Chapter 1

Three years into our long-distance relationship, my daily conversations with Evan Crawford turned into a three-person group chat.

He said the company was busy preparing for its IPO and that he didn't have time to check his phone. If I needed anything, I should tell his "buddy," Nicole Pearce, and she'd pass it along.

From then on, everything came through Nicole: what time he left the office, when he traveled for work, what he took for his stomach pain.

She knew every moment of his day.

Every message I sent him just sat there on "unread."

On my birthday, I asked in the group chat if he could spare ten minutes for a video call.

Nicole replied, "The launch event is right around the corner. Don't distract him."

And yet somehow he had time to like her latest Instagram post.

The night the company went public, I took an overnight bus to the celebration dinner and arrived in time to hear him raise a toast.

"I owe these past six months to Nicole. She took care of all the little things for me."

When he spotted me, he frowned. "Why didn't you check in through the group chat first?"

Nicole took the gift from my hands. "He's exhausted. Whatever you need to say, I'll pass it along."

A wave of helplessness hit me.

I pulled my hand back and left the group chat.

If even missing him had to go through her, I had no reason to report my life to him anymore.

1

Three minutes after I left the group, Evan texted me.

"Add yourself back."

No asking why I left. No asking if I was upset.

A second message followed immediately.

"There are still a lot of people from the company watching. Don't throw a tantrum right now."

I stood outside the hotel entrance.

It was one in the morning. The wind drove the rain beneath the covered walkway, soaking the tops of my shoes.

I had spent eight hours on that overnight bus to get here.

I thought I'd at least get a "thanks for coming."

My phone lit up again.

"Mia, Evan had a lot to drink. I'm taking him home first. Just find a hotel nearby. Don't make him go out of his way."

The message was from Nicole.

As if she were Evan's next of kin, and I, his girlfriend of five years, was just an outsider waiting for her to decide what to do with me.

I called Evan.

He picked up just before the call rolled to voicemail.

"What now?"

I heard a car door close in the background.

In the background, I heard Nicole remind him, "Put on your coat. It's cold out."

I tightened my grip on the suitcase handle.

"You promised that once the company went public, I could move into the apartment."

He paused for two seconds.

"Nicole's handling the post-IPO handover. She's been working overtime every day, so I let her stay in the guest room. You showed up without warning, and the place isn't ready. Just stay at a hotel for now."

We had picked out the sofa, the curtains, and the dining table for that apartment together.

He said once I transferred to Ashford, we'd get married.

Now someone else had gotten the guest room first.

"Every hotel nearby is booked."

Nicole's voice moved closer to the phone. "We had a lot of clients in town for the launch. Every nearby hotel was booked solid a week ago. Why didn't you check with me first?"

Evan sighed.

"Wait in the lobby. I'll send the driver."

"What about you?"

"Nicole has a stomachache. I'm taking her to the hospital."

Three months ago, I had food poisoning. I sat alone in the ER hooked up to an IV, and called him four times. No one picked up.

The next day, all I got was:

"Send it to the group. Nicole will handle it."

I asked quietly, "Evan, do you remember that I have stomach problems too?"

"Everything's fine. Why do you always have to make it a competition?"

Nicole laughed and smoothed it over. "This is all my fault. Evan, go take care of Mia first."

"Don't play tough. Your face went white just now."

Then he told me, "The driver will be there in twenty minutes. Don't wander off."

The call ended.

Half an hour later, the driver dropped me off at a budget hotel twenty-five miles away.

On the back seat lay a blue-gray scarf, the one I had knitted for Evan last winter.

He said the color was too dull and never wore it once.

Now, Nicole's hair clip was pinned to it.

The driver followed my gaze and explained, "Ms. Pearce is always leaving things behind. Mr. Crawford said to keep the scarf in the car so she'd have it when it got cold."

The only room left at the hotel was a storage room with a drafty window and mildew creeping up the walls.

I pulled the transfer notice from a compartment in my suitcase.

