“Argentina is, of course, prone to a number of natural disasters, from earthquakes to floods, but the flooding from this storm is without a doubt the worst that this country has seen in recent years. We have yet to receive even a preliminary death toll, but it’s sure to be well into the hundreds, if not thousands . . .”

The pictures and cellphone videos that kept playing on repeat were truly dreadful. I shuddered to think of all these poor villagers who hadn’t even known that a big storm was coming, or the people in the cities and towns who had chosen to stay because they had nowhere else to go—or because by the time they knew that the storm was going to be a big one (the biggest one on record) the roads were already closed and it was too late.

No one could even predict how long it would be before running water and other services were available in the more remote areas. Infrastructure had been lacking even before this storm had blown through most of the power lines and buried the roads. At the moment, the only way to bring aid to the area was through helicopters, but with the storm still raging, even that was proving difficult.

“Medical supplies, water, food,” I muttered under my breath. “Tents and blankets.” I started compiling a mental list of what we could contribute. Given the donations that we’d brought in at the benefit, we were able to offer a lot—even if it meant dipping into the funds that we had earmarked for later in the year . . . Well, those funds had been earmarked for something just like this.

“Cancel that trip to Nepal,” I realized suddenly. That was no longer our top priority. I had medical training as well as training in aid distribution and shelter construction. They could use me on the ground there, and I had to be ready to go on the next available flight.

Already, I headed for my home office, pulling my phone out of my pocket, hardly remembering that I had guests over. I was sure they knew exactly what I was doing, and none of them would be offended. This was the important work that their donations had been made for, after all.

I sat at my desk, flicking on the news radio and listening with half an ear as I booted up my computer and started making calls to everyone I knew who could help get me down to Argentina post-haste.

Just as I started talking to Tanner—a guy I knew who frequently flew aid flights down to various places in Latin America for the airline he worked for—Oliver came up behind me and kissed my ear lightly, putting his arms around me.

I shrugged him off, inwardly fuming. Didn’t he see that this wasn’t the time for that? Sure, not too long ago, my body had been begging him for more, but that was before all of this. This was a time of tragedy; there were bigger things to think about. I didn’t need his distractions.

“What the hell?” I said after leaving a message for Tanner.

Oliver held up both hands. “Hey, chill out, would you? Everyone else has left. I volunteered to stay behind and clean up a little.”

“This isn’t cleaning up,” I snapped.

“I know,” Oliver said. He moved behind me and began to knead at my shoulders. “You’re so tense,” he said, surprised.

“Oliver,” I said warningly.

Oliver leaned down and started kissing my neck again. “I know you’re busy, but can’t you take a little break?” he asked. “Nothing’s going to happen overnight anyway.”

“The first few days after any tragedy are the most critical,” I told him, my tone short.

“And you’re the only person who’s jumping to action to help the good people of Argentina?” Oliver asked sarcastically.

I craned my neck so that I could look at him. “Given that it’s mostly your money that we’ll be using to help out with this, I would have thought you’d be more understanding of their plight,” I told him. “Or are you only worried about the poor orphans? You realize how many young children were probably affected by this? How many parents lost their kids as well? How many people still have no drinking water, or lights, or blankets, or anything else?”

“I know, I know,” Oliver said, giving a long-suffering sigh. “And they’ve lost everything, they have no futures without your help, and they need your medical supplies too, I’m sure.”

“They do!” I said, wondering how I could have had him so wrong. I’d somehow, mistakenly thought that the playboy attitude was something that he just put on for the press. I’d thought I’d started to see a caring side of him. But apparently I’d only seen the person that he’d wanted me to see. He wasn’t kind at all. He couldn’t be more different from me, in fundamental ways.

“You know what, I think it would be best if you just leave,” I told Oliver. “I have a lot of work to do, and I don’t need any distractions.”

“Oh, is that all I am?” Oliver asked. For the first time, I could hear anger in his voice as well. “I’m just a distraction. You know, I thought you were playing hard to get, but now I realize what kind of game this really is. You think you’re the cat and I’m the mouse. That you can just bat me around whenever you’re bored. Well, I’m not interested in playing that game.”

“You’re the one who seems to think that all relationships are about playing,” I snarled. “Are you ever serious? But of course you’re not, because in order to be serious, you would have to find something you cared about enough to be serious.”

“And if it’s not the health of a hundred random locals in a city you’ve never been to, then what could a person possibly be serious about?” Oliver asked mockingly.

I stared at him, shocked to hear those words even come out of his mouth. I shook my head. “I’ve heard people say some horrible things, but that . . .” I swallowed around the lump in my throat, wondering wildly if I was starting to cry because I felt sorry for him or because I felt sorry for myself for having fallen for such an obvious ass.

“I think you should leave,” I said again, quietly this time. I could feel tears stinging my eyes.

Oliver sighed. “Sophia, you know I don’t mean—“

“I think you should leave,” I repeated, firmer now. “It’s clear that the two of us have completely different viewpoints, and this just isn’t going to work out.” I gave a bitter laugh. “Anyway, you’ve already had sex with me. Isn’t it time for you to move on to the next girl now? We all know that all you care about is the chase.”

Oliver paused, looking as though there was something else that he wanted to say. Actually, if I looked too closely at his face, I’d swear he looked as though I’d strode across the room and slapped him. But finally, he shook his head and left, closing the door behind him.

As soon as he was gone, I collapsed back in my seat, trying my hardest not to cry. I wasn’t going to cry over him. He didn’t care at all about other people, clearly. Didn’t he see that it didn’t matter if you knew who those people were or not?

But I sensed there was something deeper to it, something that he had been saying without saying. I just couldn’t seem to puzzle out what it was. I didn’t have time to fall to pieces, thinking about what he might have meant.

I took a deep breath and pulled myself together. There was a lot of work to do, and it was going to be a long enough night without thinking about him. I turned to the app on my phone that let me deal with first responders who were already in the area and got to work as a dispatcher, directing aid workers towards people who called in the most dreadful situations. If I couldn’t be on the ground there yet, at least I could do some good.

I’d be on the ground soon enough, I promised myself.