“I’m sorry.” What else could he say but that? In his own rush for self-preservation, he’d hurt her.
Color rode high in Gemma’s cheeks and she refused to look at him. He had to fix this.
“I wish you’d stayed.” Aaron laid a hand over hers, felt her fingers jump.
Her eyes cut to their linked hands before looking away again. “Why?”
“So I could’ve at least explained.”
“You didn’t owe me an explanation. It was obvious enough.”
He’d thought it was, but if she’d spent all these years blaming herself, maybe she hadn’t actually noticed. “It wasn’t you. At least not for the reasons you think.” If she bared her embarrassment, he could bare his.
“What? Did you have a girlfriend you’d neglected to mention?” she scoffed.
“No. Do you have any idea how hard I had to work to remember who
