He linked his fingers through Gabriella’s.
“Maybe we should discuss this privately.” His gaze flicked over to Mia, who slunk lower into her hoodie as if she was only too happy to hide.
Gabby wasn’t moving, however. She clenched her jaw and stayed put.
“I love you,” he told her again, focusing solely on the beautiful woman next to him. “I realized it when you were trapped in that house last night and it almost killed me to think about anything happening to you. I want us to be together. All the time.”
He squeezed her hand, but she pulled away quickly.
“I want a say in my future, too, Clay.” She swiped her hand over her eyes, her lips trembling with emotion. “You know how hard I’ve worked to put the past behind me. I don’t need someone to swoop in and save me anymore. I need to feel in control of where I go next.”
If she had kicked him in the chest, it couldn’t have possibly hurt more. Had he sabotaged himself by not discussing his plans with them first? Or was his idea of a family for the three of them just notmeant to be? He squeezed his eyes shut for a moment, needing to at least make it clear to Mia that she was coming with him.
“Mia.” He studied her across the table, still reeling from Gabriella’s rejection. He felt hollowed out inside. “I meant it when I said you could have a say in your future, but I was referring to input on your room and maybe your school. Possibly a car. I thought you would want to be with me in Memphis. I have a good life there and my own business. We can get a bigger house with more space.”
“But I want to be here.” Clearly agitated, Mia stood. Her brown eyes were rimmed with fat tears but she bristled with anger. “In Heartache. With Gabriella.”
Stunned, Clay looked to Gabby to talk some sense into her. Surely even if Gabriella didn’t love him, she would at least see the need for Mia to be with him. That was what she’d pushed so hard for all along, wasn’t it? She’d told him as much that night on the porch of his motel cabin.
Besides, Gabriella didn’t even live in Heartache. Yet she bit her lip as if she wasn’t sure what to say. Her blue eyes tracked back and forth between Mia and Clay.
Frustration simmered. He’d tried to build a family, damn it. He’d made peace with his father. He was reaching out to the people he cared about.
“My home and my business are there,” he repeated.
Mia stopped her angry pacing on the other side of the picnic table. “Dad will be here.”
Clay fought the impulse to remind her that their father wouldn’t be around much longer. Instead, he focused on other realities. “There are just too many bad memories.”
“We met here,” Gabby said quietly. “That’s a good memory.” She nodded toward the party going on out on the lawn. “But maybe we should slow down, take a breather and talk about this later.”
He looked up and realized that, sure enough, they’d attracted attention with Mia’s pacing and their tense body language. Knowing as much only made him more frustrated.
His plan was crumbling. He was losing ground fast and didn’t know how to fix the situation. He’d laid out all his ideas for the future, but he’d gone about it wrong. He thought Pete had sucked at relationships, but he was even worse. Mia felt more loyalty to the guy than to him, that was for damn sure.
And Gabriella…seeing her united against him tore right through him. Every time he had gotten close to someone, things went south.
“Maybe we should. In Memphis, we wouldn’t have the whole town straining to overhear every word.” Frustrated and more than a little hurt that his declaration of love had been met with questions and refusals, Clay needed air. He unfolded himself from the picnic table bench and kept his voice low. “I’m heading out.”
“Of the party?” Gabriella asked, her voice unsteady. “Or the town?”
“To be honest, I’m not sure.” He ground his teeth. “Maybe both.”
Not ready to deal with any more fallout from this week, Clay stalked through the crowd, past his foster parents and toward his bike. He’d told Gabriella once the motorcycle was good for airing out your head.
He didn’t think it stood a chance of patching up his heart.
Chapter Nineteen
Crushed, Gabriellawatched Clay walk away, his steps so fast and purposeful no one dared try to talk to him as he ducked under an archway of yellow and purple balloons. Her chest ached to think that was all he had to offer her—his love with strings attached. Love that would abandon her at the first sign of trouble.
A love she couldn’t trust.
Even so, she loved him enough that she wanted to run to him and try to squeeze more emotions out of him. To squeeze those three little words he’d given her—far more than any other man had ever given her—and make their love into something that would fulfill them both.
But he hadn’t wanted to discuss alternative visions of the future. He’d frozen up and walked away. Leaving her alone.
The wailing country music tune amplified throughout the park reminded her of all the hurt that came from one-sided relationships. She couldn’t in good conscience tell the members of her support group to hold out for real love—to know their own worth—while she accepted less than thatfor herself. Still, the hurt in her heart felt like a million glass shards.
