She shook her head slowly, a tear leaking down her cheek. “I wanted to hear from you. I kept wishing you’d call. It felt like—like you didn’t care.”

Hudson closed his eyes again, just for a moment, his face a mask of regret. “That is … that’s not at all how I felt.” His voice was tight, controlled.

“I still don’t understand,” Annika said, brushing the tear off her cheek. “You were so different in Vegas. The guy I met there didn’t even have Break Up in his mind. So … why? Why did you change your mind?”

Hudson held her gaze. The way the fading sunlight was coming in through the windows, his eyes seemed to glow green-gold. “You.”

Annika shook her head, frowning. “I don’t understand.”

“It was you. Don’t you remember how we left things?”

Annika woke up and rolled onto her side. Hudson lay sleeping beside her, one arm tucked under his head, his other flung over her waist. Already, she was learning him. Already, she knew that if she slid out of bed before seven o’clock, he wouldn’t stir.

She was usually a morning person. Seeing the sunlight filtering through the curtains generally filled her with delight. But not today. She knew what today meant. She knew it meant goodbye.

She and Hudson hadn’t discussed what their summer dalliance meant, or whether they were going to see each other again. She wanted to; she thought about it all the time, what it might be like back in LA with him, having coffee together in her favorite coffee shop or going to a concert over the weekend. But she knew what she felt was one-sided. He’d never brought up the future. She, on the other hand, was the hopeless romantic—the one who always fell too fast, and too hard. She was a first-date girl, not the one men wanted to date for any length of time. And she just couldn’t face that rejection again. Not from Hudson Craft.

Besides, they were both young professionals, busy with apps they wanted to launch into the world within the next year. Annika knew what this meant as well as he did: This week was all they had. Seven days; no more, no less. And now it was over. She and her foolish heart would take a long time to get over this, and she might never have another week like the one she’d spent with him ever again. But Hudson would move on. He’d forget about her soon enough.

Reaching over carefully, she planted a kiss on the corner of his mouth. He didn’t stir. She thought for a moment, and then wrote him a note on the pad on the nightstand.

“This was fun. I wish you well. Annika x”