It was great living with someone else, Sacha never denied that - she had too many memories of cold nights spent in front of the T.V. by herself in her dark flat to ever rue her decision to move in with Hannah - but all the same, sometimes it was nice to have the place to herself. A bit of peace and quiet. Time when she could call Canberra without having to seek out privacy. Not that she ever talked about anything particularly private when she rang her sister, but all the same - it was the principle.

She picked up the 'phone and dialled her sister's number. Hannah would be out for a long time, no doubt - might even stay out all night. It wouldn't be the first time. The 'phone rang three times before it was picked up. The person who answered was unfamiliar to Sacha: it was a man.

"Oohh . . . Sorry" Sacha said, "I might have the wrong number. Is Kate there?"

"Yeah, I'll just go and get her" the man said. In a way, this response puzzled Sacha more than if it had been a wrong number.

Shortly Kate came on the 'phone. "Hello" she said confidently, "this is Kate."

"Hi, sis. It's Sacha."

"Sacha!" Sacha heard a muffled query in the background: the man's voice again. "It's my sister" she heard Kate explain faintly: she must have put the 'phone to one side briefly. She came back on the line. "How are you?"

"I'm good" Sacha said. She didn't really want to talk about herself now. "How are you? Who was that?"

"That? Oh, nobody." Kate suddenly started giggling and shrieking: it sounded to Sacha, from experience, like she was being tickled. "Just someone from work" Kate gasped between fits of laughter, then she managed to compose herself. Sacha supposed the man had stopped tickling her. "His name's Adam."

"Making you Eve?"

"Well . . ." Sacha wasn't used to hearing embarrassment in her sister's voice. "I guess so, yeah."

Sacha blinked. "Wow. Um, congratulations, I guess."

"God, you say it like we're getting married!"

"How long have you been going out?"

"About a month, I guess."

"A month?"

"Yeah, four or five weeks. Mum and dad have met him."

"I wasn't going to ask that, but okay." Sacha did some calculations in her head. "Didn't I last talk to you about three weeks ago?"

"About that, yeah. I guess."

"And you didn't' say anything?"

"Well, there wasn't much to tell then! We'd only been on a few dates. I . . ." Kate trailed off; she sounded embarrassed again. "I didn't want to jinx it" she said.

"Sure, okay. And you met him at work?"

"Yeah. It's all a bit secret at the moment. Don't want the boss to find out."

"Sure, sure, I can understand that." At work. That really happened to people? Sacha looked around the sitting-room of the house. It was getting towards dusk. People would be going out. She was starting to get a familiar feeling.

At work?