Mia Harper, Store Manager, Ashford Branch.

I had spent six months fighting for this, planning to surprise him.

At three in the morning, Evan sent me the hospital bill.

"Nicole's fine."

"Be at the office by nine tomorrow morning. Don't be late."

I sent back one word.

"Okay."

He didn't know that the deadline to confirm my transfer was also nine the next morning.

2

I arrived at Evan's apartment at eight thirty in the morning.

The door code was still his birthday.

A pair of women's ankle boots sat by the front door.

The slippers I had mailed him last year were gone. In the shoe cabinet sat two matching pairs of house slippers, one black and one white.

Oatmeal was warming on the stove. A sticky note was stuck to the fridge.

The note read, "Don't forget breakfast. —N"

Evan walked out of the bedroom with a button on his shirt done up wrong.

When he saw me, the first thing he did was check his watch.

"Didn't I tell you to come to the office?"

"I wanted to drop off my bags first."

"There are files everywhere. There's no room."

The guest room door was half open. Nicole's skincare products lined the nightstand, and her clothes filled the rack.

"You said she was only staying temporarily."

"She is."

"How long has she been here?"

"Two months."

Two months ago, I had asked him how the new place was coming along and if he could send a picture.

He said he was busy. No time.

By the bathroom sink, two toothbrushes sat in the same cup.

Evan's expression darkened.

"Stop coming in here and playing detective. Even if something were going on between her and me, what's it to you?"

He seemed to believe that as long as he hadn't gone all the way with her, I should forgive everything else.

The front door beeped.

Nicole walked in carrying breakfast and slipped into the white house slippers without missing a beat.

"Oh, Mia's here? Too bad I only bought two."

Evan took the paper bag of Danish pastries and croissants from her.

"She doesn't like sweets."

I froze.

I loved sweets.

It was Nicole who didn't eat them.

She smiled. "See? You've been so busy you've got it backwards."

That morning, Evan took me to meet his parents.

The moment Evan's mother, Diane Crawford, opened the door, Nicole pushed past me and threw herself into Diane's arms.

"Mrs. Crawford, I missed you so much."

Diane beamed. "Oh, please. Since when am I ‘Mrs. Crawford’ to you?"

Still smiling, Diane took out an emerald bracelet and fastened it around Nicole's wrist.

"The company went public, and you were the MVP. This is your reward."

I recognized that bracelet.

The first time I met Diane, she told me it was being saved for her future daughter-in-law.

Evan muttered, "It's just a piece of jewelry. Mom can give it to whoever she likes."

"But she promised it to me."

"She was just being polite. Are you really going to hold her to that?"

At the dinner table, Evan's father asked about my job.

I had barely mentioned the transfer when Diane cut me off.

"How busy can a store manager be? Now that you're in Ashford, you can take care of the house for Evan."

She placed a piece of salmon on Nicole's plate.

"Nicole has been by Evan's side building this company for three years. Her career is taking off. She can't be tied down with housework."

"I have my own career too."

The warmth faded from Diane's smile.

"A woman who's too ambitious isn't good for family harmony."

Evan didn't speak up for me. He just told me to drop it.

That afternoon, mutual friends came over to celebrate.

When our friend Haley Brooks was taking photos, I caught a glimpse of the pinned group chat on her phone.

It was called "Evan's Fan Club."

It included Evan, Nicole, and every single one of our mutual friends.

Everyone except me.

"When was this created?"

No one answered.

Nicole explained, "Evan's under a lot of pressure with the business. Some of the jokes in there aren't really appropriate for you to see."

Haley tried to smooth it over. "Every time you two had a fight, Nicole would tell us how to talk you down."

So all along, my frustrations had been their talking point.

Even the occasional tenderness Evan showed me had been scripted by Nicole in advance.

I looked at the friends I had known for years.

"Did any of you ever think about how it felt to be the only one left out?"

Evan rubbed his temples.

