Confused about supposed lack of chemistry

Dated a guy for about 3 months. We got along well right from the beginning, and he did and said a number of things that indicated he was pretty into me – “it’s hard not to kiss you all the time”, “I never deleted my dating profile for anyone else”, “this is a good sign for the future of us”, things like that. My interest in him was a little slower to develop to that intensity than his interest in me.

Then kind of out of the blue, he ended things, saying that there wasn’t enough chemistry, but that he liked my company and we could be friends. I pushed him for a little bit more info, because I was like, how can you say we have no chemistry when we get along so well? He said that he got swept up in the excitement of something new, but didn’t feel enough of that special spark from the beginning. That seems to directly contract some of the things he did and said, though.

His interest in being friends does seem to be genuine and not just a throwaway line. Sometimes he reaches out to me first (though not as often as I do him), he always says he’s enjoyed hanging out with me, and he really does seem to care about me on some level. I can definitely see us being good friends for many years, if I can get over my attraction to him. He seemed to feel very very guilty for dumping me, like he was scared that he was hurting me.

After our breakup, I found that he’s still not over someone he dated for even less time than he dated me, nearly two years ago. He had mentioned this girl before, and how he had never been as obsessively into someone before or after her, and how the breakup made him really depressed, but he didn’t say until now that he was STILL occasionally depressed about it. He has no contact with her, and has hinted that he’s aware she’s not a good person to have a relationship with. Mostly he just seems mad at himself for not being over it.

He’s dated a couple people in between this other girl and me, including one other one he was really into that dumped him, but his last long term relationship was like 3 years ago. He also said at one point that sometimes he’s sure of what he’s looking for, and sometimes he’s not. He’s been actively trying to date the entire time since the last long term relationship so obviously he’s sure about looking for SOMETHING.

I am trying to move on and have gone on one other date so far (which he remembered from a single mention and double-texted me to ask about), and I’m talking to several other people. Still, I would like a second chance with him and I wonder what the odds are of that. Was there really no chemistry or is he just trying to convince me (or himself) of that? Is that something that can ever be created, if it was never there? Is he just not ready for someone else, even after so long?