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Instead of filling her with delight or anticipation, this line of thought made her heart pound with dread. That was all way too risky. The little overachiever Phoebe inside her was not comfortable with risking her professional life for a kiss. Even if it was one she had dreamed about for longer than she could admit to herself. Because if they didn’t move forward with their business idea, she would be a complete failure. Unemployed. Fired. With no prospects.

Jonathan broke the silence. “All this time, you were thinking of me, too?”

“I was.” Phoebe paused, imagining a fork in the road with flashing neon signs pointing to WORK in one direction and ??? in the other. When confronted with a choice between the unknown and achieving her goals, Phoebe would always choose achievement.

“I was thinking, Oh, how I wish I could harness Jonathan’s talents for my own professional gain. And look, now I have!”

It was a lame attempt at a joke, and Jonathan jerked backward as if she had slapped him.

Phoebe’s pulse raced again, this time with something she instantly recognized as regret.

She reached for his hand; he allowed her to take it but didn’t curl his fingers around hers. “Look. Of course I thought about you a lot. I’ve never been at peace with the way we ended things. I’ve had a lot of”—Phoebe hesitated, then let the truth drop from her lips—“regrets. But now that we’re working together, we should keep things professional, shouldn’t we? Keep our eye on the prize? We’re almost done with the proposal, and then we’ll be reaching out to investors, and—”

Jonathan pulled his hand out of hers. “Actually, no. I can’t do this again—anymore. I can’t do this anymore.” He stood up.

Phoebe stared at him. “What?”

“The business—it was a great idea in theory. But I can’t work with you. I thought I could, but I can’t.”

Without further explanation, Jonathan headed toward his car.

“Jonathan, wait. Why? What happened? Was it something I said or—”

He stopped beside the car, keys clenched in his fist. “Yes. It was something you said. And something you didn’t say. And it was me being an idiot. But if there’s one thing I have learned in the last eight years, it’s how to protect myself. Bye, Phoebe. You can have the whole business plan. Good luck with it.”

Phoebe watched him drive away, her heart drumming painfully in her chest. She had chosen the path labeled WORK, something that had never led her astray before. So why did she feel like it had driven her off a cliff?

Chapter 28

Arden

With an hour left before she was supposed to be at the theater for The Nutcracker, Arden was gazing out of Phoebe’s gigantic living room window, lost in thought.

She had felt so calm earlier this afternoon, but as the sun went down, her anxiety levels went up. How she wished she had a crystal ball. She didn’t trust herself to make a potentially life-changing decision right now, all on her own. What if she was making a huge mistake in not reaching out to Sam? But what if she did and it caused her heartbreak down the road?

Her focus this week had been all about becoming more confident, being content with herself. In a way, her focus had been about healing. So was it really a good idea to pursue something that could lead to a broken heart?

Or was it cowardly not to?

Her eyes were unfocused, gazing down at the headlights and streetlights below. Her thoughts were spinning in circles. She either needed to forget about it, get dressed, and go to the theater—or she needed to call her mom.

With a sigh, she reached for her phone. It was only an hour later in Costa Rica. Her mom was probably making dinner.

She answered right away. “Hey, hon.”

“Hey, Mom!” Arden tried to sound bright and unbothered while knowing that she was about to drop an emotional bombshell on her unsuspecting mother.

“How’s Seattle?”

“Cold.” Arden paused. “Beautiful. Exciting. Busy. A little scary, but I think I’ve gotten over it.”

“Wow. It sounds like you like it.”

Arden took a deep breath and started to pace the living room. “Mom, can I ask you something?”

“Of course. What is it?”

“Do you regret staying in Gainesville with Dad? You took a chance on him, but it ended up not working out. If you could do it over, would you have done the same thing?”