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Mitch is sitting in one of the armchairs, legs stretched out, holding a glass of whisky. He watches me walk in and sips his drink as I curl up on the sofa.

“Dad’s just told me he wants to loan me twenty-five thousand dollars for the shop,” I tell him.

His eyebrows rise. “Shit!”

“Yeah. It’s his retirement money. I said I’d take it as an interest-free loan.”

“So you’re going to buy the shop?”

“I’m going to try. He said you mentioned going with you to see John and Blair tomorrow.”

“Absolutely. Grandad can tell you what he wants to sell it for, and Blair can help with the legal side of things.”

I nod, and silence falls between us for a moment.

“He liked the way you were supportive of me,” I say softly.

“Yeah… we had a discussion about Jayden.” Mitch glowers.

I suck my bottom lip for a bit. His gaze drops to it, then returns to my eyes.

Should I say anything? I don’t think I can hold back.

“He told me he stopped you from saying something on my wedding day,” I announce.

He holds my gaze for a moment, running the tip of his tongue over his top teeth, inhales deeply, then drops his head back on the chair and exhales.

“He said you left when Millie was born because you couldn’t bear to see me with another man’s child.”

He doesn’t answer; he just looks up at the ceiling.

“Is it all true?” I ask. “I knew you liked me, but…” I stop, baffled and suddenly embarrassed that I’ve said too much.

He lifts his head and looks at me, and his lips curve into a wry smile. “You have no understanding of how amazing you are, do you?”

I blink. “What?”

“Of course it’s all true. I fell for you the moment I met you. I couldn’t believe you were marrying my best friend. Talk about a cruel twist of fate.” He glares, not at me exactly, but revealing his frustration. “You were Jayden’s fiancée. Jayden’s wife. The mother of his child. I couldn’t stay and watch you belong to another man.”

“Oh…”

“I hated how he treated you,” he says fiercely. “I wanted to tell you so much. But your dad told me not to. He was right. You’d made your choice. So in the end, I walked away, and I did the same again last Christmas. You belonged to Jayden. Not to me. It hurt like hell to see you so unhappy, but I couldn’t do anything about it. I had to give you both the chance to work it out.”

We study each other, a few feet apart, both upset, both tortured by the way circumstances have torn us apart.

“I wish I’d met you first,” I whisper.

He blows out a long breath and drops his head back again.

“But I don’t mean that,” I say just as fiercely, “because of Millie…”

“I know.”

“I love her.”

“Of course you do.”

We fall quiet again.