“Because I’ve been where you are – looking for family because the one I was born with let me down in a way you can’t forgive.”

She stared up at me with those wise violet eyes. “They hurt you too.”

I nodded. “I made a new family here with my friends. I just want the same for you.”

Silence enveloped us, but this time it was the sweet kind, made even more so when Maia reached across the bedspread and slipped her hand into mine.

CHAP TER 7

“I don’t really need this.” Maia stared at me with those big woeful eyes of hers as she stood in a changing room.

“It’s cute.” I gestured to the dress she’d tried on. It looked particularly cute with her grungy biker boots. “We should get it.” I patted my purse and reminded her, “Logan’s credit card.”

She looked down at the ground. “I just don’t want him to be mad at me for spending too much money.”

I’d been having so much fun with Maia that morning, making her breakfast, taking her shopping, that I’d temporarily forgotten how scary and confusing this must all be for her. Just because she initiated the whole thing didn’t mean she wasn’t terrified it could all blow up in her face. “Logan won’t be mad. We’ve barely bought anything. He knows you need at least a week’s wardrobe. That’s what we’re doing.”

The nod she gave me was reluctant, but we ended up buying the dress along with a pair of jeans and a few shirts. She changed out of her uniform and into a set of her new clothes. Afterward I led Maia away from Princes Street and up onto the path that ran along the outskirts of Calton Hill, where we would have privacy.

I had woken up that morning to the sound of my kettle boiling at five a.m. Maia was in my kitchen, making herself a cup of tea, moving from one foot to the other with nervous energy. Her eyes were bloodshot, and that, along with how early it was, told me the girl had gotten hardly any sleep. I thought the best thing to do was get her out of the flat. Logan had given me his credit card before he left the previous night for work, and I’d thought Maia would be like most teenage girls, and that shopping would take her mind off things.

It had not.

She had so many thoughts right now I could practically hear the buzz of them over the sound of the busy city-center traffic below us.

“You can talk to me,” I announced. “If you want to talk to me about anything that happened at home. I understand if you’re not ready yet for that. I just want you to know that I’m here.”

She stared out over the city, and for a moment I thought she might not answer. Finally she spoke.

“Maybe you could just tell me more about you?”

It occurred to me then that for all Maia knew, I was a crazy person she was entrusting with her well-being. I didn’t think she believed that, but I could understand her hesitation. She had been desperate to get away from the situation with her mother, and that meant taking a big risk, such as living with me. “Sure. That’s only fair. What would you like to know?”

Finally she looked at me. “You’re an editor? For, like, a publisher?”

“No. I’m a freelance editor. I mostly do editing for self-published fiction writers, but I also copyedit academic papers.”

“And you make a lot of money? You have nice things.”

I grinned at the nosy question. “I make just enough. Most of that nice stuff I found while bargain hunting, and a few pieces are from a previous life.”

She frowned. “What does that mean?”

Although this was a topic I usually shied away from, I knew to earn Maia’s trust I was going to have to show her I trusted her in return. “My parents have a lot of money.”

I watched as she processed this. “But you don’t talk to them anymore,” she deduced.

“No, I don’t.”

“Can I ask why?”

“You may,” I corrected her with a reassuring smile.

She blushed a little and looked away. “May I ask why?”

“Well, it’s not something I like talking about, but… my parents are not very nice people.”

“When did you stop talking to them?”

I searched her face, wondering why she wanted to know so much. “About seven years ago. I went to university here at Edinburgh, and when I graduated I returned to London. I tried to be a part of the family, but it… Let’s just say I was better off back in Edinburgh, where I felt more at home with the friends I’d made here. I stayed in a flat with a number of them for a while, and then they all started pairing off and getting engaged. By then I’d built up a clientele and was making good money editing, and so I found my little flat on Nightingale Way.”

Maia came to an abrupt stop, and I halted too, looking back at her quizzically. “So you did it,” she said softly. There was something in her tone. Something akin to awe. “You made a life for yourself outside of your family. You really did it.”

I understood now. “Yes. I really did.” And you will too.

Her eyes grew big, luminous, and there was something hesitant in them. “Can… May I ask what your family did that was so awful?”

I looked out over the city I loved and sighed. “Some other time perhaps.”

When Maia didn’t reply, I glanced sharply back at her, afraid I’d hurt her feelings. Instead her sad smile was one that offered understanding.

“That was quick.” Logan was stooped over, his elbows leaning on the railing of our landing as he watched us climb the stairs. I looked up at him, and my smile faltered when I took in his appearance.

He looked as exhausted as Maia.

“Turns out Maia is not much of a shopper.” I threw her a teasing smile as we stepped onto the landing to join Logan. I held up the bags in my hand. “I had to force-feed her.”

He straightened up, eyeing the bags and then Maia. “Did you get everything you needed?”

She nodded shyly.

We had gotten her everything she needed. Clothes, underwear, shoes, and toiletries.

Logan reached for the bags Maia was carrying. “Let me help you with those.”

I smiled at the way she watched his every movement with big round eyes, completely fascinated by him, before I let us into my flat. They followed me inside to the guest room, and I dumped the bags on Maia’s bed. Logan followed suit, and he took in the room. “This is nice. Do you like it, Maia?”

“It’s really nice,” she agreed quietly.

“Oh, here.” I dug in my purse for his credit card and handed it to him. Our eyes met, and he gave me this little smirk. I laughed. “Don’t worry. We were kind.”

His smirk turned into a tired smile, and I ignored the little pang of feeling it produced in my chest.

“I’m sure you were. Have you guys had lunch? I thought I could take you out.”

“We haven’t. But you know… I’ve got some work to do. Why don’t you take Maia?”

We locked gazes again, and that little pang I felt quadrupled at the gleam of gratitude in his eyes.

“That sounds great. What do you think, Maia?”

She nodded, and I could see her trying to mentally bat away her nerves like she had done in our landing yesterday when she’d confronted Logan. My gosh, was that only yesterday?

“What do you fancy?” Logan said as he guided her out of the room.

“Um… a cheeseburger?”

“Oh, my kind of food, girl. I know where we can get a good burger.”

“Have fun!” I called after them.

Maia gave me a wave at the door, and Logan lifted his chin toward me in what I assumed was a macho good-bye. When the door closed behind them, I bit my lip.

What the hell was I doing?

“What the hell are you doing?” Aidan yelled.

I winced and pulled my phone away from my ear.

“Grace? Grace!”

“I’m here,” I snapped. “Stop yelling before you blow out my eardrum.”

“I was shouting at my teammate, who is acting like a complete arse,” he said. “Sorry. I’m in the locker room. Anyway, I probably should be yelling at you. Would you like to explain to me what on earth made you think it was a good idea to take in a strange homeless girl who may or may not be your annoying next-door neighbor ’s long-lost daughter?”