I can relate to how you feel a lot. However, I think it is not always just the speech impediment that is a factor in this type of situation. There are many adults who stammer and have wives (or husbands) so I try to remain optimistic, though it probably isn’t a sincere belief yet. For me, I don’t really feel like a legitimate contender because of my stammering if that makes sense? I just assume that people would dislike me, in friendship or love, because I dislike myself - maybe it is a projection of my own feelings onto them or perhaps this can sometimes be true. I always just end up watching people and being near to them rather than directly interacting and this is probably the main reason I do not have any confidence in my closeness to the person I like. She is a friend of our family but I am not somebody she would notice. I have to change how I think about myself before I would be able to accept somebody liking me - if it happened. It sounds as if he did care about you but feels inhibited in some other way. If you would still consider him, you should reach out to give him the opening to approach you now he does not have a girlfriend. I think you have to consider whether you trust in him still or if you feel betrayed by him having had a girlfriend. It sounds as if your mutual friends made a bad situation for him by betraying his trust in them to keep his secret.