“What are you going to do?” she finally asked. “And what’s going to happen to your business?”

“I—I don’t know—”

“What?”

“I said, I don’t know.”

She made a face. “You can’t say that, Ryan.”

“But it’s the truth. There aren’t any easy answers.”

“I get that, but you still must have some idea about what you’re going to do. What does your father say about this? The two of you must have talked about it at the very least.”

“No, we haven’t . . . um . . .” A quiver broke in his voice, and the words came out all shaky. “We haven’t talked about it.”

Amy leaned forward so fast that the carriage lurched and creaked on its hinges. “You’re kidding?” She could hear the exasperation in her own voice. “You’re both about to get kicked out of your home.”

“I know.”

“And you’ll have nowhere to go.”

“Amy, I know.”

“So how can you not be talking about this?”

“Because . . .” Ryan closed his eyes and swallowed hard, the uncomfortable kind, the kind that catches the tongue. “Because he doesn’t even know, okay? Because I haven’t discussed this with him. Any of it . . . not ever.”

There was an abrupt silence.

The words had escaped Ryan’s lips in a breathless blur, and the moment he realized what he was saying, that he was admitting aloud his most personal and private secret, he felt his heart leap halfway up his throat. He wanted to take it back, but it was too late.

Next to him, sitting in silence, Amy was perched forward, her jaw dropped and her eyes radiating shock and dismay. Ryan couldn’t blame her for looking as surprised as she did. No doubt she’d be asking herself how anyone could end up in such a mess, but she must also be questioning why it was only him who knew anything about it and why on earth he would be keeping it to himself. And what was he supposed to say? Changing the subject wasn’t going to work. There was no brushing this revelation aside. Which really only left him with one choice: tell Amy the truth. Tell her everything. All of it. The idea of confiding in her made him nervous, but what choice did he have? After four years of living with this secret, he couldn’t keep it buried a moment longer.

“Amy, there’s a reason my father and I don’t talk about this . . .” Ryan turned to face her and took a deep breath. “There’s a reason he doesn’t know.”

Amy studied him, her expression steady, her eyes resting gently on his. He looked vulnerable, and she noticed his hands were shaking, which told her that whatever he was about to say was probably something big, something very important.

“Okay . . .”