dark things had gotten in that first foster home. She’d made vague references to being bullied in school because of her breasts. Her body had been the focal point of cruel comments for years, and Gabriella had tried to help her with that. But the girl needed more counseling than what she’d gotten over the years.
“Did your social worker know about that?” Gabbypressed, doing the math to figure out how far in the past that incident would have been. Almost three years.
No wonder Mia had kneed poor Davis when he kissed her.
“Yes. But when she investigated, another kid lied for him. So when she didn’t move me out of the house, I picked the fight with the girl, and then my foster mom kicked me out. The next home was good, and then Pete got me out of the system anyway.” Mia reached for Gabby’s arm and squeezed it, as if to reassure her. “And now Connor is going to jail anyhow. It all turned out okay.”
Although she was far from reassured, Gabriella was glad to finally know the truth.
“Thank you for trusting me with all that’s happened to you,” she said, wrapping the girl in a hug again.
There was going to be more smeared eyeliner on both their faces, that much was certain. But it felt like a step in a positive direction.
“I’m so close to having my life be normal,” Mia whispered in her ear while they squeezed each other. “So close. I just want to be here for my dad and to work at the store with Erin, and have friends and a boy who likes the real me.” She paused a minute in her list of wishes. “That’s too much to ask for, isn’t it? I can’t have that many good things, and you and Clay, too.”
Gabriella had learned a long time ago not to make promises she couldn’t keep. It was an important rule in talking to callers who needed help on the hotline, and yet she had a different relationship with Mia. She could promise some things.
“Mia, you deserve all that and more because you are a sweet, good person.” She squeezed her once more before she let her go. “We’ll have to wait and see. Just rememberthat even if things don’t work out just like you want them to, sometimes they work out for the best anyway.”
Down on the lawn near the coffee tent, Sam was lifting a glass of champagne to toast his parents. The music ended while people from all over the park crowded closer.
Mia lifted a dark eyebrow, her skepticism obvious as she walked with Gabriella toward the rest of the party guests. “Do you really believe that?”
Gabriella swallowed hard, feeling those glass shards in her chest all over again as she thought about Clayton. “Today, of all days, I have to believe it.”
Your family isright here, Clayton Travers. It always has been.
His foster mother’s words circled in his mind with each mile as Clay picked up speed on his bike heading out of town. Lorelei had chased him down after his proposal to Gabriella had imploded.
Ah, hell. Not that he’d “proposed” per se. They’d only just reconnected. But still, he’d had a well-thought-out plan for their future, and all of his proposals had disintegrated while Mia and Gabriella found one hole after another in his vision for them as a family.
Lorelei must have seen the storm brewing when he’d headed toward his bike, because she’d flagged him down and insisted he share what happened. He’d given her the most abbreviated version possible, and she’d spotted the same problems that Gabby and Mia had. He should take their wishes into account. He should have told Gabriella privately how he felt about her.
But Lorelei’s most damning accusation?
That Clay was still running at the first sign of trouble. She reminded him he couldn’t get out of Heartache fast enough after graduation, looking for happiness far away from the family he’d had for two years. A good family.
He’d been so busy running he hadn’t seen how his father had changed. Hadn’t found out about Mia. Hadn’t even checked in on Daniel and Lorelei, who’d both been damn good to him.
Clay thought he couldn’t feel any lower when Gabriella had refused to speak to him privately, siding with Mia against him. But his mom’s words had been a fresh splinter in the wound, tweaking the hurt to an unbearable level.
When ten miles didn’t clear his head, he slowed the bike down, easing off the gas and coasting to the side of the road where the shoulder was wide. Right in front of the sign that said, “You are leaving Heartache, TN. Visit again soon!”
Who the hell wanted to return to Heartache?
He parked his bike and scooped a handful of gravel, chucking it at the cheery metal sign and hearing the rocks ping against it.
Your family is here.
His foster mother’s voice echoed in his ears louder than the pinging stones. Louder than the roar of his anger and frustration.
Damn but it hurt to leave Gabriella behind.
He sat on the bike while the engine tick, tick, ticked as it cooled down. The rise of the road gave him a view of half the town that his foster mother…hell, he might as well think of her as his mother because that was what Lorelei had been to him. A mother. One who cut right to the chase. She’d accused him of running from this town. He couldn’t see Main Street from here, but he could see Crestwood HighSchool where he’d first met Gabriella. Where he’d first learned to rein in his energy enough to concentrate in school and earn good grades.
Lorelei had taught him how to do that, and he loved her for it.
So why had he run so hard and fast from this place? It wasn’t just because he had bad memories of Pete here. Maybe it had more to do with being scared of screwing things up with someone who cared about him. Failing Lorelei and Daniel, who’d opened their home to him and loved him—that was a whole lot more daunting.
