“I know,” Cody whispered, “but I couldn’t ask you to do that, Stevie. We both had dreams to follow, and we would have both regretted not…” He hesitated. “At least I know I would have if I hadn’t…” Another pause. “Damn it, Stevie. This is hard. I just couldn’t let myself have a serious relationship with anyone. It wasn’t just you, but I did have feelings for you. That’s why I broke up with you that spring. If I was going to be a doctor, it would take all my time and energy. You deserved more than a small piece of me. You deserved someone who would give you one hundred percent, not two percent.”

“I understand that now, but it’s taken me a long time to sort it all out. It’s in my nature to finish a project before I start another one, so I thought I couldn’t fall in love with anyone else as long as you were around. This all sounds crazy, but bear with me,” she said as she took another sip of beer.

“I’m all ears,” he said, “and I do not mean that to be joking.”

Stevie took in a deep breath and let it out very slowly. Thank God for chocolate. That always helped get her through tough times. “I couldn’t believe you asked me to the homecoming dance that fall. I was a gangly red-haired girl with braces and freckles who wasn’t popular. I was smart, but not someone that a handsome Ryan boy would give a second look,” she said.

“Did you ever think that what you felt was just infatuation and not love?” Cody twisted the top off his beer and took a long drink. “I had a big crush on Brenda Jones when I was a freshman in high school, but she only had eyes for…”

“Darrin Black.” Stevie finished the sentence for him. “I remember them coming to church and holding hands when I was in elementary school. But you aren’t wired like I am. You got over your crush. Did you put her on a pedestal and measure every woman by her for the next two decades?”

“No, I did not.” Cody frowned. “Are you telling me that you did that with me?”

“I told you, I have to finish a project before I start another one,” she answered. “So, yes, I did. I told myself that I had moved on and didn’t even realize that I was measuring every guy by your yardstick. I’ve dated guys. First dates, second, and even a few third. I’ve had three fairly serious relationships. I can see now that the reason none of them worked out was because I was trying to put them up on a pedestal beside the one I had built for you.”

“Good Lord, Stevie!” Cody took a long draw from his beer. “Why would you do that?”