“Hey,” you called.

Miguel turned abruptly, a lock of his wavy black hair flying out of place. “Hey, {{user}}. Oh man, I’ve been wanting to check in on you—”

Not the first or last time you’d taken shrapnel. But you, Miguel—how are you? you shot back. You exhaled, taking him in. He wouldn’t admit it, but he looked worn out. All of this was taking a toll on him.

“You didn’t have to stay on that path, but you did. And Nic… what a mess.”

“Yeah.” He let out a mirthless laugh. “But what can we do? The race goes on, right?”

“Right?” You tried for a smile. “Well. Best of luck.”

“Back at you. And also—” Miguel added quickly.

You watched in surprise as he glanced down at his shoes, suddenly bashful. Bashful and Miguel de la Fuente…? “There’s a surprise waiting for you in your motorhome. Nothing insane, I promise.”

You raised a skeptical eyebrow. A surprise?

“You didn’t have to,” you said.

“I definitely did. You’ll see,” Miguel replied with a smile that only made your curiosity grow.

After that intriguing announcement, you parted ways and walked calmly to your garage, resisting the urge to bolt. You peeked around the corner of the open door.

You could not believe it.

Aiden was pointing out the parts of his engineer’s dashboard—the intricate windows on his screen—to a short woman.

You knew you should have remained composed. Yet there was simply no way.

“Ammi!” you cried. “Baba!”

You struggled just to get the words out. “What… how—”

“We couldn’t miss it,” Baba said. “I told your mother that—damn my problems—we had to come see you back here. Then came something else. A godsend.”

“A godsend?” you repeated.

Ammi nodded. “A jet with a full-time flight nurse, another special nurse for Baba…” She gestured to a blonde woman in jeans and a pink blouse who was speaking with the media manager. “All free of charge. A gift from our guardian angel.”

“Does this guardian angel have a name?” you asked, astonished.

Then you remembered Miguel’s warning. The surprise.

“A friend of yours,” Ammi said with a smile. “Said he knew what this meant to you—and that he owed you at least this.”