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Penny FaceTimed with her mother almost every week, but her father didn’t like to talk on the phone. Occasionally, he’d wander through the room when her mother was talking to her and say hi, but video calls made him even more uncomfortable than the phone. Instead, he sent Penny long weekly emails touching on a range of topics, including politics, the antics of their neighbors, the latest documentary he’d watched on TV, and any new bird sightings he’d made on his morning walks.
Caleb smoothed a hand over her hair and she burrowed deeper into his arms. “He tells lots of dad jokes,” she said, smiling faintly. “He’s really big into the dad jokes.”
“What’s he do for a living?”
“He’s a chemical engineer too.”
“You wanted to be like him.”
“I wanted to be like both my parents, but a chemical engineering major seemed more lucrative than English. Also, I didn’t want to have to write all those papers.”
“You said your mom’s a teacher, right?”
“High school English and German.”
“Ich spreche ein bisschen Deutsch,” he said in an impressive German accent.
Penny looked up, surprised. “You speak German?”
He shrugged. “Just enough to get me in trouble. We lived in Germany when I was in middle school.”
“My mom would love you. She’d talk to you in nothing but German.” Between this and his taste in books, she’d be calling him “son” within ten minutes of meeting him.
Except her mother would never meet him. Penny hadn’t even told her parents he existed. What was the point, when he’d be out of her life soon? No sense getting her mother’s hopes up, only to crush them again. She wouldn’t approve of what Penny was doing, anyway. She’d think she was setting herself up to get hurt. Which was exactly what she was doing.
Penny’s throat squeezed again and Caleb kissed the top of her head. “Your parents sound nice.”
“They are.”
“You must miss them.”
“It was hard moving here, so far away from them.”
“Why did you?”
She shook her head. “It’s your turn again.” He’d finally struck on something she didn’t want to talk about.
“Penelope.” He put a finger under her jaw and tilted her face toward his. “Why did you move out here? If you telework anyway, why move so far away from your family?”
She lowered her eyes, embarrassed. “For a man.”
“What happened?”
“I thought I was in love. So when he wanted to move here to pursue acting, I followed him—stupidly, as it turned out. He moved out here ahead of me while I was still waiting for my telework application to be approved. I was so excited. It was supposed to be the start of our new lives together. But when I got out here a couple months later, I found out he’d started seeing someone else. An actress, of course.” Penny still couldn’t believe that Brendon had let her move out here instead of breaking up with her before she disrupted her entire life for him. Even that one small consideration had been too much for him. “He dumped me a month after I got here.” She felt Caleb go still, and flinched in anticipation of his pity. “Don’t feel sorry for me. I hate it when people feel sorry for me.”
“I don’t.” He lifted her chin again and regarded her steadily. “I feel sorry for that asshole who didn’t know how lucky he was to have you.” There wasn’t a trace of pity in his soft brown eyes. Only affection.
“Now you’re just sucking up.”
“I’m serious. Any guy who’d cheat on you must not be working with a fully charged battery. Including that loser Kenneth.”
Penny sighed and laid her head down on his chest. “Unfortunately, cheating boyfriends are a recurring theme in my life.”
“So why didn’t you move back home?” Caleb asked, changing the subject.
“Stubbornness.” Her fingers toyed with the light dusting of hair on his chest. “Running back to Virginia with my tail between my legs would have been admitting to everyone I’d made a mistake. I wanted to prove I could make it on my own in a new city.”
Penny had promised herself she’d give it two years. That was long enough that she wouldn’t look like a quitter. After two years in Los Angeles, she could consider applying for a supervisory position back in DC. Or maybe even transfer to Dallas. There was a satellite office there now that was always looking for Chem-Es. She could start over in a new city of her own choosing this time.
