In an instant, she had the urge to spill everything to her friend. She wanted to tell her about Maggie and CarleeAnn and JR who was really Tate Carter, Jr., who was really her father.

She wanted to tell her about Neil. But knew even if this were the time and place for it, she’d never be able to find words to do any justice at all to how deeply and fully he’d captured her heart in such a short timeframe.

It was uncanny.

It was undeniable.

It was . . . impossible. Micah. You’re here to talk about Micah.

“So, I guess you didn’t hide away in the back office, then?”

Nikola chuckled. “No. I let him in and we talked a little. And then he stopped by a couple of days later. Eventually I knew the whole story about the loan shark—kept waiting for him to ask me for money but he never did.”

That surprised her. Surprised her even more that Micah had sought out Nikola in the first place. All these years, she’d told herself she was all Micah had, his sole support system.

Just like Neil, trying to save a farm singlehandedly.

“But to fly out here at the drop of a hat, Nik. It’s too much. You didn’t have to come. What did you do? Pay his bail? I’ll pay you back and—?”

“There’s no bail, Syd. He’s been fully released. No charges.”

She slumped against the wall. “I’m . . . I’m so confused.”

“Apparently you’ve done a bit of a number on that family, Syd. The guy called the station hours ago and said they didn’t want to press charges.”

The guy? Did she mean Neil?

“Now, the other man who was involved, apparently he has outstanding charges in two other states. So he’s not going to be roaming the streets for a while. They’re handing him over to an agency in Illinois.”

A small comfort in everything. Still, somewhere back in Chicago was a man named Harmon who wasn’t about to let Micah off the hook. Micah still owed twenty-five thousand dollars. She still . . . didn’t know what to do about that.

“I don’t know how to help him this time. Every time I try to think about it or come up with a plan, I can’t focus. All I can think about is how I don’t want to go home at all, let alone go home and try to figure out how to come up with more money than I’ve ever had at one time in my life.” Tears slid down her cheeks. She’d held them back at the hospital, but she couldn’t escape them now. “I don’t want to go. I love it here. I love the people here. I love . . .”