It turned out to be Davis’s last text of the night.
Mia got busy doing her homework, and she had him to thank when she went almost an hour without thinking about her father, her half brother or her false friend Gabriella.
Thanks to Davis, in spite of everything, she was kind of looking forward to tomorrow.
Chapter Eleven
Wandering around thein-law addition to the Chance home, Clayton picked up the remote for the gas fireplace and thumbed the buttons, flames leaping to life right away. He’d visited the addition briefly during his stay with Zach and Heather, just long enough to know it was being renovated. The main part of the suite—with the kitchenette and living area—had been recently remodeled. But the bedroom over the garage where Gabriella had put Mia still needed to be redone. Right now Gabby was putting away the groceries he’d brought over from Zach’s well-stocked kitchen, which left Clay at loose ends, staring out the front window across the driveway toward the main house.
She dropped a can that rolled across the floor and she cursed lightly. No doubt about it, Gabby was freaked out to be here at her childhood home. It hadn’t occurred to him how difficult this would be for her when she’d suggested it back at the hospital. But seeing the way she carefully didn’t look out the window at the sprawling Craftsman where she’d grown up—and remembering how quickly she’dlatched on to his offer to raid her brother’s kitchen on her behalf—Clay understood that she wanted no part of being in that house.
“Can I help with anything?” he offered, wanting to put her at ease somehow.
He’d already checked them out of the motel and brought their bags here. He’d texted with her brother, as well, making sure the guy didn’t mind Clay returning to the house. After that he’d phoned his friend and foster brother, Sam Reyes, to give him a heads-up. It couldn’t hurt to have the local sheriff aware of the situation. Besides, he’d figured Sam might have a contact at the local high school to help keep an eye on Mia.
“No.” Gabriella stuffed a plastic grocery bag into a drawer near the stove and then grabbed a couple of bottles of water from a stainless-steel refrigerator in the U-shaped kitchen. She stared at him over the counter as she poured the water into two glasses. “I’m just agitated and uneasy, so I’m finding things to do with the nervous energy. Sorry.”
Joining him in the living area, she set the water on the wooden tray centered on a big white ottoman then dropped into the white canvas sectional that wrapped around two walls. A silver sunburst decorated the gray wall over her head, reflecting the pendant lights from the kitchen. The place was quiet except for the hum of the television, which she’d flipped on to watch local news coverage of the Covington trial. The volume was almost too low to hear, but now and again the station flashed footage of the courthouse and stills of anticipated witnesses.
Clay lowered himself to the cushion next to her, knowing he needed to broach an unwelcome topic.
“It was good of you to find a solution for Mia today.” He reached for Gabriella, needing to connect with her after thehell of the last few hours. He lined up their hands, touching palm to palm, then shifted clockwise to thread his fingers between hers. “But I don’t want you to think she’s your responsibility.”
She tensed beside him, but she didn’t pull away. He rested their connected hands on her thigh, feeling the warmth of her through the dark skirt she wore.
“I don’t want her to go through what I went through, Clay.” Staring down at the floor, she didn’t even look up at him. “It hurts to have the people you count on abandon you when you need them most.”
He ground his teeth together, needing to think through his response. It seemed clear as day to him that Gabriella was overreacting because of her own past, but how could he say as much when she was in the middle of this trial and back at her childhood home with so many bad memories?
“That’s just it. She’s never counted on me, Gabriella. I haven’t been a part of her life and I’m not ready to set up house as a substitute parent. My home and my business are in Memphis. My apartment only has one bedroom and I work late, erratic hours as a PI.” He shook his head as he recounted the practical reasons he couldn’t step in with the girl even if he wanted to. “It wouldn’t be fair to Mia.”
“Nothing has been fair for Mia.” Gabby turned on him, eyes glinting a determined light. “At least you are family. Do you think it was easy for me to leave my friends and my school? The only life I’d known? Of course not. But kids are adaptable. And they respond to people who care about them.”
“Do you hear what you’re saying?” Clay struggled to remain patient. “This isn’t about whatyouwent through. It’s about Mia.”
Her jaw flexed before she huffedout a sigh. “I know that. But she deserves better.” She sipped from one of the tall glasses of water she’d brought over to the ottoman. “I’m hoping she’s just upset about Pete and that she’ll come around to see I’m not as much of a traitor as she thinks.”
She spoke softly, but it was clear that the loss of Mia’s trust had hurt her. Gabriella invested in the people she tried to help, that was for damn sure.
“She’ll come around. She’s just worried about what will happen after Pete dies.” Clay knew it as well as Gabby did, but he would be there to make sure she got into a good home that understood kids like her.
Gabriella set down her water glass. “Did you catch her expression when the hospital liaison mentioned her social worker?”
“I did. Mrs. Duchesne was her name.” Something wasn’t right there. “Believe me, I’m going to do some investigating into that woman and whatever went on while Mia was under her supervision. I’ve got a lot of friends in the foster system thanks to my own experience and the cases I take on. Reuniting families—and foster families—is a specialty of mine.”
“People ask you to reunite them with their foster families?” She sounded surprised, but she seemed to relax a little after that nervous whirl of energy in the kitchen. She shifted on the couch cushion to face him, tilting her head onto the seat back as she looked at him.
Clay wanted to pull her into his arms and keep her there. To fall right into those endlessly blue eyes of hers. Not even the charged disagreement about Mia could dull the fact that they felt something for one another.
It would be so simple to follow this powerful attraction that had always been there between them, and he was so damn hungry to forget about everything that happened withhis father today. But she was more important to him than that. She meant more to him than just a distraction.
So he held back.
“Sure they do. For some kids, their foster families were the only ones that showed them any love. And while some kids stay with their foster parents for years, others are only in their care for a few months. But even that short time can make a huge impression on a vulnerable kid. Years later they realize they want to thank the family but—for whatever reason—sometimes they can’t locate them.”
“So you find them.” A hint of a smile ghosted over her lips.
“Yes, ma’am. One hundred percent success rate so far. I even found a family who’d moved to Australia to be with their grown son who wanted to start a farm down under.”
