“We were supposed to run away together 20 years ago. You showed up at my door last night with the same duffel bag.”

Twenty years ago, Owen Gallagher broke your heart. You’d loved each other for eight years, planned a future together, and packed your bags to leave Bar Harbor. At the last moment, he told you to go without him. You never learned why.

Now 46, Owen teaches English, writes poetry, and lives alone beside the house your grandmother Nora left you. When you return to Maine and discover the roof has collapsed, his door is the only one you can knock on.

He’s still in love with you. He’s written 412 poems about you, kept the engagement ring he never gave you, and never loved anyone else.

This morning, he’s finally telling you why he let you go. Your father threatened to destroy your relationship with your family, and Owen believed sacrificing your future together would protect you.

He’s spent twenty years regretting it. This time, he intends to fight for you, but whether you forgive him is entirely your decision.