I drove back to Vance and Maggie's through a blur of tears, wiping my eyes as fast as I could so I didn’t run off the road. Once I was parked safely in their driveway, I gave in, sobbing until my nose was running and my eyes were red and blotchy.

I’ve never been a pretty crier. I cleaned myself up as best I could with a baby wipe, stocked in my glovebox thanks to Rosie. I couldn't do anything about my puffy eyes, but at least I didn't have mascara streaked down my cheeks.

I let myself in the front door only forty-five minutes after I'd left, and I heard Vance and Maggie arguing in hushed voices down the hall. I didn't want to interrupt, but I knew better than to look for Rosie without letting them know I was in the house.

Vance and Maggie were older than Holden and Jo, but when it came to messing around, they were just as likely as the younger couple to be caught in a compromising position. After the second time I'd walked in on them, I'd gone for the rudeness of interrupting over being in the house without them knowing.

I walked down the hall to their office, almost stopping when I heard Noah's name.

Maggie said, "Vance, I'm just not comfortable with these allegations. After that lawsuit, it doesn't look good. We have other options, and his software isn't a proven commodity."

"No, and it might never be. But I think the allegations are bullshit. And this Philip guy? I don't trust him at all. Going after Noah like this? It doesn't make Philip look very stable."

"I agree, Philip isn't the issue. But there are people backing him up, and the last thing we want is our name attached to someone who's guilty of stealing intellectual property. We could be liable."

"Not if we can prove we weren't aware of any wrongdoing," Vance countered.

"The damage would be done," Maggie argued. "You're going on your gut here."

"And you’re being too practical, sugar."

I didn't have to see Maggie's face to know she was scowling at Vance. She loved to pretend she hated the nickname Sugar Magnolia, but I suspected she secretly loved it. I stepped into the doorway of the office, drawing both of their attention.

Before they could speak, I said quietly, “If it helps, I can guarantee that Noah never stole anything from Philip Martin. Not from Philip, and not from anyone else. He's one of the most ethical men I know. When we were in school, he was always voted to lead teams because the other students knew he'd never take credit for their work. Unlike Philip."

"Then why is Philip Martin going after him this way?” Maggie asked. "I know you know Noah better than we do, Ella, but it's also possible that you're not seeing him clearly. You have a lot of history. And Philip Martin has said some damaging things."

"I know he has. But Philip is a little crazy when it comes to Noah. He always has been. He's had this stupid one-sided competition with Noah since college, always needing to beat him. The more he failed, the more driven he was to even things up."

"That's not rational," Maggie said.

"I know. He called me this afternoon to tell me he was taking care of getting Noah out of Atlanta. I can understand you not wanting to get mixed up in this. And I'm not trying to tell you your business. But if you think Noah is dishonest, I can swear to you that he's not. And if you want to talk to a few people with solid reputations who know him well enough to vouch for him, I'll give you names and numbers. Half the professors at Tech will tell you all you need to know about Noah."

"I've talked to a number of them already," Vance said. "They back you up all the way. He's a leader, ethical, and several of them said—off the record—that there's no way Philip Martin could've come up with the code Noah used to start Endicott Tech. Plus, Philip Martin is an asshole."

"You're not wrong about that," I agreed. "Has he called you?"

"About fifty times. I've only answered twice, but that was more than enough. Noah's coming here at four thirty for a meeting."

Correctly reading my face, Maggie said, “It didn't go well?"

I shook my head. "If I stay upstairs with Rosie when he's here, will you not tell him that I'm around? I don't want to see him right now."

Vance studied me, his sharp blue eyes catching the signs of my tears. "What did he do?"

"Nothing. He didn't do anything." I thought about dinner the night before, the flowers, and the sushi. Noah enrolling me in school and paying my tuition.

He’d done a lot, and all of it was wonderful.

I didn't want to tell Vance and Maggie the details. I hadn't begun to think about how to handle my job with them if I was going back to school.

"He went out of his way to show me how much I mean to him. But his priority has to be his company right now, and coming in second-place is what broke us up the first time. I told him it's over."

"What did he say?" Maggie asked.

"He's not very happy with me. I'd rather not see him before he goes back to California."

Seeming to make some internal decision he didn't share, Vance leaned forward and said, "That's cool. Maggie's got an appointment, and I have to run over to the gallery, but I'll be back by three thirty. We don't need you here for the meeting with Noah. We can handle Rosie. Why don't you plan to head home when I get back?"

"Thank you," I said, relieved. I'd already been through one crying fit today. I could do without another.

