Would she? There had been a time when she’d dreamed about having the chance to have it out with him. Whitney? Really, Nate? How could she be everything to him one minute and nothing the next? So many questions and no answers, but eventually she’d realized that answers weren’t going to change the facts.

“I don’t see the point. It’s been twenty years.”

“Yes. And some people might decide that’s a long time, too long to worry about what happened. But not me. I promised myself years ago that if I ever got the chance, then I’d say all the things I wished I’d said that night.” Maturity had brought with it a quiet confidence. He was a man who knew what he wanted and wasn’t afraid to go for it.

Her heart beat a little faster. “Friendships go wrong. It’s a fact of life.”

“We both know that what we had was so much more than friendship. And I wrecked it. That was down to me.”

Twenty years ago she would have agreed, but now she knew life wasn’t so simple.

“People change. Circumstances change. There’s nothing to talk about. You wanted to end it. We didn’t want the same thing, and at the time I struggled with that—” she’d been heartbroken “—but it’s not a crime, Nate. Not loving someone enough isn’t a crime.”

“Maybe not, but I handled it in a crass, insensitive way. And it wasn’t that I didn’t love you enough. More that I didn’t trust that love.” He rubbed his fingers across his forehead and pulled a face. “I still can’t think about what happened without wanting to crawl under a stone.”

“At the time I would happily have pushed you under the stone myself, but time changes perspective.” And it calmed inflamed emotions. “There probably wasn’t a good way. Although seeing you kissing Whitney an hour after breaking up with me was a low point.”

“Yes. For me, too. And for her—” He glanced at her. “She wasn’t amused.”

“No?”

“No. Because at first she thought I was cheating on you, and when I told her I’d just ended it she thought I was using her to send you a message. She was wrong about that—” he stared at the horizon “—it wasn’t something I thought through. I was conflicted, miserable that I’d broken up with you, unsure I’d done the right thing, and I was trying to live this new life I’d chosen for myself. Trying it on for size to see how it felt.”

“And how did it feel?”

“Empty. Strange.” He paused. “If it helps, it was a year until I kissed another woman after Whitney.”

That made her smile. “Nate, you were at college. Do you seriously expect me to believe you had no sex life?”

“For that first year? No. I threw myself into the work and the sport.”

“And then?”

He smiled. “It’s your turn. Tell me about you.”

What was there to tell?