I stepped toward him, grabbing his arm. He moved his phone away. “Is everything okay?” he asked, a concerned look spreading over his face. “Your mom?”

“Do not cancel your work trip for me.” My voice was firmer than I’d expected. I sounded mad. I was mad.

He put the phone back up. “Hey, I’ll call you right back,” he said, and then turned all his attention to me. “Franny, what’s going on?”

“I cannot be the reason you don’t go to Seattle.” I crossed my arms over my chest.

“You don’t get to decide that,” he said, mirroring me. “There’s no way I’m going to make my flight now. And I’d rather be here with you.”

“I can’t let you do that,” I said, shaking my head at him. Why was he being so stubborn? “You can’t cancel an investor meeting that affects your whole company, just because of me.”

“Franny,” he said, giving me a hard stare. “First of all, I can do whatever I damn well please.”

I opened my mouth, ready to snap at him, but he spoke before I could get a word in.

“Look…” He paused, his eyes darting across my face. “I screwed up my last relationship because of work. And”—he sighed, lifted a hand, and dug it into the back of his neck—“I really don’t want to do that again.”

“Well, then I’ll do it. Whatever this is between us, it ends now.” My voice had gotten higher, louder. I was almost yelling. “I need to be here for my mom,” I continued. “I blew her off, and I lied to her, just so I could stay in bed and sleep with you, and look what happened. I almost lost her today.”

“Us being together didn’t cause your mom to have a heart attack.” His voice was calm but cold. “You said you wanted to be with me.”

“Well, I wish I hadn’t,” I said. “I was stupid for even thinking we could be a thing. We’re nothing alike.”

He winced. My words had done something—something I didn’t quite understand, but I knew that I’d hurt him.

I threw up my hands. I was unraveling. “And I still need to figure out what the hell I’m doing with my career and my business, when I have no jobs lined up and no money coming in.”

His eyes scanned my face, trying to find a crack of clarity somewhere. “I thought your business was going well. You’ve been turning people away. You said so. In that interview—”