One face after another floated through her mind, but one lingered in clearer, more colorful detail than all the others.

But what about all the noble things she’d told herself only hours ago at the hospital? About how life in Chicago could be good. About how she’d keep hoping, imagining—

“Oh, Syd, this is just the best.”

“What?” She swallowed a garbled sob. “Do you even see me right now? I’m standing in a police station, crying. I probably still have yesterday’s mascara smudging under my eyes.”

Nikola laughed and gripped both her shoulders. “But don’t you see? Don’t you remember two weeks ago, back in the bakery? I asked you if you’d ever done something because you just had to, because it filled you with emotion, because you knew there was a happy ending waiting for you if you could just run for it. You looked at me like you had no idea what I was talking about. You wouldn’t be crying right now if that hadn’t changed.”

“That doesn’t exactly make me feel better.”

“But it’s the truth, isn’t it? You found your something.” Nikola squeezed her shoulders. “Or maybe it’s someone.”

Yes, someone whose dedication to the farm and love for Maggie and his sisters had reeled her in until she’d lost her heart to him. Did she really think she could just walk away? Say goodbye to Neil and his thoughtful ways and his quiet faith, his complete and utter goodness?

But there was something too. The sense that she could’ve had a place here. A purpose. When she’d created that website for Neil, when she’d manned the market booth with Lilian, when she’d helped Maggie bake, and even when she’d caulked those windows . . . she’d felt like she belonged.

She lifted her hand to swipe at her tears.

“Listen, if you’re convinced coming back to Chicago and resuming life as normal is what God wants for you, then okay. But if He’s given you a new dream, then how could it be anything but good and noble to chase it?”

“How do I know it’s Him and not just me and my own silly heart?”

“Why couldn’t it be both?” Nikola dropped her arms. “Tell me this: Does staying here and starting a whole new life scare you a little? Because if so, that’s probably a good sign He’s behind it.”

Did it scare her? Yes. Yes, because there were so many ways it could go sideways. There was Maggie and her health to consider. And the girls—what would Indi and Lil say when they found out she wasn’t Cynthia Muir? And how could she just . . . just stay when she didn’t truly have a place?