I am glad you were able to make the good contact and in a friendly family setting.

I don't know if it is anything related, but one of my sister's husbands is a plumber with a great reputation and too much business, so through the years she has tried to be the go-between to make sure he is not asked all the time to do extended family things. He is a great person and does not like to take money from family and she knows it, so she tries to be the gatekeeper to make sure it doesn't happen too frequently and I understand that. Maybe your partner needs you do be the one to ask, to keep it ALL business.

....or maybe it is nothing like that. 🙂