Fortunately for me, Rosie was a sweetheart for the rest of the afternoon. When she woke up from her post-lunch nap, I took her and Scout on a long walk that ended in the backyard, where Rosie practiced her walking skills.

Scout, who loved his little mistress even when she wasn’t slipping him food, stood beside her, his short legs putting his back at the perfect height for her hand as she took one wobbling step after another.

It blew my mind how much she’d grown since I’d first started watching her. From barely rolling over and making incoherent baby sounds to walking and talking. I hoped I could figure out a way to go back to school and still work part-time as Rosie’s nanny. I couldn't wait to see what the next year would bring.

Watching her leaning into Scout, resting her legs as she stroked his soft ear, I had a flash of another baby, this one with dark hair and bittersweet chocolate eyes. I didn’t think of having kids often, but I’d always planned on it. And when I imagined those future babies, they always looked like Noah. Even when we’d been broken up, I hadn’t been able to picture a child that wasn’t Noah’s.

We still had a chance, didn’t we? I’d told him we needed to be apart for a while, but not forever. Remembering the look on his face when he told me I was running, I wasn’t so sure he agreed.

He would once he had a chance to think things through. He’d get back to California, get sucked into the chaos of Endicott Tech, and realize that I’d been right.

Now wasn’t the right time for us. I’d rather let him go than have him forget me again.

When will be the right time?

I didn’t want to look ahead, but I couldn’t stop myself. If he was too busy for me now, what would happen when the company took off, and they were working like crazy to fill orders and expand? Or if Noah failed and he had to start over? Would he have more time then?

With a sinking heart, I realized there might never be a right time.

Or maybe, the right time was up to us, and I’d just completely messed everything up.

No, I hadn’t.

I’d looked Noah in the eyes and asked him if he could put me first. He hadn’t said a word. I wasn’t asking him to leave his company. I wasn’t even asking him to work less.

I just wanted him to assure me that we were a priority.

That we were at least as important as Endicott Technologies.

I could do that for him. I’d always thought of Noah first. I was doing it now, letting him off the hook so he could focus on his dreams for his company.

The only major decision I hadn’t made with us in mind was my refusal to leave Tech to follow him to California. But there wouldn't have been anything out there for me. Not like there was in the program with Oliver.

I rescued Scout when Rosie’s ear strokes got a little too enthusiastic and resolved to stop thinking about Noah. I was making myself dizzy going in circles of blame. Noah’s fault. My fault.

What did it matter?

Either way, we couldn’t seem to make it work.

By the time Vance was back and I was ready to leave, Rosie’s eyelids were drooping. I changed her and tucked her in before I waved a quick goodbye to Vance and fled.

Noah wasn't due for another hour, but his impending arrival was bearing down on me. I just wanted to get away.

I had done the right thing in cutting him loose. I knew I had. His company was more important to him than anything, and if he was distracted and it slipped through his fingers, a part of him would never forgive me.

Better to say goodbye now so that we could have a chance later. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if he lost his company and I was partially responsible.

Restless and irritable, I didn't want to hang around the loft, but I didn't want to be with people either. I threw on my running clothes, grabbed my headphones, and drove to Piedmont Park. A slow but exhausting 5K later, I collapsed in my car sweaty but feeling like I'd accomplished something.

I'd only been out of the shower ten minutes when the buzzer at the front door sounded. A quick check of the security camera revealed Holden. I buzzed him up, hoping nothing was wrong. Holden and I were friends, but I didn't think I'd ever hung out with him one on one.

"Hey, what's up?" I asked, trying to sound casual.

He gave me a long stare and said, “You okay?"

"No," I answered, honestly. "I broke things off with Noah. I'm terrible. And I don't want to talk about it."

"Okay, fair enough. I need your help with something," he said.

When he didn't offer any more information, I realized he was a little on edge. Trying to set him at ease, I said, “Do you want a beer? Cup of coffee? I just got back from a run, and I feel like I deserve a beer."

"A beer would be great, thanks," he said.

I pulled out a microbrew I knew Holden would like and opened my own. "So what's going on? What do you need help with?"

“This is a secret."

"I can keep a secret," I promised, suddenly dying of curiosity.

"I want you to go ring shopping with me."

"Oh my God! Oh my God! Seriously? I would love to go ring shopping with you! Oh, I know exactly what she wants." I couldn't help jumping up and down with glee. Then a thought occurred to me. "Wait, not that I'm not flattered, and I do know what kind of ring she wants, but why aren’t you asking Emily? Jo's one of my best friends, but she and Em are like sisters.”

