All the cheery balloons and bubbles blowing on the breeze didn’t take that hurt away.
“Gabby? Are you okay?” Mia’s voice pulled her attention back to the here and now.
The reunion breakfast. Mia’s hurt that was as big as her own. Gabriella’s gaze came into focus again, in time to see Clay’s foster mother speaking animatedly to him beside his motorcycle.
Lorelei Hasting’s dark curls moved in a halo around her head as she used her hands to make a point while Clay stared into the distance, his black helmet under one arm. But Gabriella couldn’t concern herself with whatever conversation they were having. Mia needed her.
“I am not okay at this moment in time.” She answered Mia’s question honestly. She wasn’t going to hide the hard truths of the world from the teen ever again. “But I will recover.” She opened her arms to the teen sitting beside her. Mia looked as lost as she felt. “We both will.”
The girl rested her head on Gabriella’s shoulder, accepting the hug and reminding Gabriella that her time in Heartache had made an impact on Mia’s life in a good way. This trip had been about more than putting the past to rest for Gabby. She’d met one of the people in her support group—someone who’d been at a real crossroads in her life and needed a friend.
Thinking about that eased some of the pain in her chest a little. For the moment, anyhow. Clayton had been wrong about Heartache being full of bad memories. There were some beautiful ones here.
“He can’t make me leave, can he?” Mia lifted her dark head. “I just made friends. And Davis is the only boy whohas ever cared about me. We haven’t even kissed since that awful first time in his truck and—” She dragged her sleeve over her cheeks to dry them. “I know that shouldn’t matter and I should just be grateful to have someone who wants me. But I thought Clay was my friend.”
Gabriella listened while, on the far side of the park, she watched Lorelei kiss Clayton’s cheek. Watched Clayton roar away on the bike, spitting up a few bits of gravel on the way.
He was really leaving.
“Clayisyour friend.” Gabriella knew that much. Clayton would do whatever he could to take care of his sister. Something had changed inside him since being in Heartache. He’d let go of that fierce insistence that a foster home was best for Mia. “But he’s going to be your legal guardian, too, and that comes with a lot of responsibility.”
She tried to see this day through his eyes. To feel the way he might feel right now. But for the life of her, she couldn’t understand why he would think it was a good idea to walk away when she didn’t immediately jump to agree to his plan for the future. Maybe she should have handled it differently. Pleaded her side then and there. But she’d been surprised and then overwhelmed by a whole host of emotions. Before she could think through the best response, he was gone.
Didn’t Clayton, of all people, understand how that would rock her? She’d only just come to terms with how deeply her mother’s abandonment had affected her. She’d even shared that with him. Her chest burned with the ache of losing him so fast. Without a chance to fight for a different future together.
“Can’t you talk to him?” Mia pleaded, taking her hand and squeezing it.
Gabriella studied her chipped nail polish from the Salon Night the week before. It wasn’t nearly as damaged as the rest of her.
“I don’t know if I’ll have a chance.” She had to be forthright. “He could be packing up his things and leaving for Memphis right now. But if not, if I see him before he leaves, I’ll tell him how important it is for you to be here.”
“I can’t ask for more than that.” Mia thanked her and retrieved a crumpled tissue from her purse to clean up some of the smeared eyeliner on her cheek.
Gabriella wondered who would intercede with Clay onherbehalf? Whatever his foster mother had said to him hadn’t made a dent, judging by how fast he’d left the party.
But she couldn’t think about that right now or she would fall apart, and she had to be strong for Mia.
“Mia?” She hoped it was a good time to raise another issue with the teen. “I’m going to speak to Clay for you. But I need you to talk to the sheriff for me. Tell him everything you know about Connor.”
She hadn’t asked the girl to make a statement last night—of course—while she’d been frightened for her father’s life. But whatever secrets she had in her past about the boy, they needed to come out now. Gabriella understood too well how hanging on to the past only made the nightmares grow larger than life.
Mia put down the tissue and the compact mirror she’d found in her bag. “I will. I promise.”
“I’ll go with you if you want. And Clay needs to be there as your guardian since you’re underage.” She refrained from asking what had happened between them, thinking Mia would share it if—when—she felt comfortable enough.
“I kept a record of his phone calls and when wechanged my cell number.” Mia’s forethought to keep that kind of file caught Gabriella by surprise. But then it wasn’t the first time she’d seen the double image of the scared girl and the strong woman she would one day become—the woman she was already becoming.
“I’m glad you thought to do that.” Gabriella felt a swell of pleasure and pride.
“You know where I got the idea?” A hint of a smile transformed her face in spite of her red-rimmed eyes. “From your cyber bullying website. It’s one of the tips for making sure a stalker pays for his crime.”
A new tune floated on the breeze—a happier steel guitar to replace the lonesome fiddle of a few moments ago. Gabriella latched on to the lighter moment with both hands. Strange how even happiness could hurt a little without Clay to share it.
“You did the right thing.”
Mia looked thoughtful for a minute. “I hope so. I mean—I know keeping the record was good. But I threatened him with a knife more than once before I picked a fight with a perfectly nice girl to get kicked out of that house. Connor never followed through on his threats, but I knew if I stayed any longer, he would.”
Her happy moment faded as the revelation rocked her. Mia had never revealed
