Swallowing hard as Anahera retook her seat, Josie stared at the wood grain of the smoothly planed table. “I heard her on the phone a few times,” her best friend said at last. “She had that look on her -face—-the same look you had on your face that weekend I came to stay with you up in Auckland. It was right after you’d met Edward, and you were glowing and giggly and happy.”

Anahera could barely remember that version of herself. “That can’t be an unusual thing for a girl as beautiful as Miriama,” was all she said.

“You’d think so, wouldn’t you?” Josie said. “-But—-and this is before -Dominic—-Miri’s never really dated as much as you might assume. She has big dreams and she’s determined to make them happen. She did go out on the odd date, don’t get me wrong, but it was a year and a bit ago that she got that look on her face and I knew it was serious.”

Anahera just nodded, the fingers of one hand around her coffee cup.

“I sort of teased her about it,” Josie continued, tracing the wood grain with a fingertip. “Like I did you about Edward. Nothing pointed or mean. Just kind of saying how she was looking happy and when was I going to meet the lucky guy.”

Leaning forward, Anahera took one of Josie’s hands in her own. “You’re -ice--cold,” she said with a frown, and began to rub Josie’s hand between her own to warm it up. “Do you want me to get your shawl?” She could see it draped over the chair behind the counter.

But Josie shook her head. “The cold is from inside,” she whispered. “It’s from fear of what might’ve happened to Miri.”

“Just tell me if you change your mind.” Anahera didn’t stop attempting to warm Josie up. “How did Miriama react to your teasing?”

“-She—-” Josie paused, bit her lower lip. “Her reaction was -odd… -hurtful.” Hazel eyes held Anahera’s. “My response feels so immature now, but back then, I was badly wounded by what she did.”

“Was she angry with you?”

“No. She lied to me.” Josie’s voice shook. “Laughed and said that I was mistaken, that she’d been talking to a friend. I knew she hadn’t been, knew that tone in her voice was for a lover, not a friend.”

“Did she ever admit the truth?”

“About a month -later—-she came up to me out of the blue and said she was sorry for having lied to me, but that she couldn’t talk about the person she was dating. She said he was inappropriate and that she wasn’t ready for anyone to know about the relationship.” Josie extended her other hand toward Anahera. “Since you’re doing such a good job.”

Laughing at this small glimpse of the content, happy Josie she knew, Anahera switched her warming--up attentions to her friend’s neglected hand. “When she said ‘inappropriate,’ did you have any idea what she meant?”

A shake of the head. “I nudged her about it, asked if there was anything I could do, even cautioned her against getting involved with a man who might not be good for her, but she just hugged me and said she loved me for caring.”

Josie sank her teeth into her lower lip. “Then she told me not to worry, that her guy wasn’t abusive or a drug dealer or anything bad like that, only someone it might take her aunt a little bit to warm up to, so she was going slow with it.”

It wasn’t much to go on. Inappropriate could mean all kinds of -things—-the lover could’ve been significantly older, for example. “Did you two ever talk about it again?”

“I accidentally walked in on another phone call a few months later. She was out back having a break, but I needed her to come in because a tourist bus had turned up early and I knew we were about to be slammed. I pushed open the back door and heard her say, ‘We are sinners.’ ”

Josie’s face turned stark. “She hung up as soon as she saw me and we didn’t talk about it then, but at the end of the rush, she looked at me and said, ‘Will you still be my friend when you find out what I’ve done?’ ” Her fingers tightened on Anahera’s. “It was so sad, the way she said it. I told her nothing could break our friendship and then, because I thought she needed a laugh, I said the only caveat was if she attempted to seduce Tom. Then all bets were off.”

“Unless Tom has had a personality transplant, I don’t think you ever have to worry about him straying.” Even Anahera, with her dim view of men, couldn’t fault Tom’s loyalty or love. He’d do anything for Josie, including hauling over supplies for her crazy friend who lived in a cabin on the edge of -town—-he’d also checked Anahera’s plumbing while he was there.

Tom Taufa was one of the good guys.

“That’s why it was so funny, the idea of him being seduced.” Releasing Anahera’s hand, Josie resettled herself on the chair. “But Miri’s face went kind of still and odd, and she said, ‘You never have to worry about that, Josie,’ and then she left to deliver a coffee to Glenda at the tourist center, and we never talked about it again.”

Anahera sat back in her seat. “A married man?”

“That’s what I thought, too,” Josie said with a sigh. “I really didn’t want to believe -it—-I take marriage vows dead seriously. But I love Miriama. I decided my job was to support her. And I wasn’t about to blame her when she wasn’t the one who was breaking vows.” Her voice was harder on the next words. “If I ever find the man who convinced her to break her faith, however, I’ll have a few things to say to him. She was tormented at committing a sin.”