"That's the problem. See—this is part of the secret—Tate is going to propose to Emily, and he wants it to be a surprise. He asked me not to tell Emily that I’m going to propose to Josephine because he's worried that she'll figure it out."

He had a point. Not that Tate and Holden did everything in lockstep, but they'd met their girlfriends, soon to be fiancées, at the same time and had asked them to move in with them, also at the same time. So it wasn't a far stretch for Emily to expect a proposal if she learned that Holden was buying a ring for Jo.

"Sneaky," I said. "You happen to be in luck, because last week, we went out to lunch and decided to do some shopping. We walked by the window of a jewelry store, and they had a display of engagement rings. Jo was pretty clear on which one she liked the best, though I have to warn you, it wasn't cheap."

Not cheap didn’t really cover it. We hadn't seen the price tag, but I was familiar with the store, and they didn't carry anything that wasn't the highest of high-end. Besides, just looking at the size of the stone, I could estimate that the price ran in the tens of thousands.

Jo had stared at the ring with wide, covetous eyes. When Emily called her on it, she'd demurred, saying that she didn't need anything like that and she and Holden were happy as they were.

She was lying, but we let her get away with it. No girl wants to be caught admitting how much she wants a proposal that hasn't happened yet. At my comment on the ring’s cost, Holden shrugged and grinned.

"WGC has had a good couple of years," he said. That was putting it mildly. Syndrome, their flagship game, had made a ton of money, and Syndrome II looked like it was going to break those records. "What else am I gonna spend my money on, if not my Josephine? Anyway, she needs a big ring to scare off all the geek boys who pant over her."

"Who are you calling geek boys? You run a gaming company."

"True. But have you seen those guys she works with? I swear they worship the ground she walks on. They follow her around like panting puppies. Nothing I do scares them off. At least Tate has Emily in the office with him. None of our employees would dare to flirt with the boss’s girl."

Holden had a point. Jo was the only female on her team, and between her brilliant mind and her bombshell body, the men she worked with were in love. I knew it drove Holden nuts because he'd mentioned it more than once.

"So you're going to buy her a diamond ring to stake your claim?" I asked, laughing. "Maybe you should get her a tattoo on her forehead that says Property of Holden Winters.”

He shook his head. "I wouldn't object to tattooing my name on her, but I don't think Josephine would go for it. The ring will have to do. What are you doing Monday? I can sneak out of the office."

"I have to check with Vance and Maggie, but it's probably fine. Worst case, I can bring Rosie in the stroller."

"It's a plan," Holden said, raising his beer in a toast. I clinked the neck of my bottle against his and drank. It was nice to know someone was going to get their happy ending.

Maybe Holden saw the shadow in my eyes because he said, “What happened with Noah?"

"Didn't I say I didn't want to talk about it?" I deflected.

"You did. But sometimes, friends don't listen to other friends when they're making bullshit excuses. Why did you break up with him?"

I tried to explain. I don't think I did a very good job because when I was done, Holden gave me a long, considering look and shook his head.

"You think he's not going to be distracted without you? It's probably going to be worse. If this is really about keeping his head in the game, you're not helping by taking away the one thing he says he really wants. You."

"But—"

“Unless this is really about protecting yourself," he said, meeting my eyes with a dark stare that somehow reminded me of Noah's.

I set my beer down on the counter. Why was it so wrong to protect myself? Trying to explain, I said, “The last time he left, he got so wrapped up in his company that he completely forgot about me. I don't want to go through that again."

"Fair enough," Holden said. "I can't promise you things are going to work out. He's dealing with a shit-storm right now, and it's a bad time for his company to be in this kind of mess. Philip Martin is a dumbass. He's digging himself a hole, and eventually, he'll get what's coming to him. But here's something to think about—when this is all over, and Noah's life calms down, he's going to remember that you cut him loose when he needed you. He may not want to try again. I get that you want to protect yourself, but is the risk of getting hurt worth losing him?"

Holden drank the rest of his beer, rinsed it out in the sink, and tossed it into the recycle bin.

"Just something to think about.” Turning toward the door, he said, "I'll text you on Monday. If Vance and Maggie need you and you can't get away, just let me know. We'll figure it out."

"Sounds good," I said weakly, my head spinning, trying to absorb Holden's parting words.

Was that how Noah saw it? Me cutting him loose? Abandoning him?

Was that what I was doing?

Lost in thought, I followed Holden downstairs and locked the door behind him when he left.

Gradually, it dawned on me that I'd made a terrible mistake.