Cannot get rid of a linkage to an Excel document

I have office 365.  I copied some columns from an Excel document into a Word table, and for some reason the two documents are now linked.  I cannot even open the Word doc without having the Excel doc  open on my computer.  I tried cutting and repasting as rich text format, and that did not work.  I tried cutting and pasting each cell as plain text, and that did not work.   When I open the document, I get the message that there is a link, and do I want to update the document.  I can say no at that point, but I still cannot open the Word document without having the Excel also open.