Page 59 of Every Star that Shines

He smiled. “Yeah. I get to fix people’s problems all day and work with my hands. I get most of my evenings and weekends off. And it’s a steady paycheque. Those are all pretty appealing things.”

“Well, I suppose you could get a job as an electrician in Vancouver. People use electricity there, I’ve heard. Did you talk to Monica about Emma yet?”

“Yeah. About that . . .” He rubbed both hands down his chin and drew a breath to steel himself against the reaction he knew he would get to what he was about to say. “Monica’s moving to Brampton, Ontario with Dave, and she’s taking Emma with her. Which means I might have to move to Ontario.”

When he looked in her eyes, it was about as bad as he had expected. Her expression had gone as hard and flat as granite.

“So you’re choosing her over me again.”

“Her, who? Emma?”

“No. Monica.” Delanie’s face grew red.

He shook his head. “No, Delanie. I’m not choosing anyone over you. But Emma is my daughter. I thought you understood that she’s my priority.”

Tears brimmed in her eyes. “It doesn’t matter. There’s always someone else who’s a priority over me. Emma, Monica, your dad. I just want you to choose me first for once, Caleb.”

He gaped. “And what about you? When have you ever chosen me or the people you care about over your career? You’re not even staying until the play production finishes.”

A tear slid down her cheek, and she leaned closer, lowering her voice. “I thought you wanted me to pursue a career as an actress. You told me you believe in me.”

“I do!” he said too loudly, attracting attention from the workers behind the counter and the people a few tables over. He took a breath and spoke more calmly. “I do. And I don’t want to have to choose between you and Emma, but unless you want to come to Ontario with me or Monica changes her mind, I’m going to have to. And it sucks. But I don’t want you to have to choose either. I just don’t know what to do. I can’t figure out a way to make this work.” He took her hand. “But I promise you, Delanie. I will. We will. This time, we have to.”

She studied him, then shook her head and pulled her hand from his. “No, Caleb. We’re just lying to ourselves. There’s no way we can be together without one or both of us giving up something we love. And I don’t want that. I don’t want either of us to resent the other for what we gave up to be together.” She gathered her purse into her lap. “Maybe it’s time we just called this thing off for good.”

Caleb’s heart slammed into this throat. “So you’re just going to leave again? Go to Vancouver without me?”

“Yeah, I guess I am.” She looked at him sadly. “At least we tried.”

“Did you, though?” He narrowed his eyes at her, his old wound bleeding and raw. “I should have known you wouldn’t give us a fair shot. Maybe you’re right, Delanie. Maybe we have been lying to ourselves.”

Her jaw fell open and she stared at him. She looked like she wanted to speak but couldn’t, just like she had when Amber had confronted her during that first meeting. This time, though, he wasn’t going to help her out. After a few seconds, she got up and slung her purse over her shoulder.

“Goodbye, Caleb.”

She got all the way to the door before she turned around. When she reached him again, she said with a stony expression, “I came with you. Would you take me home now, please?”

In any other circumstance, he would have laughed. But not today.

Today, his laughter was drowned by the pain pouring from his broken heart.

Without a word, he grabbed his keys and followed her out the door.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

“I can’t believe Josh Rosenburg wants you back,” Desmond said.

His and Marie’s faces spanned Delanie’s laptop monitor. The laptop itself was currently perched on her legs, which, in turn, were extended in front of her on her bed and covered with some very comfy pink microfleece lounge pants. She was glad her friends couldn’t see the worn and faded pink bunny slippers she also wore, which she always left at her parents’ for when she visited—and because they were actually pretty hideous, what with one of them missing an eye and the other one needing a popped seam repaired. But desperate times called for desperate measures. She probably should have cared more that her friends had caught her in her PJs at one o’clock on a Friday afternoon, but she couldn’t muster the energy. Ever since her disaster of a coffee date with Caleb on Tuesday, she’d been lucky to get her hair into a messy bun unless she was leaving the house.

“I can,” Marie said. “I just can’t believe Delanie’s going to do it.”

Delanie made a face. “It’s not like I’m going to date him again, Marie, just rejoin the cast of Trueheart. It’s my best shot at getting back to where I was when this whole mess began. After everything that’s happened, I kind of think I have to, don’t you?”

“You most definitely do not,” she snapped. “And I think you need to question whether you even should. Going back says I don’t have any options but to tuck tail and return to the hand that bit me.”

Desmond rolled his eyes. “And not going back says I prefer eating ramen every night for the rest of my life to acting like a mature adult.”

Delanie gave a hollow chuckle. Desmond’s comment poked the welt left by Caleb’s words about giving up too quickly, something she’d been wondering if she had done once again on Tuesday. She had gotten used to being the mature one in her dating relationships. But would a mature adult have demanded Caleb give up a life with his daughter in order to support her in her career in the arts?

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