Chapter 22

DELILAH

Derek enters the bedroom the next morning, his expression tense and suspicious. I can sense something is off right away.

"What's wrong? Did something happen?" I ask, already bracing myself for bad news.

He sits down on the bed beside me and nervously bites his lip.

"I got a job offer," he says after a moment.

"That's fantastic!" I exclaim, genuinely happy for him. But by the look on his face, I can tell there's more to the story.

"But..." I raise an eyebrow, knowing there must be a catch if he's not jumping for joy.

"It's not in Las Vegas," he says with a disappointed sigh, his shoulders slumping.

"So what? You'll just have to travel a bit for work. That's not too bad," I tell him, a lot of people have travel time to work. So he has to adjust his leaving the house time—no big deal.

Derek's expression darkens, his brows furrow and his lips tighten.

"It's in Illinois," he says, as if that explains everything.

My heart sinks. "No way," I say, shaking my head in disbelief. Derek and I had always talked about moving out of Las Vegas eventually, but I never imagined it would happen so soon or so far away.

"They offered me a great salary and benefits package. Starting at eighty grand a year with full insurance," he adds quickly, almost desperately.

I can't help but release a heavy sigh, my shock evident. "So, where is this dream job located in Illinois? Maybe they need someone for their marketing team," I joke half-heartedly, trying to mask my true feelings.

Derek pauses for a moment, inhaling deeply as he gathers his composure before locking eyes with me. "It's in Chicago."

I feel like the wind has been knocked out of me. "No."

He nods solemnly. "Roy reached out to me via email after seeing my resume on the hospitality site. He recognized my name and offered me the position on the spot without even conducting an interview."

I can't believe it. "This all seems highly suspicious. Did he offer you the job as a way to make amends for what Jonas said at dinner?"

Derek shakes his head. "I don't think so. From what I could gather, something happened at the company and they urgently need someone with my qualifications. They want me to start within two weeks and have agreed to cover all moving expenses and housing."

I feel a surge of anger toward Wells, Rhonda, Jonas, and Roy. They couldn't be bothered to reach out to Wells and get him to contact me, but they had time to scour the internet and offer Derek a job?

"You should accept," I tell him, my voice laced with bitterness.

Derek's eyes meet mine, filled with determination. "I won't go without you."

His unwavering loyalty touches me deeply, yet I can't help but feel frustrated by the situation.

"You can and you will. I was not invited, and I refuse to ride on your coattails. They said they wanted to keep in touch, but haven't said a single word to me."

"Delilah..." Derek says, his voice low and worried.

I try to push away the feeling of unease that creeps up my spine as I reassure him. "I'll be fine. Just promise me you'll come back if I go into labor."

"Maybe you should call them," he suggests. "They might be respecting your personal space, leaving it up to you to make the initial contact. They did come unannounced to our hotel room and invited you to dinner, which ended in a fight. Maybe they're waiting for you to make the next move."

Part of me wants to reach out and fix things, but the other part is reluctant to make the first move after our disastrous dinner.

"Maybe you're right. I'll call Wells."

But then again, maybe this is all just a ploy from Wells. Is he trying to get me closer to him by offering Derek a job in Chicago?

He squeezes my hand. "Maybe it's not what you think. Maybe it's just a coincidence."

I want to believe him—believe that everything will work out. But the nagging feeling in the pit of my stomach won't go away.

Derek gets up and leaves the room, leaving me alone with my thoughts.

"Call me if you need me. I'm gonna go make us some brunch."

After thinking it over, I'm going to try to reach out to Wells. Grabbing my phone off the charger on the nightstand, I pull up his contact and hit call.

But there is no answer.

I take a deep breath and try again.

Still nothing.

Feeling frustrated and anxious, I move on to my last resort: texting Rhonda.

Me: Hi Rhonda, it's Delilah. I've been trying to contact Wells but am having no luck. I'd like to speak to him about Roy offering Derek a job in Chicago. If this is his way of trying to get me closer to him, it's not going to work. I used to live alone and can certainly do so again.

My phone rings immediately, Rhonda's name popping up on the screen.