Moonlight on Nightingale Way (On Dublin Street 6)

He reached for me, and I flinched back. Logan lowered his hand to his side in defeat. “I don’t want to leave you like this.”

“I’ll be fine. If you call me a cab.”

I stayed upstairs while he did as I asked. He returned a few minutes later to tell me one was on its way and was close by. “Will you tell Joss I’m just not feeling well?”

He nodded, watching me carefully.

I hurried down the stairs, letting my hair fall forward, hiding my face from the guests in the hallway. I moved past them without looking at them and darted outside. Logan was right behind me.

“You shouldn’t be alone, Grace,” he said as I strode down onto the pavement to wait for the cab I could see approaching up the hill.

I glanced over my shoulder at Logan, who looked surprisingly lost. “I’m not. I’m going to Aidan.”

His face darkened at my announcement. “Aidan?”

I didn’t answer. Instead the cab pulled over and I practically threw myself in it. “Raeburn Place,” I said quickly, thankful when the car pulled away from the curb.

The cab passed Logan as he stood on the pavement, his eyes filled with frustration and worry as they locked with mine. He mouthed my name.

I looked away and sank back against the seat.

“You all right?” the driver asked.

I realized I must look a fright with my tearstained cheeks and red eyes. I closed said eyes and said, “I will be.”

And despite what an utterly heartbreaking, shitty day it had been, in a weird, twisted way, the reminder of Logan’s rejection had put steel back in my spine. I had to remember that I didn’t need Logan. I’d been perfectly fine without him before he came into my life.

I didn’t need my family. I’d gotten on better without them these last few years.

I just had to keep reminding myself of that.

I opened my eyes, thinking of the three people who always helped with the reminder.

A feeling of calm started to settle over me as the cab carried me toward Aidan and Juno. Slipping my hand into my purse, I pulled out my phone and rang Chloe.

“What’s up, chick?” she said chirpily.

“Can you meet me at Aidan’s?”

She was silent a moment. “What’s going on? You sound like you’ve been crying.”

“Just meet me there?”

“Why? What’s going on?”

I pressed my forehead against the cool glass of the back passenger window, watching the city pass me by. “I just really need you right now. I need my family, yeah.”

“I’ll be there in ten.”

CHAPTER 17

The only way I could avoid Logan completely was by camping out at Chloe’s flat. I’d dart home to get showered and changed when I knew he was working and then I’d go back to Chloe’s.

There were five missed calls on my phone from him, including a voice-mail message I couldn’t bring myself to listen to.

When Maia called, I picked up. I fed her some rubbish about Chloe having had an argument with Ed and I was keeping her company for a little bit, and I felt awful for lying. I think Maia knew. I tried to make up for my absence by chatting on the phone with her for ages, listening to her as she spun plans for her summer holidays, which were fast approaching.

I honestly thought that I was going to get away with my lie.

Poor naive me.

“So you and Dad had a fight, didn’t you?” Maia said abruptly upon the third night of my stay at Chloe’s.

I already felt guilty enough lying to her the first time. “It’s not just about that.”

“What did he do? I bet he didn’t mean it.”

“Maia, it’s not just about Logan and the differences we’re having at the moment. I’m just… I’m going through some stuff and… well… Chloe is to me what Logan is to you. I like being around her when I feel like this.”

“And that Aidan guy?” she said with so much suspicion I laughed.

“Yes, but that Aidan guy is just a friend. One of my best friends. He’s engaged, you know.”

“Hmm. So you say.”

I laughed again. “I promise.”

There was a moment of silence, and I realized it was due to Maia plucking up the courage to say, “Don’t you like Dad?”

Too much.

“It’s not that simple. Maia, I love you, but I can’t talk to you about this stuff. It’s between me and your dad.”

She was quiet again.

I bit my lip, worried I’d hurt her. “Maia, please under —”

“You love me?”

My heart squeezed at the whispered question. “Of course I do. It’s kind of hard not to. It’s really rather annoying how adorably lovable you are.”

She snorted, and the silence fell again. And then… “I love you, too, Grace.”

I smiled and then immediately felt like a coward and a bit of a shit for hiding out from Logan and thus avoiding Maia. “You know what? I’ll be home tomorrow. You should come over for dinner.”

“Just me though, right?” she said dryly.

Remembering those first few weeks when Logan and Maia had spent all their free time in my kitchen, I felt a wince of regret. “That would be best.”

We talked a little more about other things, mostly about how Layla wasn’t talking to Maia because Maia called her a gossip and how now poor Leigh was stuck in the middle. As I listened to her blather on, I once again assumed I’d escaped any more Logan conversations.

But the last thing Maia promised before she hung up was, “I’m going to make you like him again.”