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I shook my head. “Right.”

I slid my coat back over my arm. “My five minutes are up.”

He walked closer to me. “Just wait.”

“No.”

“I’m not asking you for anything.”

“You asked me on a date.”

“I know.”

“You flirted with me for months.”

“I know.”

“You let me sit here and talk to you about children while your wife is at home years after finding out she can’t have them.”

His face dropped and that hurt him. Good. I wanted something to.

“That wasn’t fair,” he said.

“No shit.”

“I wasn’t thinking about it like that.”

“And that’s supposed to make it better?”

“No.”

He rubbed his head again. “I really like you.”

I closed my eyes and I opened them. “That is your problem.”

“I know.”

“Then handle it!” I yelled.

“I’m trying.”

“By dating me?”

“No.”

He looked defeated.

“I don’t know what tonight was supposed to be.”

I laughed. “Really? Because there was wine, candles, compliments, and you pulled my chair out. I can help you identify it.”

“That’s not what I mean.”

“Then what do you mean?”

“I mean… I’ve spent years feeling like somebody’s caretaker. I go home and I’m checking on Ravenna. I’m checking whether she ate. Whether she’s okay. Whether she’s mad at me. Whether something I say is gonna send her somewhere I can’t bring her back from.”

He swallowed. “My family loves her. I have love for her.”