Both characters are stubborn, passionate, head-strong, quick-to-anger--and both make mistakes because of it. As a result, the young man decides to cut my protagonist out of his life with brutal precision. He makes a unilateral decision, justifying it with moral-fortitude, and drops it on her 24-hours after the two make final plans to meet for their first romantic interlude. Their first physical romantic interlude. Because, for more than a week since they rekindled their friendship, the two had been verbally making love to each other multiple times a day.
Whew! Is it getting hot in here, or is it just me??? ;)
For our protagonist, she feels disoriented, betrayed, and ultimately, vacillates between anger and what she knows is an early stage of love. So was it a dodged bullet? Not for her. The bullet had already gotten under her skin. She finds, after talking it out with a friend, that she cares for her young lover--more than she could admit. She's also surprised to learn that under her protective layer of anger, she still wants him. Badly. But it's more than want, it's need. To her, he is the most beautiful thing she's ever known--even the parts of him she finds difficult to understand. She realizes in a heart-wrenching moment that, if he somehow wanted to, she would jump at the chance to rekindle their friendship. A chance that may never come. He made it clear he did not want to hear from her. This leaves her stuck. Unable to do anything proactive to effect change, she tries to distract herself, to no avail. She begins to speak her desire for him into the Universe, hoping he somehow finds his way back. But for how long? As long as it takes? That's yet unclear.
For our young lover, he becomes uncomfortable because my protagonist is *ahem* married. Something that started as an element of excitement quickly changes to a deal-breaker as his feelings shift from "want" to "need." He realizes he both wanted and needed her, not just sex with her. Cutting her off was his way of saying, "I'm not okay with this and don't know what else to do." What he failed to see (in his stubborn pride) was that her relationship was over. Her marriage had been stagnant for years. Until her lover came into her life, she just accepted that. Now that she knew better, she couldn't go back. And neither could her lover. Not really. Despite his rash actions, he can't stop thinking about her either. Particular parts of her, anyway. His room-mate, who has to live with the daily sullenness, wants him to get back together with her, if only to get her out of his system: "Just text her already! Get your freak on so I don't have to live with you like this anymore!" Another friend plays the "you're both consenting adults" card. And yet a third tells him to stay away--"there's a lot of fish in the sea." Two out of three votes! Should be a no-brainer, right? Wrong. He knows there aren't any other women who could offer the same symmetry in sexual appetite. If the talk was that good, imagine what the actual sex would have been like! Yeah, pretty damn hot. But he cut off contact. How do you go backwards? He's stuck now, too.
The Zedd song, "Clarity", is about this exact situation (check out the video on YouTube below): "If our love is insanity, why are you my clarity?" Early in their relationship, before their break, my protagonist asks if their intense attraction for one another is insane. Her lover laughs and says, "I was just wondering that myself." In that moment, the two became like-charged bodies. No longer opposites, the mutual force of each body slowly built up until repulsion occurred. In other words, no matter how close they tried to get, they could never get close enough to touch.
So, how do two like-charged bodies that have repelled find each other again? One body has to somehow become neutral, according to physics. And, the science of love. Regardless of whether one of the two bodies is negatively- or positively- charged, the neutrality of the second body creates attraction. My protagonist isn't neutral. Her lover isn't either. Until she accepts what's happened, there's no hope of these two like-charged bodies finding their way back to love. He can't be the neutral party because he's the one who cut off contact. If he becomes neutral, no further action can happen. The romance is truly over. That leaves our heroine hanging out to dry. Literally.
What happens next? You'll have to wait for the book to come out to learn the answer. But I will give you a hint:
Love always wins.... ;)