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Deep furrows sprouted across his forehead. “I don’t want to lose you.”
That was something, anyway. A nice consolation prize.
Her shoulders sagged as she exhaled an unsteady breath. “I don’t want to lose you either.”
“Then ask me to stay.”
Her lips parted in surprise. She stared. “What?”
His eyes were unwavering and clear. “Ask me to stay.”
A painful knot twisted in her stomach. “I can’t.” No matter how much she might want to, she could never do that to him.
“Yes, you can.”
She shook her head. “You have to go.”
“What if I didn’t?”
“What are you talking about?”
He took a step toward her. “If there was a way I could stay, would you want me to?”
She opened her mouth, then closed it again, not sure what to say to that. Afraid to let herself hope there was a chance. “How?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“It does matter. This is your life we’re talking about. Your career.”
Impatience flared across his face. “Just answer the question. Hypothetically, would you want me to stay?”
Tears burned in her eyes, and she looked down to hide them from him. “Of course I would.”
His hand closed on hers. “I’m not going to medical school.”
The room tilted around her as she jerked her head up. “What?”
A heart-stopping smile lit his face. “I don’t want to go, so I’m not.”
He actually sounded serious. Penny yanked her hand out of his grasp. “You can’t do that. That’s crazy.”
His smile slipped. “It’s done. That’s why I went home this weekend. To tell my parents I wasn’t going.”
“Wait. That’s why you went home?” Her head spun as she tried to grasp what he was telling her. “When did you decide all this?”
His gaze dropped to the floor and he shifted his feet. “I’ve been thinking about it for a long time. But I made up my mind last week.”
“Last week? Why didn’t you tell me?”
The look he gave her was accusing. “I told you I was having regrets.”
“I thought it was just last-minute nerves.”
“I was hoping you’d tell me to stay. But you didn’t.” The hurt in his eyes broke her heart in two.
She reached for his hand again, twining her fingers around his. “Of course I didn’t—I couldn’t do that to you. You think I didn’t want to?” Her voice shook with emotion. She cradled his hand in both of hers and brought it to her lips. “It would have been selfish to try to talk you out of your dream.”
Caleb lifted his other hand to her face, skimming his fingertips over her cheek. “It was never my dream. I wanted to be talked out of it.”
