“The rest of the owners decided it needed a spruce-up. I think it’s a garage and needs to look like a garage, but…” She gave a patently fake smile. “This is obviously why I pay mandatory property maintenance fees—to have a shiny garage.”

He grinned. “Still not giving in to Jacqueline’s offer for her to buy you a bigger place?” Catie had paid the deposit for this apartment with her own money, was keeping up with the mortgage the same way.

“Oh, I’m never budging on that, hotshot. I love my mother, but she likes control.” Stepping into the elevator, she pressed the button for her floor. “Don’t get me wrong. She wouldn’t use a key and start coming over whenever she wanted—that’s not Jacqueline’s style. But just the awareness that she’d paid for the roof over my head, it would give her a subtle kind of power.”

Danny found Ísa and Catie’s family fascinating—in a vaguely terrifying way. Their relationships were so different from his with his parents and brothers. Since he’d been on a professional rugby contract from the time he was nineteen, the money question had never come up for him, but had it ever done so, he’d have been okay with his parents lending him the amount for a deposit or the like.

He’d have known he’d pay them back as soon as he could and that being able to help him would’ve made them happy. Same with his big brothers.

No worries about power and imbalance. Just family helping each other.

“What if it was Ísa?” he asked. “Giving you a loan or an outright gift?”

“That’s different—a sister thing,” Catie said as the elevator doors opened. “Issie wouldn’t know how to hold something over another person’s head if she tried—and she loves with all her heart.”

An affectionate shake of her head. “You know she still buys me clothes even though I keep telling her I have enough? The worst thing is that she has perfect taste for me, so I can’t even tell her I don’t like the things she chooses!” Laughing, she fingered the loose knit sweater in a kind of champagne-type shade that she’d thrown over her workout clothes. “This is one of her picks, and it’s my absolute fave for throwing on top of my athletic gear.”

Sensing that they were making their way back to even ground, Danny felt some of the tension leave his body and he entered Catie’s apartment in a far better mood than when he’d begun the drive.