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Because there was no denying why Dean had invited her here.

“I’m doing okay.” He didn’t sound okay. “How’s Pip?”

“Much better. Just a twenty-four-hour bug. Her teacher said a lot of kids have come down with it at school. Her head’s still stuffy, but the fever is gone, and the cough isn’t nearly as bad.”

“That’s good,” he said.

Vivian drew in a deep breath. Conversations with Dean had never been hard work, never felt the slightest bit awkward, but this one…

“You said we needed to talk,” she said, taking the bull by the horns.

He lifted his pint and took a long sip. She wondered if he was seeking liquid courage.

“We need to stop this, Viv.”

“Stop what?” she murmured.

“I think it’s time we end things between us.”

The words landed with a dull thud as her brain tried to process them. “Why?” she asked, confused and shocked. What the hell had gone wrong?

Dean looked down at the table, not her, as he spoke. “It’s time.”

She waited for him to elaborate. When he didn’t, she decided to give him a push. “Shitty answer. Try again.”

He rubbed his jaw, but at least he lifted his eyes and looked at her. “We’re very different people, Viv. Different backgrounds, different perspectives on life.”

She laughed humorlessly. “That answer is even shittier. Make this make sense, Dean. What happened that changed your mind?”

He sighed. “I can’t be the man you need.”

She frowned.

“The man you deserve,” he added.

Vivian felt as if she’d been dropping down in the middle of an episode of The Twilight Zone. “Deserve?”

“You deserve a man like Phil.”

Hearing Phil’s name hit her like ice water. “Like Phil?” She was starting to feel like a parrot, repeating everything Dean said.

“You deserve a man who will always be there. Someone who puts you and Pip first every single time.”

Her confusion only deepened. She knew she and Dean had been taking things slowly, never really labeling what this was, but in her mind, they were building something, laying the foundation for a future she’d begun to hope they’d spend together. Their relationship had unique challenges—his job, her widowhood, Pip—but she hadn’t seen any of those things as barriers. Just things they would need to figure out along the way.

“I don’t understand,” she said.

“I’ve spent my entire life choosing hockey over relationships.” His voice was steady, and she got the sense that he’d practiced the part. “I told myself I was doing right by McKenna because I wrote a goddamn check every month and sent overpriced, guilt-driven presents.”

Vivian stared at him. She knew he was struggling with past decisions he’d made regarding McKenna, but she didn’t realize just how deep his guilt ran.

“I wasn’t there,” he continued. “I left Ellie completely alone to raise our daughter because hockey was more important.”

“That was a different situation,” Vivian said, aware that Dean and Ellie hadn’t been in a relationship. McKenna was the result of a summer romance that had always had an expiration date attached to it.

“Is it? I’m still in the game, always leaving or packing to leave. Or thinking about the next game or trade deadline. Always watching game tape at home at night. I live and breathe the sport.”

Vivian wanted to argue, but Dean was on a roll.