"It's just a group chat. Do you really have to make everyone uncomfortable?"

They stood on one side.

I sat alone on the other.

That was when I realized that what separated us wasn't just the miles between our cities. It was the secrets they had all chosen to keep from me.

3

Evan promised to go apartment hunting with me.

At ten in the morning, I waited for him at the real estate office.

At ten thirty, he said a meeting came up.

At eleven, he said it was almost over.

At noon, Nicole sent me a photo of a hospital hallway.

"Twisted my ankle carrying files. Evan insisted on taking me to get it X-rayed."

In the corner of the photo, Evan was crouched in front of her, tying her loosened shoelace.

I turned off my phone and signed the short-term lease on my own.

When I went back to the apartment, a building manager was carrying out a cardboard box.

My name was written on the side.

"Those are my things."

He looked confused. "Ms. Pearce said these were old clothes nobody wanted and asked me to donate them."

Inside the box were a sweater my mother, Janet Harper, had knitted by hand and the matching jackets Evan and I had bought during our first year together.

Beneath the clothes sat a torn-open kraft paper envelope.

Janet knew rent was expensive in Ashford and worried I'd be short on cash, so she had put fifteen thousand dollars inside, money she had scrimped and saved.

The envelope was empty.

When Nicole came back, I set the envelope in front of her.

"You opened my package?"

"I thought it was Evan's."

"My name is on it."

She rubbed her ankle, her tone casual.

"Must have missed it. They're just old clothes. I'll buy you new ones."

"What about the money?"

"What money?"

I stared at her.

She opened the envelope and only then looked surprised.

"I honestly didn't see it."

Evan pushed the door open.

After hearing what happened, the first thing he asked was whether Nicole's foot still hurt. Only then did he turn to me.

"There are files going in and out of this place every day. Grabbing the wrong package is perfectly normal."

"Fifteen thousand dollars is missing."

"I'll pay you back."

"That was my mother's money."

"Money is money, isn't it?"

He took out his phone to transfer the money. I pressed his hand down.

Evan looked exhausted.

"Mia, stop blowing small things out of proportion."

Nicole lowered her eyes.

"This is all my fault. Maybe I should move out?"

"With your foot like that, where would you go?"

He stopped her immediately, then turned to me. "You already signed a lease, didn't you?"

One sentence, and every word I had left died in my throat.

Suddenly, I saw how long ago everything had changed.

That night, I came down with a high fever.

I called Evan. He said he was at an important dinner.

I didn't want to go through Nicole again, so I went to a walk-in clinic alone.

Halfway through my IV, Haley sent me a video.

In a private dining room, a cake sat on the table. Nicole was wearing a paper crown.

Evan sat beside her, watching as she blew out the candles.

The bandage on her foot was already gone.

Haley unsent the video almost immediately.

"The team threw Nicole a belated birthday party. Don't read too much into it."

"Evan has enough on his plate. Don't make things harder for him just because you're sick."

In the early hours of the morning, Evan showed up with a bowl of oatmeal.

He touched my forehead.

"You're burning up. Why didn't you call me?"

The oatmeal was sprinkled with crushed peanuts.

I was allergic to peanuts.

On our very first date five years ago, I accidentally ate peanuts and ended up in the hospital. He stayed by my bed all night.

Now, he had forgotten.

I asked, "Is there anything Nicole can't have?"

"Bell peppers. Mangoes. She's allergic to penicillin too."

He didn't hesitate for a second.

The room went quiet.

He set the oatmeal on the table.

"We work together every day. Of course I remember."

The deadline to confirm the transfer was two hours away.

He noticed the page on my screen, and his tone softened.

"Go ahead and confirm it. Once you've moved to Ashford, we'll stop fighting all the time."

I didn't press the button.

He really thought our only problem was the distance.

Not the double standard, over and over again.

Not the fact that I had long since been placed last on his list.

4

I decided to give Evan one last day.

Not because I was waiting for him to come around.

