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.”

“No. About four months in, I knew I’d made a mistake.” He drew in a breath. “And that’s my story. There are no excuses for what happened, and I’m sorry I hurt you. I acted badly. I regret that.”

He hesitated as if there was more, then surprised her by standing. “I won’t keep you any longer. Thanks for hearing me out.”

She walked him to the door.

“I feel as if I should say something,” she told him as he put on his coat. “Maybe profound or bitchy or funny.”

He chuckled. “You have my number. Text me when you decide what it is. I’ll be around through Christmas.” He bent down and kissed her cheek. “I am sorry, Reggie. More than you know.”

He opened the front door and stepped outside. After he was gone, she stood in the entryway, her mind swirling. What on earth was she supposed to think of everything he’d told her? There had been too much information and no time to process it. She needed a way to clear her head.

Taking Belle for a walk was the obvious solution, but she decided to wait at least ten minutes. She didn’t want to leave only to run into Jake somewhere.

She walked back to the family room, thinking she would flip channels until she felt it was safe to go outside. She needed something to distract her and—