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“I know. I’m sorry about that. It’s why I’m here. To explain what happened.” He held up a hand. “I realize you may not want to hear anything from me, and if that’s the case, I’ll go quietly. But I thought you might like a little closure. I’ve found it helps to know the truth when it comes to moving on.”

Wow—she hadn’t seen that coming. Reggie briefly considered telling him she couldn’t be less interested in his excuses, only she found she did want to know. Everything had happened so fast. She’d still been in the staring-at-her-ring stage of their engagement, and then it was over. They hadn’t fought or even disagreed. They’d had a great couple of days, and then poof, that was it.

“I would like to hear what happened,” she admitted. “Closure is probably a little strong, but finishing the story would be helpful.” She thought about adding that she was completely over him, then decided against it. She knew she’d moved on, and what he thought of her was a whole lot less important than it had been a year ago.

“Thank you,” he said, his gaze locking with hers. “I want to tell you. I wish I’d told you then.” He surprised her by smiling. “I’m going to start by saying I was an idiot.”

She raised her eyebrows. “I’m not going to disagree. Go on.”

“I was in love with you. I want to be clear about that. I meant every word I said when I proposed. But before you, there was someone else.”

“I didn’t think you came to me an emotional virgin.”

“A few years before, I’d met and fallen for a woman named Iona. It was one of those things. A lightning strike. Love at first sight. Whatever you want to call it. I saw her and I knew she was the one and I would be spending the rest of my life with her.”

Hmm, not the direction Reggie had wanted the story to go. She told herself to just listen and not judge—that whatever had happened before she and Jake got together wasn’t her business.

“I didn’t tell her any of that,” he continued. “Not for a while. She was like a drug. I couldn’t get enough of her.”

Reggie resisted the urge to tell him to get to the idiot part because she had a feeling she would like that bit of the story a whole lot more.

“I was just about to propose when she dumped me. She’d fallen out of love with me and wanted to move on with her life. I was devastated and crushed and every other breakup feeling. I couldn’t believe it. Living without her was like going from a world filled with color to one that was black and white.” His expression turned sheepish. “Or so I thought at the time.”

“It’s a little dramatic.”

“Yeah, that’s how it felt. It took me a long time to get over her. I was starting to question whether I would ever be interested in another woman when I ran into you.”

“Literally.”

“Yes. You smiled at me and I felt something I hadn’t in a while. I realized I was over her and ready to give my heart again.”

That made Reggie feel marginally better. At least she could know his feelings for her had been real.

“One thing led to another,” he said. “We fell in love and I could see myself spending the rest of my life with you. We got engaged. Then, Sunday morning, Iona showed up.”

Reggie nearly sprang to her feet. “Here? In town?”

“On my doorstep. She told me she’d made a horrible mistake and that she still loved me. She begged for another chance.”

“Which you gave her.”

“No.” He looked at her. “I told her we were done and she left. But after she was gone, I couldn’t stop thinking about her, which made me question a lot of things about myself. Not knowing what to do, I broke up with you, then went away to clear my head. It was a rookie move, and I apologize for that. And for not explaining what had happened. I see now if I had, we might have worked it out. We should have at least talked.”

Reggie didn’t know what to do with all the information. She was confused and unsettled. The timing of Iona deciding she wasn’t as over Jake as she’d claimed didn’t help. What if it had been a month later, eight weeks sooner? What would have been different? If he’d just, as he’d said, come to talk to her? How would everything have changed?

“I don’t know what to say,” she admitted. “After you’d had time to think, why didn’t you talk to me?”

“Iona followed me. I don’t know how she found me, but she did. She begged for a second chance, and eventually I gave it to her.”

Reggie looked at him. “I believe what you’re saying is, she begged, you slept with her, and then you gave her another chance.”

“Yeah, that’s probably closer to the order of events.”

“Once you’d slept with her, you couldn’t come back to me. It would have been as if you’d cheated, so why not see if things would work out with her?”

He winced. “I’d forgotten how well you knew me and how easily you could get to the heart of the matter.”

“It’s a gift,” she said with a lightness she didn’t feel. While she wasn’t looking to return to the past, hearing all this wasn’t as easy as she would have thought. “I take it the relationship didn’t last.”