but he wavered. His touch was no longer welcome.

He switched from reaching for her to running his fingers through his hair and then shoving both fists into his pockets.

From inside a high-pitched voice cried, “Mummy? Mummy?” and Ana flung herself, weeping, against the front door.

Ana kissed the brow of the little girl sleepily sprawled across her lap. Ever since Nadia hauled the front door open and Alyssa had tumbled into her arms, she hadn’t been able to keep her hands off her daughter. Reassuring herself that Alyssa seemed her usual chirpy self, she stroked the wispy curls off her baby’s flushed cheeks and looked up.

Nadia was curled in the corner of the couch opposite and Daniel’s laughter drifted in on the evening air, alongside a couple of other male voices she recognized as the two university students, Adam and Jimmy, from next door. The three men had spent the last hour repairing Ana’s ancient barbecue. After discovering some sausages kept by Nadia in a cooler, the trio clustered around the smoking grill, fully embracing the male-bonding ritual of charring dinner.

“Wish I could’ve got Theo home for you,” Nadia said.

Lack of sleep showed in the dark circles under the younger woman’s eyes, the same piercing color as Daniel’s.

“You did the right thing staying here.” Ana twisted a stray curl of Alyssa’s around her finger. “Theo’s with dad; my baby girl had no one but you.”

She hoped her smile came across as calm and reassuring, but inside she was torn in opposing directions. She desperately needed Theo home safe, but now another night would go by before she could reach him. The quake damage in Wellington’s denser-packed southern suburbs like Southgate was more considerable than in areas north of the city. As much as the mother in her ground her teeth in frustration at being thwarted, there was no way she could safely walk through an urban disaster zone to her father’s place at night.

Nadia removed her glasses and rubbed her eyes. “You and Danny will head off tomorrow and bring him back. Alyssa and I will be fine here for another day.”

“Mmm. Or maybe I should go and get him. Daniel’s done enough.”

Nadia snorted, slid her glasses back on her face, and cocked an eyebrow. “Yeah. That’ll happen, boss. You really think my brother will let you go alone?”

“Let me go?” Ana cocked an eyebrow right back. “I don’t need his permission.”

“Planning to whack him on the head with that lukewarm bottle of beer he’s drinking, then? ’Cause that’d be the only way you’d end up going solo.”

“The idea is tempting,” Ana muttered, but Nadia only grinned, her eyes sparkling with mischief.

“Or maybe you could handcuff him to that fancy headboard after a night of wild monkey sex?”

“Nadia!” She jerked upright and nearly spilled Alyssa onto the floor. “What the hell?”

Alyssa snorted softly in her sleep and hugged her teddy bear tighter.

Nadia tucked her legs under her on the couch, settling in with a dish all the goss look on her face. “Come on. You couldn’t cut the sexy vibes between you and Daniel with a chainsaw. The air is stinking with pheromones. Whew, I tell you.” She waved a hand in front of her nose.

“There are no vibes or pheromones.” Ana slid Alyssa off her knee and onto the soft couch cushions, tucking her favorite pink polar-fleece blanket around her.

“Bollocks. We’re friends, aren’t we?” Nadia didn’t wait for Ana to agree because they both knew the answer to that. “Fess up,” she said in a gentler tone. “What’s going on?”

Ana sighed and suddenly swept a throw cushion off the couch, hurling it at the younger woman’s head. Nadia caught it one-handed, a smirk causing her own set of dimples to pop out.

Were her feelings for Daniel apparent to everyone? That it was obvious to Nadia, who had become more of a close friend than an employee, galled her.

“Nothing.”

“Aren’t you the same woman who gave Theo a thirty-minute lecture on honesty and then banned him from the computer for a month?”

“It wasn’t thirty minutes.” She slumped back into the couch and closed her eyes. “And it was only for two weeks.”

Nadia should have been a lawyer. Once she scented blood she followed through until she brought her victim down.

“Your pants are on fire, boss.”

“Shut. Up.” Ana kept her eyes shut, but she could feel Nadia’s speculative gaze burning through her eyelids.

“Oh. So it’s more than just wild monkey sex?”

“Leave it alone.”

“But that’s wonderful,” Nadia said earnestly. “You and Danny are perfect for each other.”

Ana opened her eyes and propped her feet on the coffee table between them. “You’ve been watching too many Disney movies. There’s no happy ending starring me and your brother.”

“That’s so much BS. What’s the problem? Instalove for him, instalove for you, yada yada yada, then you shack up together—”

Ana dropped her feet off the table. “Nobody said anything about love, insta or otherwise. I just find him…interesting.”

“Interesting?” Nadia rolled her eyes. “Oh puh-lease.”

“Well, okay. He’s a nice guy. A good guy.”

“So is old Mr. Green down the road but you don’t want to burn up the sheets with him.”

“Nads,” she hissed.

“It’s true. Ten minutes in the same room with you two and I saw the way you stare at each other when you think the other isn’t looking.”

Ana kept her voice patient, or at least tried to. “Look, I’ll admit we’re attracted to each other, but that’s all it is. We’ve only known each other for a few days.”

“My mum and dad had only—”

“I know,” Ana interrupted. “Daniel told me about how your parents met and got married soon after. But we’re not them—and I emphatically do not believe in love at first sight.”

Nadia stilled, cocking her head to one side. “No one ever does until it happens to them.”

Heavy footfalls clomping along the deck cut off Ana’s next comment. A tousled blond head poked through the gap in the tarpaulin that covered one of the broken glass slider doors.

“Grub’s up.”

“Thanks, Adam. We’ll be right out.” Ana smiled over her shoulder and he flicked her a quick salute before disappearing.

She turned back to Nadia and said, “He’s your brother and I know you love him a lot—”

“Yeah, I love him.” Nadia stood up. “And maybe I’m a little biased because he is my brother, but if you’re worried he’s a cheating douche like Theo’s sperm donor, don’t be. Danny wouldn’t screw around on a woman. I’d stake my life on his integrity.”

It took two attempts before Ana’s wobbly legs would hold her up. “I’ll get the tomato sauce and napkins,” she said.

“Now that’s the sound of a woman floundering in the river De-Nile,” Nadia said with a raised eyebrow. She walked around the coffee table and gave Ana a quick, squeezy hug. “I’m glad you’re both home safe.”

She slipped out onto the deck and called out to Daniel. Ana stroked a hand over the fuzzy pink blanket, and Alyssa smacked her lips wetly, her chubby fingers pulling the teddy bear tighter against her face.

The sound of Daniel’s laughter rolled into the room, bright sunshine blasting away the shadows.

No one ever does until it happens to them.