Page 42 of Every Star that Shines

Caleb met her gaze and blinked. “Yeah? I mean, great.”

He smiled, and Delanie’s breath caught in her throat. He’d always had a great smile. And those eyes—amber brown accentuated by the green of his plaid flannel shirt. He was the same old Caleb, and she kind of loved that. Except, apparently, he was now a hobbyist barista.

“Caleb?” came a woman’s voice from up the aisle.

Delanie turned to see Monica and Emma coming toward them. She wasn’t sure if she was disappointed or relieved at the interruption.

“Hi, Miss Fletcher!” Emma said with a wide grin as Monica moved close to Caleb to talk to him without having to shout.

Tearing her gaze away from Monica and Caleb, who looked close enough to kiss, Delanie leaned over to talk to the little girl and pasted on a smile. “Hi, Emma. How did rehearsal go downstairs?”

“Great! I was practising my scene with Luigi and Claudia, the one when they capture Lucy to try and make her tell them where Pinocchio is, but then she tricks them and gets away. It’s so much fun!” She bounced a little.

Violet looked up from the notes she had been reviewing at her conductor’s music stand and smiled at the little dark-haired girl. “Emma is doing a great job with her lines and her songs. Lucy is a tough role, but she’s working hard, and it shows.”

Delanie smiled. “That doesn’t surprise me at all.”

Beaming, Emma went to sit in the front row with the other younger kids. Delanie turned back to Monica and Caleb in time to see him nodding in response to something she’d asked.

“Of course I can take Emma, no problem,” he said. “Oh, wait.” He glanced over at Delanie guiltily. “Monica got called in to work, and Dave is out of town. She needs someone to watch Emma for a couple of hours.”

“Oh!” Delanie blinked. “Of course. We can have our coffee another time.”

Monica looked sharply at Delanie, who took another sip from her mug—which was branded with the Martens Electric logo—and turned away.

“Thanks, Caleb,” she heard Monica say. “I should be there soon after eight.”

“Anytime.”

Delanie glanced back at Monica in time to catch a piercing stare thrown in her direction before the woman turned up the aisle to leave.

Caleb came over. “I’m sorry, Delanie. I really wanted to spend some time with you.”

“No problem,” Delanie said with a dismissive wave. “It’s your daughter. Not like we’d had this in the works for weeks or anything.”

His frown looked somewhat pained. “No, but . . . say, do you want to come over for supper with me and Emma? It might just be pizza by the time we get out of here, but we could play a board game after. She’s been getting into Settlers of Catan lately.”

“She plays Settlers of Catan already?”

Caleb nodded. “She’s good, too. Careful, or she’ll kick your keester.”

Delanie chuckled, then bit the inside of her cheek. The irrational sense of rejection she had felt when Caleb had so quickly changed his plans for the sake of Emma shifted into something more akin to fear—what did it mean that he wanted her to come over and hang out with the two of them all evening?

Still, the only socializing she’d had for the last week had been over video chat or with her parents. As fun as it had been to watch The King and I with her mom the night before, a night away from her parents—and a distraction from her self-recriminating thoughts—sounded like a wonderful idea. And Caleb sounded like he truly wanted her to come, that he wasn’t just offering out of guilt.

“Sure. I’d love to.”

“Yeah?” Caleb’s face lit up again, leaving no doubt that the invitation had been sincerely given. “Cool. Um.” He glanced at Emma, who was tapping her feet up and down to a fast-paced song only she could hear, then back at Delanie, looking like he was trying to stifle a grin—and losing the battle. He nodded for no particular reason. “Right. I better go see how Noel’s doing backstage.”

“And I have a rehearsal to lead.” Delanie indicated the now-crowded auditorium, hoping she didn’t sound as breathless as she felt.

“Yeah. Cool,” Caleb said again, then spun and strode off through the double doors to return to his set-building.

Delanie watched him go, her heart bouncing as rapidly as Emma’s toes.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Delanie laid two small blue sticks along the lines on the colourful game board and gazed triumphantly around Caleb’s snug dining nook at Caleb and Emma. “There, a road. Now I can finally build another town thingie.”

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