Her stomach gave a little fizz of excitement at the thought of seeing Jack again. He’d been in her thoughts a lot since she’d realised that he’d been undercover.

She’d been so shocked when Kim had told her how they’d nearly lost Jack. The thought of not seeing his serious face around Barker had set her on edge until Kim had gone on to explain that everything was okay now and he hadn’t been seriously hurt.

Zara hadn’t understood her feelings then and she had decided she didn’t want to delve into them too much right now. Lynda and she had talked about her returning to Barker and it had been clear that Lynda needed her, more than Lachy did. She just wanted to get back to Barker and set up her house, spend time at Rowberry Glen with her mum, and write her articles for the paper. Not exactly the life she’d planned, but for now the peace was necessary, as was time with her mum.

‘Zara, got a moment?’ Lachy asked from the doorway of his office. He indicated she should come in.

‘What’s up?’ she asked as he shut the door behind her.

‘Those items that were going missing from your desk?’ He held out an envelope. ‘Here’s an apology from the person who was doing it. Brenton from advertising.’

‘What?’ A startled look came over Zara’s face as she looked at the letter in her hand. ‘Why?’

‘I know,’ Lachy frowned. ‘It seems implausible—we never see the people from advertising up here—they stay down on the floor below. How all this happened, I still can’t quite work out. Turns out he was sweet on you. Trying to get your attention but didn’t know what was going on in your personal life. Don’t worry. He doesn’t work here anymore.’

‘That’s just creepy.’ Zara dropped the letter back on to Lachy’s desk. ‘I don’t need to read this.’

Lachy nodded. ‘I’ve dealt with it, I promise you.’

Zara hugged Lachy. ‘Thank you.’

She went back to her desk and it was only seconds before she heard Liz coming up behind her.

‘I’m going to miss you so much,’ Liz said, coming in and parking her butt on the edge of the desk. ‘Are you sure you have to go?’

Zara smiled. ‘Yeah, I am. I’ll be back sometime, though. It’s not like I’m not working for the Farming Telegraph anymore. I’m just doing it from another town. And we’ll see each other. You’ll have to come and stay—I’ve got room in the house.’

‘You won’t be able to keep me away.’ Liz looked at her. ‘What a crazy few months,’ she said. ‘Who would’ve thought your life could change so much with that phone call from your mum.’