I open the door, and rage rises to fill me when I see Ethan standing there with a bouquet of sunflowers. “Really, Ethan?”

“Lily, please, let me explain.”

“Explain what? How you slept with me and then took off without saying goodbye again? Now you show up a week later and think I should fall at your feet because you remembered my favorite flower? I’d rather you remembered my phone number and tried fucking calling for a change.”

“I know you’re angry, and you have every right to be, but I want to make things right.”

My anger rises up in my chest and comes out in a scream. “No, Ethan! I’m done with you. How could you do that to me? Do I mean nothing to you?”

“You mean everything to me.”

I put my hands over my face and turn around, pacing the floor. Ethan is driving me insane. When he’s not here, I spend all my time thinking about how he’s hurt me, and whenever I see his face, I know I would let him hurt me all over again. I’m in love with this selfish bastard, no matter how inconvenient it is.

“Why did you come back here, Ethan?”

“To apologize.”

“Not now! Before. You weren’t here for that convention. It was small potatoes compared to New York. I just don’t understand it. If you came here for me, then why did you have your fun and leave? Was it just for old time’s sake? Trying to remember if an Arizona girl fucks like one of your models? When you can have any girl you want, why come back here to mess with my head?”

Ethan steps inside without being invited and lays the bouquet on the side table in my living room. He sits on the arm of my sofa, facing me. “I didn’t come to Arizona for a one-night stand, Lily. I wasn’t here to have some fun. I came here to protect you.”

I let out a derisive snort. “Of course, you did. Protect me from what? The rising cost of living in Gila County?”

“From Vincent Oswald.”

My voice rises to a nearly hysterical pitch. “Are you fucking kidding me, Ethan? It’s not enough for you to break my heart, but you want to tear me away from Vincent too? What is it—if you can’t have me, no one can?”

“Vincent’s using you to get to me,” Ethan says quickly, trying to talk faster than I can scream. “I don’t know what his end game is, but he’s not your friend.”

“I don’t believe this. I don’t believe you. You’re saying that Vincent is only seeing me because he’s trying to get to you? By what, dating a girl you haven’t seen in eleven years? If you cared, Ethan, I would have seen you before now. It would be pretty fucking stupid of Vincent to try and use a woman you don’t give a damn about as bait.”

“I love you, Lily.”

“Love? You don’t know what love is, Ethan! You left me here, and you’ve only come back because your ego is so huge that you think everything is about you.”

“You don’t know Oswald like I do.”

“Don’t I? Vincent seems like a good guy to me. He’s respectful and patient, and he doesn’t fuck me and then disappear.”

“Are you saying you haven’t slept with him?”

My eyes widen with disbelief. “Are you really asking me that?”

“I don’t want you to get hurt. You’ve got no idea what you mean to me.”

“Oh my God, you’re unbelievable.” I stand with one hand on my hip. The other picks up my cell from the coffee table. I hold it up to Ethan. “I met him on your stupid app. I met him through your algorithm. You might as well have set us up yourself.”

“I think he hacked the system to get to you.”

“Why? Because it’s impossible that someone smart, rich, and handsome might match with someone like me?”

“You know that’s not what I’m saying.”

“I’ve got no fucking idea what you’re saying. You come in here with flowers, acting like you’re here to offer an apology, but in reality, you’re just trying to get dirt on your rival. I can’t believe you’ve got the nerve to even show up here after what you did to me.”

“I am here to apologize, Lily, but I’m trying to warn you, too. If you don’t want to see me again, fine. But don’t see Vincent either. He’s up to no good.”

“You don’t get to tell me what to do or tell me who to date. Vincent treats me like a real human being. He appreciates me. He notices that I’m different from all the girls who’d screw a guy just for his wallet. But you? You treat me just like any one of those girls who’d fuck you for a free meal. Are you so used to having whoever you want in your bed that you’ve forgotten that some of us have feelings? For some of us, it’s not a cheap thrill or a shot at getting noticed in the press. I waited for you, Ethan—for years. I don’t know how I could ever think you were the same person you used to be. I lost you years ago.”

“I’m sorry for how I left back then. I was young and stupid, and I didn’t know how to say goodbye.”

“And last week? What was your excuse then?”

He falls silent, looks down at the ground.

“I don’t know what’s going on with you, Ethan, but I don’t want to be a part of it anymore. I’ve wasted enough time waiting for you to pull it together. Go back to New York. I don’t ever want to see you again.”

“And Vincent?”

“Go!”

“He’s a liar, Lily. He’ll tell you anything you want to hear, but it’s all just games.”

“Then you’ve got something in common, haven’t you?”

“Lily.”

“Get out of here, Ethan. You’ve done enough.”

He leaves. I pick up the sunflowers he’s left behind, twist them up in my hands, go to the window, and throw the petals down on him as he exits onto the sidewalk. I see his shoulders slump as the flowers rain down. Then he steps into his limousine and disappears again.