“I’m so sorry, Jill.” His voice catches. “I’m so sorry. Jesus, you just said…you called me beautiful? And said you love me? Please understand. I never, ever could have believed that, Jill. I’ve always known you were out of my league. You are. I’ve known it since we met and…by keeping you at a distance, I think I was protecting myself from too much pain. Living without being yours was painful enough already. And I fucked up. I fucked up. I was hurting you all along, wasn’t I? I’ll never forgive myself for that, baby. I’m not supposed to hurt you.”
