My mom called while we were idling in traffic. I’d pulled forward too optimistically, and now I stared guiltily at the don’t block the box sign that hung alongside the traffic lights. She told me that one of our biggest corporate accounts had just canceled their service.

"No, Mom, I don't know what happened! I thought they were happy." My mind raced forward to what that meant. We would have to hustle for new accounts, or we wouldn’t be able to keep all our employees.

"What's wrong?" Rob mouthed at me. I held my finger to my lips, shushing him.

"I'll call them once I get to the hotel. Find out what's wrong." She asked where I was, and I felt myself blush. "I drove Rob into Boston. I thought I told you guys about that. We're staying for a few nights while he sees family."

I glanced over at him, my voice dropping to a whisper even though there was no way he wouldn’t hear me. "Yes, two hotel rooms. Mom. What do you think this is?"

Rob smiled to himself, and as usual, I wondered what he thought this was.

"Hold on, we're moving, finally," I said, pressing my cell phone against my cheek with my shoulder as I changed gears. "I should let you go, Mom."

But my mother apparently had a lot more to say; she was anxious about the business, and I tried to reassure her as we eased through the intersection.

"I'll call," I promised again. I tried to steer around a car that was turning left, out in the middle of the box.

"Look out," Rob said sharply. Suddenly in my rearview mirror, I saw the car that was speeding up behind us. I dropped the cell phone, slamming on my brakes, and the car whizzed around us with an inexplicable honk of its horn.

"I haven't missed Boston," Rob said.

He was talking about the traffic, so why did that hurt my feelings? "Or Rhode Island?"

He leaned down to get the cell phone, but when I reached out to take it, he put it to his own ear instead. "Hi, Mrs. Papadopolous?"

"Yes?" she said.

"This is Rob Delaney. We are in crazy traffic. Naomi will call you back when we get to the hotel, okay? I want to keep her safe."

"Oh," she said. "Okay."

Rob said goodbye and hung up. When he dropped the cell back in the cup holder, I stared at him coolly.

"What?" he asked.

"You're being awfully high-handed."

He shrugged. "Sorry, I spend my days being in charge."

"Well, you're not in charge of me."

"Believe me, I've noticed." He scratched the skin just above the edge of his cast absently. "What's going on with your business?"

"That's my business," I said.

"Naomi, I want to help."

"How are you going to help?" I asked. "We lost one of our commercial cleaning clients. Commercial clients are our money-makers. We employ three people just because of that contract alone. So I have to find something else for them, A.S.A.P. or...."

"I know people," he said.

"I thought you tried not to talk to anyone from home except your brothers."

"And you," he said lightly. "I could make an exception."

"Put that hometown hero madness to work in our favor?"

"I asked you to cut that out," he chided.

I smacked the steering wheel with my hand. “I should be home where I can deal with this!”

He leaned back in his seat, sliding his sunglasses onto his face. “Sorry to be a distraction,” he drawled.

“It’s fine.” I felt embarrassed by my explosion. “You’re my job too.”

Rob didn’t respond to that. I glanced over, but I couldn’t read him in profile; his big jaw was set as usual, those kissable lips pressed together, and his eyes were hidden by those mirrored aviators.

He was a mystery.

I wished I knew how to be a mystery too.