Page 70 of Every Star that Shines

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Delanie sat in her car, the ache of another long day on the road tightening her shoulders, and stared up at her parents’ front door. Going in there meant telling her mom that she had been fired from Trueheart again. That her grand plan to fix her life hadn’t lasted three days. It meant facing the smug judgement in Cheryl’s eyes.

“So I’m just going to sit here?” she said aloud. “After driving eleven hours?”

She snorted and rolled her eyes at herself. She climbed out of the car into a light layer of snow and pulled her suitcase from the hatchback.

Her father met her at the door, already wearing his coat and boots. “I thought I heard a vehicle. What are you doing home, sweetheart?”

When she threw her arms around him and held onto him like her life depended on it, he wrapped her in a strong hug.

“Hey, now. It will be okay.” He stroked her hair.

“Delanie?” came Cheryl’s voice.

Delanie released her father and stepped back to see her mother staring at her in shock from the kitchen entrance.

“Why are you back so soon? Did you get some time off already?” Her face brightened hopefully. “Did you talk to Caleb?”

Delanie smiled and sniffled at the same time. “You could say I have time off. A lot of time off. I got fired again.”

“Why?” Bill asked.

“Because I wouldn’t date Josh, the director.”

“Your ex-boyfriend?” Cheryl frowned in disapproval, but not of Delanie. She came over and silently wrapped her daughter in a hug. “He didn’t deserve you anyway.”

“I know,” said Delanie into her mother’s shoulder, smiling through tears that now flowed freely, streaming as much from her mother’s surprising sensitivity as the sting of the loss of the career opportunity.

Cheryl released her. “You take off your coat while I go put on a kettle for tea.”

Delanie nodded. “Okay, Mom.”

Cheryl smiled, then disappeared back into the kitchen.

Bill gripped her arms and met her gaze. “You know you can stay here as long as you need to, right?”

“Thanks, Dad.” She smiled at him.

He gave a firm nod as though putting the final seal on an agreement, then released her. “I was just on my way out to the shop to change the oil in your mother’s car,” he said apologetically. “Do you want me to stay?”

Delanie waved him off. “I’m fine. That’s all my news, anyway.”

He frowned briefly. “It is? Hmm. Okay. See you when I get back in.” He kissed her temple, then, with one last look, went outside.

When Delanie went into the kitchen, the electric kettle was at a hard boil, but her mother was nowhere to be seen. The button on the kettle popped, and Delanie poured water into the brightly striped ceramic teapot waiting next to it. She inhaled a fruity herbal—not her usual poison, but probably a smart choice for this late in the evening.

She had just finished transferring the teapot, mugs, and fixings to the sturdy farmhouse table and sat down when her mother bustled into the room, carrying a large worn shoebox.

“Sorry that took me so long,” she said. “I forgot where I put this.”

“What’s in there?” Delanie peered at the familiar-looking box. Where had she seen it before?

Cheryl set it on the table and pushed it toward Delanie with a nostalgic smile as she sat down. “Love letters that Nan and Pops wrote each other. I found them in one of the boxes we put in the basement. I thought you might want to have them.”

Curious, Delanie removed the lid and peered inside. The letters had been bundled into neat packages of a dozen or so and tied together with brown string. They filled the box from end to end.

“That’s a lot of letters. I didn’t realize Nan and Pops had been apart this much.”

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