Clay nodded quickly, approving the plan.
“They arenotmy family,” Mia retorted, already moving toward the door marked Authorized Personnel Only.
The nurse lifted a section of her counter to join the girl. “It might ease her mind if she can see him,” she confided. “I’ve done this before. We’ll be behind the glass partition anyway.”
“Thank you.” Clay sincerely hoped it helped. He could identify with how rattled the girl felt.
As the two of them disappeared behind the swinging door, Clay took Gabriella’s hands in his. Turned her to him while the industrial clock ticked its slow seconds.
“Remember how you asked me to hold your hand today before the trial?” He stroked over the backs of her fingers with his thumb, needing to memorize the feel of her.
She gave a clipped nod, almost as though she didn’t trust herself to speak. Her fair hair was darker than normal from the rain, clinging damply to her head.
“I’m going to ask for a return favor even though I don’t deserve it.” He tipped his forehead to hers, and some of the stress inside him eased a fraction. He breathed in the scent of her skin, something soft and floral that made him think of a spring garden.
“Your day has been worse than mine.” She didn’t move away while they remained alone in the small waiting area. Bland easy-listening music played from invisible speakers, piped in along with the antiseptic-smelling air from a nearby duct.
“Seeing Pete like that made me realize how wrong I’ve been to resist seeing him for this long. I should have reached out to Mia as soon as he told me about her.” Actually, he should have found out about the girl long ago withouthaving to be told. But he was done burying his head in the sand.
“She thinks I lied to her.” The stark words didn’t begin to hide the pain that came with them.
“I’m so damn sorry, Gabby.” He let go of her hands, but only so he could trail a touch up her arms to round her shoulders and then span her upper back through her damp trench coat. “And I know it’s not fair of me to ask, but I really need to hold you.”
He tucked her against him even before he’d given her time to answer. But damn.
Damn.
He needed her in a way that caught him off guard, kind of like a Pete Yancy backhand when Clay hadn’t done a damn thing wrong. One second he’d been walking alone through life just fine. And then he’d seen Gabby again and it had shifted his whole world without him knowing until right now.
But in the time they’d spent together since he had spotted her outside the Owl’s Roost, he realized that his life had been missing something all the years without her. Like she’d left a hole in him when she’d gone away ten years ago, and he hadn’t noticed it was there until she returned and fit back into that spot. She’d never expected less of him because he came from a difficult background. She’d seen the best in him as a teen, and still did all these years later, and it made him want to be a better man.
It was probably a good thing the door marked Authorized Personnel swung open again just then, forcing them apart. Because the realization that he needed someone as much as he needed Gabriella right now threatened to take his feet right out from under him.
But as Mia stalked toward them with a jut to her jawand an angry gleam in her dark eyes, Clay understood he had to be ready to deal with his half sister sooner rather than later. It was his fault that Mia was so angry with Gabriella and it was up to him to make that right.
“Clayton Travers is yourfriend?” Mia directed the question to Gabriella as she tucked a few pamphlets under her arm. She clutched a wadded-up tissue in one hand. “Looks a little more than friendly to me.” Her dark eyes skimmed over Clay.
He reminded himself to be patient. That the girl had had a tough day and she was just a kid.
Still. He wasn’t about to let her hurt the kindest woman he’d ever met.
“That’s not even remotely your business.” Clayton stepped squarely in front of the teen and extended his hand. “But as your older brother, I’m more than happy to give you all the unwanted advice you need. Nice to meet you, Mia. I’m Clayton. Gabriella’s friend.”
Chapter Ten
Two hours laterGabriella sat between Clayton and Mia in the Family Life Services coordinator’s office at the hospital and wished the half siblings could have started their relationship on a happier note. The tension in the Family Life office was thick, although Mia seemed to be listening to her options now that she understood the hospital wouldn’t allow a sixteen-year-old to return to Pete Yancy’s home without some kind of trustworthy supervision.
Pete would be remaining at the hospital for at least the next two days based on the toxicity in his blood and the dangerously low blood pressure, but after a brief look at Clay’s father in his hospital bed, Gabriella wondered if he’d be returning home at all. Now, the Family Life coordinator seemed to be looking to Gabriella and Clay to step in and help with Mia, as if it made the most sense for them to take responsibility for her care.
As if they’d all known one another for more than a day. Even Gabriella’s long-standing online relationship with Mia couldn’t have prepared her for meeting the girl face-to-face.And Gabriella sure hadn’t expected to see Clay again, let alone discover his connection to the troubled teen. Still, it wasn’t the kind of situation she could turn her back on. She’d been worried about Mia for weeks.
“If I could reach my mother,” Mia said to the gray-haired coordinator, leaning on the woman’s wide desk between pamphlets about hospice care and family rights. “I’m sure Mom would let me stay with her for a few days until Pete comes home.”
Ellen, a sharply dressed professional with steely-silver hair cut in a crisp bob, peered over the file open on her tablet. Gabriella willed the woman to nix that idea. After spending hours on the phone with Mia over the last two years, Gabriella knew Mia’s mom was trouble.
“I looked into that possibility, but your mother is in a detox facility this week.” The woman spoke in a businesslike manner despite the sensitive nature of the revelation. She tucked some of her silver hair behind one ear, exposing amethyst hoops that matched her purple blazer. “If you are not comfortable with your brother or Ms. Chance, I can contact the social worker who handled your case when you moved out of the foster system. Mrs. Duchesne?”
Beside Gabriella, Mia went pale. The girl pursed her lips and then let out a slow breath between her teeth.
