Promising myself I wouldn’t break down, I lowered myself onto the bed. “Whitney’s okay, I think. But I might not be.” I caught her up on everything that had happened—how Henry and I had only grown closer over the last week, how I’d assured Whitney we were only friends, how he’d asked me for more last night and I’d been so excited, how we’d been kissing outside the barn when the kids discovered us because we wouldn’t be able to kiss at midnight.

“Wow,” she said. “So it was just really bad timing, huh?”

“Yes.” I fit my thumbnails together. “But maybe it was meant to happen like that.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, it was probably crazy to think about a new relationship so fast anyway. I need to focus on getting the kids in school, finding a house, getting a job . . .”

“I thought you were going to work in the winery. That’s what Chloe said last night, that she was going to start training you to take over as manager.”

I shrugged. “I mean, maybe. I’d like that, but I’m not sure if Henry will want me around.”

Frannie was silent for a moment, and I couldn’t bring myself to look her in the eye.

“Does that mean you’re completely breaking things off with him?”

“I have to.”

“Because of Whitney?”

“Yes.” I felt her stare burning into me. “And because in the long run, big picture, I’m not right for Henry.”

“Sylvia. Look at me.”

Reluctantly, I dragged my eyes up to hers. “What?”

“I fully understand that Whitney needs time to get used to the idea of moving here, and feeling like she belongs, and seeing you with a man that’s not her dad. Mack said as much to Henry last night as well, since he’s gone through it with his girls. But why on earth would you think you couldn’t be right for Henry? He’s seriously crazy about you—you’re crazy about each other. I could see it last night. Everyone could.”

“Because we’re at different places in our lives,” I said, going with the strongest reason I’d come up with last night. “He wants children. I’ve already had mine.”

She crossed her arms. “Yeah, Mack tried that excuse with me too, and I called bullshit. So try again.”

“You’re not even thirty yet, Frannie. I’m going on forty. And . . . I’ve never really talked about this before, but I’ve got infertility problems. My eggs are bad quality. I had to have IVF twice to get pregnant.”

Her face registered surprise, but she quickly recovered. “I’m sorry to hear that. But I still don’t get why it’s a reason you can’t give Henry a chance. He doesn’t want to date your eggs. He wants to date you.”