Facing the reality of the past is not easy and Olivia Wainwright, high school principal, is usually channelling Zen and helping others to remain calm. Unfortunately, no amount of Zen or calm is going to stop her fraying around the edges. News buzzing around the island is that Hunter Lewis her high school romance of almost fifteen years ago, is returning to the island. He’s not alone; he has his two children with him, Mason, and Izzy. There are multiple problems for Olivia, apart from Hunter being her first love. Her son Leo happens to be Hunter’s son. Hunter has no idea Olivia had his child and the icing on the cake: Hunter’s kids are enrolled at the same high school as Leo – the one where Olivia is the principal. Leo has never really asked about his dad and Olivia has taken the easy road, not pushing the issue. Okay, so she was a coward, but as Hunter was living overseas it was easy let the matter slide even though she knew the conversation was way overdue. Coming back to New Zealand was always going to be bittersweet for Hunter Lewis. He was now running the family vineyard and winery and when his mother tells him Olivia Wainwright is the high school principal he wants to turn around and head back to Spain. But he can’t. He owes it to his kids to try and work around Olivia even if his past When Hunter stood on Olivia’s doorstep and revealed the ugly truth of his hasty marriage, she gave him a shoulder to cry on and one thing led to another…His behaviour afterwards was unconscionable, he threatened Olivia and walked away. Now he’s back and Olivia has a son, Leo, who looks an awful lot like Mason. Hunter is keeping a secret of his own. To grasp the second chance they both want, he and Olivia will have to confront the past with all its lies regrets sitting like a wedge between them.

Jack had been to see his father. Her son’s candid revelation had Alex Porter momentarily lost for words – no mean feat for her. Okay, so she’d been going to have that conversation with Jack, and it wasn’t as though Jack didn’t know anything about his father. Over the years, she’d done her best to answer his questions but with this sixteenth birthday fast approaching, another conversation was needed. But business commitments had kept her busy and Jack’s involvement in sport together with his studies meant time for that conversation were hard to find. Or had she simply been avoiding the reality that Jack was now of an age where he could drive the conversation? Blake. He’d hurt her beyond measure at a time when her family were reeling from tragedy. Blake Winchester was back in New Zealand to atone for his actions. Finding his son at his front door gave him hope. Was there a way back into the lives he had upended or would the hurt and pain of the past run too deep for a chance at starting over?