When he reached the building he wasn’t ready to go into the board meeting, so he parked himself on a brass bench in the lobby, thinking about tonight, and what he’d planned for her. If Ethan was right, he was the ultimate chump.

But then, another voice spoke up. A louder voice. That of his sister in the park, saying you have to make a choice to move into the future.

It was that simple.

That easy.

That important.

He took a deep breath, reminding himself that he wasn’t the same person who had been blindsided by Joanna. Casey wasn’t Joanna. Nate didn’t have to act on this anger. He didn’t have to call her furiously and demand an answer. He had made a choice to trust her, and that meant not flying off the handle. That also meant he needed to call her, tell her what had happened, and ask her what she thought. Calmly. Carefully.

He stripped the anger from his voice, he let go of his pride, and he decided to do what they’d pledged to do the night they returned to each other in the Maldives.

Dirty talking, and sexy talking, and honest talking.

It was a time to be honest and to speak the truth.

When she answered, he heard the rattle of a subway train leaving the station.

“Hey! I’m downtown and heading back to work. The connection here is terrible,” she said.

What a shitty time to have this conversation. But even so, he had to do it. “Hey. So I just met with Ethan Holmes and he seemed to think you were doing a deal with him, then with the Pierson for your new product. He went on and on about how he pitched it to you and you stole it from him or something,” Nate said, and he felt terribly vulnerable saying these words. He felt stripped naked as if he were admitting his fears to her. But he pressed on. “He’s crazy, right?”

“What the hell?” she shouted. “He said that?”

Nate shared more of the conversation, keeping his tone even, his voice free of accusation. “He made a few comments that made it seem as if you and he had talked, then he showed me an email,” he said, then he stopped himself. He hadn’t seen the entire email. He’d only seen a few words. “Actually, it was a line or two about exploring possibilities.”

“Oh!” she shouted, seething, her anger coming through loud and clear. “He pitched me on an idea. I didn’t look at it right away, and when I finally did I was already doing the deal with you. And, for the record, it was my idea to work with you. I didn’t steal it from him. Besides, his pitch was for another product, and his tagline was terrible. But I was going to put him in touch with Good Vibes. That’s what I meant by exploring possibilities. On top of that, I’m not even in talks with the Pierson.”