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“I didn’t know that!” she said, ashamed that she’d misread him so badly. “Even if I had, I don’t think that I would have done it. I can’t be responsible for something like that. It has to be your choice.” She squeezed his hand to disguise the trembling in her own. “Please tell me you’re not doing this for me.”
“I’m doing it for me.” He swiped his thumb under her lashes to catch the moisture collecting there. “I never wanted to be a doctor. I was only doing it to please my father. I would have been miserable.”
She wanted to believe him. So much. But she was terrified he was making a terrible mistake for the wrong reasons. She couldn’t be the person who kept him from going to medical school after he’d worked so hard to get there.
She sucked in a shaking breath. “What if I told you I didn’t want to see you anymore?”
He flinched, but his eyes remained locked on hers, and his voice was steady when he spoke. “I’d be crushed, but it wouldn’t change my decision to stay. I’m not meant for med school.”
Penny’s vision swam, blurring his beautiful face, and she let out a choking sob. “You’re really staying?”
His arms closed around her, dragging her into the sheltering warmth of his body. His lips met hers in a tender caress that quickly intensified into a fierce, heated, shattering kiss that left her gasping and lightheaded.
“I’m really staying,” he murmured against her lips.
She pulled back and punched him in the arm. Hard.
“Ow! What the hell?”
“Why didn’t you talk to me? You could have told me before you went to your parents!”
Caleb rubbed his arm where she’d landed her blow. “Honestly? I wasn’t a hundred percent sure I’d be able to stand up to my father. I didn’t want to say anything in case I caved under the pressure.”
She threw herself back into his arms. “I thought you wanted to break up with me. I had no idea you were thinking of this.”
“I’m sorry.” He lifted her chin and pressed his forehead against hers.
“I’m sorry that you had to face your father alone.” She gripped him tighter and shoved her face into his neck, breathing in the comforting, spicy-coffee scent of his skin. “I wish I could have been there for you.”
“You were. I just kept thinking about you, and you gave me strength.”
“I’m so glad you’re staying,” she said to his rough cheek. “You have no idea. I tried so hard not to get attached, but I failed miserably. I’m terrible at this.”
He smoothed his hand over her hair. “Me too.”
“How did your dad take it?” she asked, and felt him stiffen.
“Exactly as badly as I imagined.”
She pulled back to study him. “Are you okay?” His eyes skated away from hers, and she reached up to touch his cheek. “Tell me.”
“He said I wasn’t his son anymore and I wasn’t welcome in his house.”
“Oh my God. He didn’t mean it, did he?” It horrified her to imagine a parent could be so cold to their child. Especially when that child was as wonderful as Caleb.
He took a shaky breath. “It’s not the first time he’s said something like that. It’ll probably blow over eventually.” His jaw tightened. “Maybe. I don’t even care. It’s my life. If he’s not willing to let me live it the way I want to, I don’t need him.”
“He’s your father.”
“Not much of one.”
“What about your mother?”
“She didn’t say anything. She never does.”
Penny pressed her palm against Caleb’s cheek and kissed the corner of his mouth. “I’m so sorry.”
His eyes closed. “It doesn’t matter.”
