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She climbed out, feeling as if his eyes were on her the whole way, but unable to bring herself to turn back around to check.

At the end of the day, Sam was in the main foyer, waiting for her. Ben had to stay late, and so they had already arranged she would take Sam home that day.

She closed the gap across the foyer. “Hi. All set?”

“Yep. Good to go,” he said, holding the door for her. “I assume all the Christmas decor is your doing?” He gestured toward the bright red tinsel she’d painstakingly wrapped around the metal banisters leading up to the main entrance.

“Yep,” she replied proudly. “The lack of festivity was giving me anxiety, so I raided the store cupboard.” She had erected a tree in the café’s alcove, another in the back foyer, and strung lights everywhere she could reach. Including around the fireplace—her pièce de résistance.

They headed out and across the car park. “I appreciate it,” Sam told her with a smile. “As a fellow Christmas lights fan.”

They climbed into her car, and she started it. Then she made to get back out to scrape the windshield. But he stopped her.

“No,” he said, taking the scraper from her. “You stay in here. I’ll do it.” He climbed out, making a start on the job.

Taken aback by another display of good grace, she watched him for a second, until the buzz of her phone distracted her. A message from Hana flashed on the screen.

Have you apologized to Dad yet, for going behind his back?

A cold, heavy weight settled into her stomach, and she dropped the phone into her drinks holder.

Going behind his back? It was hardly that. She’d agreed to help Ben because he’d needed her, and it’s not as if she had anything else on just now. Christ, she hadn’t even broken it to Dad or Hana, or Mum for that matter, that she hated accountancy. What would their reaction be if she did?

Maya blinked against the prickling sensation in her eyes. This was what she got for trying to confide in her big sister.

The door opened and Sam climbed in. “All done.”

Maya rubbed her eyes, her throat constricting. She tried to keep her voice even but it came out wobbly. “Thank you.”

Sam turned, his face falling. “Hey, what’s wrong?”

Plastering on a smile, she avoided his eyes and infused a false brightness into her tone. “Nothing. Let’s head out.”

“Wait,” Sam said, touching her hand. The brief sensation of his fingers on her skin sent heat coursing along her arm, and she hesitated, glancing up into his eyes.

“Why don’t you take a minute before we go? You don’t have to tell me what it is if you don’t want to. We can just sit here for a bit.” He gave her a smile. “I would offer to drive, but I’m not insured on your car, and if I bump it, I’m sure I’d go even further down in your estimation.”

Maya managed a more genuine smile, the lump in her throat becoming a little less painful. “Okay. Thank you.” She leaned back for a moment and became aware that, despite his assumptions, she did want to confide in him. Perhaps it was because she’d already told him a bit of the story, or maybe it was that, again, he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. “I got a message from Hana.” She couldn’t bring herself to voice what it said, so she gave him her phone, fiddling with her charm bracelet as he read it.

Sam frowned as he read. “That’s a really shitty thing to say.”

He glanced into her eyes, and she could tell he genuinely thought so, rather than just saying what she wanted to hear.

Maya shook her head. “I’m jealous of you.”

He handed the phone over, still frowning. “Of me? Why?”

“Because you’ve got the most amazing sister in the world.” Guilt needled her at saying that. She loved Hana, of course she did. But this constant battle over their father’s affections was too much to bear. Especially when there was no battle. Hana was the outright winner, always achieving what Omar wanted. Plus, Maya had no interest in even being in the fight in the first place. She was content for Hana to be the winner, if it meant that she could be allowed to do what made her happy, and for her sister to back her up rather than sticking the knife in when Maya was vulnerable.

Sam gave her a gentle smile, leaning his head back against the headrest to study her and eliciting a soothing warmth in her heart. For a moment she was transported back to how attentive teenage Sam had been to her woes. Maya had also listened to what he’d divulged, about his dad. His opening up to her had felt like a special privilege, and she’d never told anybody what he’d said, about feeling rejected. Not even Liv. Although it was clearly a deep-rooted issue that they’d only begun to touch upon, when he’d then backtracked on wanting anything to do with her.

A thought niggled at the back of Maya’s mind. Something to do with the Sam of the present day resembling the one whom she’d trusted with her innermost thoughts, the one whom she had been planning on a mutual exchange of intimacy with. For the first time since moving away to Glasgow, she questioned what had changed for him that night. Apart from their disagreement.

At the time she’d put it down to adolescent misjudgment, telling herself that boys had one-track minds and lied to get what they wanted. Sure, some of them did, and she had assumed she’d been duped by one of them. But this man, the one that she’d scratched the surface of over the past couple of weeks, didn’t seem the sort to do that. And what would he have to gain now, by pretending to be something that he wasn’t? Perhaps what he’d done back then was in some way down to his parental trauma. Maybe it’d made him do weird things. Not an excuse for his behavior, but an explanation at least.

“Liv is pretty amazing,” Sam said, rubbing his fingers over his beard. “But don’t tell her I said that. She’ll get a big head.”

Maya let out a laugh that sounded fairly close to being a sob.