I just wanted to see how much worse it could get.

Janet took the early bus to Ashford to bring me my documents and a change of clothes.

She didn't want to bother Evan, so she baked a beef pot pie that morning and planned to drop it off and leave.

When she arrived at the company lobby, the security guard stopped her at the turnstile.

"Only visitors on the approved list can go beyond the lobby."

Janet fumbled for words. "I'm Evan's..."

She trailed off.

We weren't married.

She couldn't even call herself his future mother-in-law.

Just then, Nicole's mother walked in.

The guard opened the gate for her immediately. "Morning, Ms. Pearce. Go right up. You're family here."

Nicole's mother took the insulated lunch container and looked Janet up and down, her gaze lingering on the jacket that had been washed so many times it had faded.

"Here to deliver lunch?"

"I'm Mia's mother."

"Oh, so you're her."

She smiled thinly. "Evan's mother mentioned you. Said your daughter has a habit of making a fuss over nothing."

I grabbed Janet's arm and turned to leave.

Evan happened to step out of the elevator.

"Why didn't you come up?"

I pointed at the turnstile.

"Why does Nicole's mother have permanent guest access under your account, but my mom doesn't?"

He looked at the security guard.

"That's how it's registered in the system, ma'am. Please don't put me in a difficult position."

Nicole appeared from behind him.

"I added her. My mom drops off documents all the time, so permanent guest access is easier. Mia, you're not going to take issue with this too, are you?"

Evan took the insulated container from Janet's hands.

"It's a system thing. Let's not argue about it in the lobby."

Janet waved it off quickly.

"It's fine, really. I came at a bad time."

The more understanding she was, the worse I felt.

At noon, Evan agreed to have lunch with us.

The food had barely arrived when Nicole called.

She was representing the company in a press interview that afternoon and suddenly felt short of breath right before going on.

Evan got up to leave.

"My mom's bus back to Riverside leaves in three hours."

"I know."

"You promised to take her to the station."

"This interview matters for the company's image."

"She has plenty of colleagues there."

"But I'm the only one she trusts."

I looked at him.

"If I were the one leaving today, would you stay?"

He frowned.

"Why does everything have to turn into a choice?"

"Because you always have one."

"And you never pick me."

He was quiet for a moment, then softened his tone.

"Give me one hour. I'll be back the second the interview is done."

Before he left, he took the beef pot pie Janet had baked.

Later, Nicole posted on Instagram.

She sat in front of the camera with flawless makeup, and our insulated lunch container was on the table beside her.

"Nothing scares you when you know someone has your back."

Evan liked the post.

We waited two hours. He didn't come back.

Janet took my hand and we walked to the station ourselves.

While we waited, she pulled out the transfer notice.

"Sweetheart, if you're not happy here, don't take the transfer."

"I'm not afraid of you being far away. I'm afraid of you losing yourself."

My tears fell onto the paper.

For years, everyone had told me that building a company wasn't easy for Evan.

That I should be understanding, patient, willing to wait.

But no one ever asked me if the waiting hurt too.

My phone lit up.

"Interview went well."

"Come stay at the apartment tonight. Nicole is moving into company housing. Happy now?"

He was treating the place that should have been mine all along as a prize for winning a fight.

I closed the transfer page and called my regional manager, Daniel Walsh.

"Is the manager position at the new Bayshore store still open?"

He sounded pleasantly surprised.

"It is. But you won't know anyone there. Are you sure?"

I looked out the window.

The train cut through the dusk, and Ashford's skyline shrank behind us.

"I'm sure."

After I hung up, another message from Evan came through.

"Once things settle down, I'll come see you with a present."

At the next station, I took off the promise ring I had worn for three years and dropped it onto the tracks.

No explanation. No goodbye.

I used to believe love meant holding on.

Only now did I understand what actually deserved holding on to: not shortchanging myself anymore.

The train pulled into the station.

I held Janet's arm and walked into the crowd without looking back.