Her hand wrapped around the cup, fingers brushing his in a way that made her gaze return to his. Hepaused for a moment longer, liking the feel of her. Wishing things weren’t so damn tense between them.
“Thank you.” She took a sip, a trail of steam curling up along her cheek as she lingered on the porch. A half smile rounded her lips as she lowered the cup. “It’s just how I like it.”
He didn’t bother telling her that was because he’d been paying careful attention to her yesterday, right down to how many creamers she’d used in her coffee. There was something about her that drew him in. Some of it had to do with the unfinished relationship between them—the attraction that had begun long ago and ended before they could really act on it.
But it was more than that. The warmth and kindness of her character lit her up from within in a way that would have been obvious even if he’d only just met her today. He liked her care and concern for Mia, even if he didn’t agree with how to approach the girl. He admired the way she’d used her experiences to start an online community that helped others.
He’d met enough self-centered people in his line of work to know just how rare a quality she possessed.
“Lucky guess.” He figured he might as well push his luck a little further while she still had a smile. “Any chance I could share your ride? I know you need to leave the trial early, but that’s fine with me.”
“I don’t know—” Her words were lost as a semi-truck rumbled past on the interstate, kicking up the chilly breeze.
She clutched her coffee cup with both hands while Clay pressed his point.
“You mentioned you’ll be with Mia,” he reminded her. “So I figure it would make sense for me to seek out my father while she’s out of the house. I hate for my firstmeeting with my half sister to be more awkward and uncomfortable for her if things don’t go smoothly between Pete and me.” He took a deep breath. “Besides, I know you were right last night about needing to meet Mia sooner rather than later. I have no idea what kind of shape Pete is in medically, and if anything happens to him?—”
“Mia will go right back into the system.” She shot back the words with a grimness that told him how strongly she disagreed with him about what was best for Mia.
He tensed defensively. While he understood that Gabriella thought foster care was the end of the world, Clayton had nothing but good experiences. Breaking away from his biological family was the best thing that could have happened to him.
He forced himself to take a sip of his coffee to ensure there wouldn’t be any bite to his words. “I will help her talk to her caseworker so she has a say in the kind of home she enters next time.”
“She will fight it every step of the way,” Gabriella told him flatly. “Why do you think no one from social services contacted you the first time she went into the system?” She checked her watch and withdrew a car key from her coat pocket.
“I’m guessing Mia’s mother didn’t fill in the father’s name on her birth certificate or something. There had to be a good reason the state didn’t look for more relatives. Because trust me, if I’d known about her, I would have contacted her then to tell her about my experience with Pete—the experiences of all Pete’s kids.” He shoved the empty cardboard tray in a recycle bin in front of her cabin, walking with her toward the parking area where his motorcycle sat beside her rental.
Across the street, the Owl’s Roost was already doing abrisk business, the scent of bacon thick in the air. A whole caravan of road maintenance workers pulled into the parking lot, leaping down from high running boards on dump trucks and cherry pickers.
Gabriella paused outside her plain white rental car, turning the key over in her palm.
“You can ride with me if you really don’t mind leaving the trial proceedings early this afternoon,” she said finally, pressing the unlock button on the fob, making the car chirp in response. “I like the idea of you settling things with your father so you can meet Mia under more peaceful circumstances.”
“You could introduce us, you know.” He stalked around to the passenger side, feeling a weight lift off his shoulders that he hadn’t messed things up with Gabriella completely.
He might not agree with her about how much to get involved in his sister’s life and problems, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t interested in spending more time with Gabriella.
Far from it.
He could tell he’d need to take things slowly. But he had every intention of picking up where they’d left off ten years ago. Sharing a ride today was just the beginning.
Already nervous aboutsitting in the courtroom today and seeing her attacker for the first time in a decade, Gabriella couldn’t deny she welcomed the idea of attending the trial with Clayton in spite of their disagreement. And for more than just the protective angle.
Having her long-ago crush in the car with her put her a bit more at ease, an about-face from yesterday morningwhen just sitting across from him had churned up all kinds of mixed emotions from her nightmares. Maybe admitting the truth to him about the unknowing role he played in her attack had been a good way to relieve some of that tension. She’d slept soundly the night before with no nightmares to disrupt her sleep. Relaxing into the driver’s seat—as much as could be expected on this day—she steered the rental car onto the main road that led to the interstate entrance just up the street.
The scent of coffee filled the car, but she caught a hint of masculine aftershave when she leaned toward the center console to retrieve her own drink. She worked to focus on his words and his request about help meeting his sister.
“Clay, you need to be prepared for the possibility it might be awkward for me to introduce you to Mia.” She responded to his earlier question now that they were on the road. They had twenty minutes to pass on the drive to the Franklin courthouse. “It could compromise her trust if she feels like I’ve been keeping secrets from her. But I’m hoping that will be outweighed by the fact that I’ve known you for a long time and can vouch for your character.”
“It can’t be any more awkward than being approached by a random guy claiming to be a relative.” Clayton pointed to an exit on the interstate as they headed west. “See that sign for Natchez Trace? That’s where our class went for our senior camping trip. Mrs. Grant—you remember the math teacher?—she asked me about you that day. Wondered if I’d heard from you or knew where you went.” He reached under his seat and found the lever to give himself more legroom. “I spent the rest of that weekend thinking about you. It bugged me that you weren’t graduating with the rest of us. You were always so damned smart.”
“It’s funny you say that since I’ve always felt like aslacker next to Zach and his genius IQ.” She’d had a lot of reasons to battle low self-esteem in the years after her father went to jail, and that was definitely one of them. “No matter how well I did in school or college, Zach did better and he did it without studying. But I got my diploma through virtual school about the same time our class would have been graduating.”
“Virtual school?” Clayton’s dark gaze roamed over her in a way that left her skin prickling with awareness. “You didn’t go back into a real classroom after you left Heartache?”
“No.” She shivered slightly, remembering those days when the panic attacks had been frequent. “I felt safest at home. I was so relieved when Zach told me I wouldn’t have to go to regular classes at the public school. I worked on my laptop at home while he took college classes and Sam went to the police academy.”
Looking back, she really admired her brother for finding paths for all of them—three runaways hiding in plain sight on the West Coast.
