Guy not over his ex?

Going anonymous…I don’t know what to do. I’m 21 and started working at a summer job this past summer. I met a guy who’s 25 and has been working there every summer for a few years. We started hanging out and eventually hooking up by the end of the summer. Since then we’ve been in a situationship but decided not to make it serious yet.

He told me early on that he used to have an ongoing thing with this girl who also worked there every summer for a few years. They have the same age difference as we do except she’s older than him, I think she’s 28 or 29. For around 3 summers she was coming to stay with her family here and him and her would always be together during the summer, but the rest of the year she’d go back to the city and they would just be friends.

This past summer she didn’t come back, she stayed in the city because she has a serious boyfriend there now. Which is when he and I started our thing. But right before thanksgiving her mom died so she came back. She’s been here since then. When she first came back he asked if we could talk, basically he said that she is really important to him and he wants to be there for her as a friend, but not to worry and nothing is going to happen because she has a boyfriend.

So they’ve been hanging out a lot and I feel like he’s not over her. Before she came back we were talking about maybe taking our relationship to the next level and making it official but he now hasn’t brought it up for more than a month. He got her a really nice bracelet for Christmas and he just gave me a mug. I feel like everyone loves her so much, all our summer coworkers, even his parents talk about how great she is.

We spent new years together and it was perfect. But then last night I asked if he wanted to come over and he said he couldn’t because he was helping her dad with something. I finally broke down and spent the whole night crying.

I feel like I need to talk to him about it but I don’t know what to say, or if I should just end it without even talking. Should I try to have a conversation with him or am I being dumb to even think I have a chance?