Others have answered well and offered good suggestions for alternatives. Personally, as a young millennial American, I would use the term "ghosting" here. It matches perfectly with the meaning you're alluding here to, but is very colloquial and I wouldn't expect an older person to use it.
"Sorry I've been ghosting you."
"Sorry for ghosting. I'm so happy to see you again!"
Ghosting is a term borrowed from digital communication when someone very suddenly or abruptly stops sending chats/texts/emails back to you and the conversation/contact is kind of left hanging. For instance, you might have met someone at an event, exchanged contact info and started chatting over text, gone on like that back and forth for a few weeks, and then all of a sudden never hear a thing back from them ever again. That's where the term "ghosting" comes from; it's like they disappeared and became a ghost. In a social context, it can be used whenever someone gets very busy or otherwise temporarily withdraws or "hibernates" or takes a break from their usual social activities or interactions.
Hope that helps!