None of this is making sense. Before he showed up here tonight, I assumed he was still with Celine. I was trying to convince myself that being with Aiden was just a fantasy I needed to get over and put out of my head. And now he's telling me he's single and drove all the way up here to see me?
"Sophie. Say something."
I blink away my shock. "I don't know what to say. Are you telling me you came here because of me? That stuff about the inn wasn't true?"
"It's true. I'm meeting with Tom tomorrow but only because I needed an excuse to explain why I wouldn't be at a sales dinner tonight for work. Roger wanted me there but I told him we were getting close with the inn deal and I needed to race up here before Tom changed his mind."
"But you didn't really need to race up here, so why did you?"
"Because I needed to see you." He reaches across the table and takes my hand. "I missed you, Sophie. I thought about you nonstop since we said goodbye last weekend. Pete told me you broke up with Tanner, and maybe that has nothing to do with me, but even if it doesn't, I needed to come up here and tell you how I feel."
I swallow, my throat feeling dry, my heart beating out of my chest as I wait for him to continue.
"I like you, Sophie, and I want us to be more than friends. When I'm with you, I'm happy. The kind of happy I haven't felt in a really long time. It's like this calmness comes over me whenever we're together. At first I thought it was because of where we're at—being out in the country, away from the stress of the city. But then I realized it's you making me feel that way. I realized it the night you showed up at the bar back in New York. I was stressed from a long of day of work and a fight I'd had with Celine, and then you walked in and I felt the stress just go away. I didn't want you to leave, and when you left with Tanner, I wasn't okay with it. I knew I had to be because you weren't mine, but I wanted to stop you. I wanted to run out the door and tell you not to go. But I couldn't. Because of Celine. Because I needed to end things with her before starting something with you."
I'm speechless. I never thought this would happen. I knew he felt something for me but I didn't think it would ever go anywhere. I was certain he'd never break up with Celine. I was even more sure of it when he let me go out with Tanner. Aiden's the one who set us up. He invited me to the bar that night to meet his friends, knowing I was looking for a date.
"I don't understand. Why were you trying to set me up if you wanted to date me?"
"Because at the time, all I could think about was how to get you out of my head. I had a girlfriend, and I felt guilty when my mind kept going to you when it should've been on Celine. I thought if you were with someone else, I'd finally stop thinking about you."
"And did it work?"
"Not at all. It just got worse. I thought about you even more. I didn't know what would happen with you and Tanner but I knew that if it didn't work out, I couldn't just stand by and not at least tell you how I felt."
"Is that why you broke up with Celine? Was it because of me?"
"No, at least not completely. I think I've told you this before but Celine and I haven't worked for a long time. I was going to break up with her last summer but then decided to keep trying. It wasn't until I met you that I realized Celine and I aren't even close to being a good fit. I realized how unhappy I am with her. I was so used to feeling that way that it didn't seem wrong, but then I met you and it's like a light went off. I finally felt what I should've been feeling with Celine. So yes, you played a role in the breakup but not directly. I didn't end things with her to go out with you. It would've ended even if