Fourteen was supposed to be an in-between year — too old for dolls, too young for love. But for Cara, it became the year everything changed.

When her brother’s best friend, Callum Adler, starts spending more time at their house, Cara notices things most adults ignore. The bruises. The quiet. The way their mother starts folding extra laundry like it’s second nature. Callum's broken home becomes a secret the whole family carries, and Cara — wide-eyed, overlooked, and quietly growing — starts to fall for him in all the ways she shouldn’t.

But Callum is four years older. Eighteen. Off-limits. Almost a man. And despite their quiet moments — the almosts, the shared glances, the night she asked to kiss him — he walks away without a goodbye, leaving her in the silence he helped create.

Years pass. Cara grows. Builds a life. Finds herself. By eighteen, she’s no longer just Kaden’s little sister. She’s her own person — confident, loved, maybe even happy. But everything tilts when she runs into Callum again at a skating rink. Older, composed, and entirely unexpected.

He’s not the same boy who used to sleep on her couch with bruises on his ribs — and she’s not the girl who watched him leave.

But unfinished things have a way of circling back.

Told in alternating perspectives of Cara and Callum, What We Never Said explores the slow burn of first love, the ache of timing, and what it really means to grow up — and grow apart — before finding your way back.

The sun was already baking the back patio when I slid the glass door open. I set out a couple towels, dragged the cooler closer to the shade, and dropped into the lounge chair with a slow sigh, letting the heat soak into my skin.


I wore my favorite bikini — pale blue, triangle top, tied at the back of my neck and snug at the hips. It was cute, simple, and very on purpose. Not that I'd admit that out loud.


Liv and Jackson were on their way. I'd said something casual in our group text about "just chilling by the pool," like I hadn't spent twenty minutes adjusting my hair into messy perfection and choosing the exact lip balm that made my mouth look sun-warmed instead of efforted.


I tilted my face toward the sun, sunglasses sliding down the bridge of my nose.


That strange pull — like gravity shifting a degree.


I didn't even have to look to know he was there.


Bare feet. A pause. That quiet air that came with him — not heavy, just charged.


His hair was tousled, eyes slightly squinted against the light. He wore a worn gray t-shirt and black athletic shorts, looking like he'd just woken up. His gaze landed on me, and for a second, I saw the flicker — the stillness before something either breaks or bends.


I sat up a little on the chair, propping one leg up, pretending to adjust my towel.


"Didn't know you were home," I said lightly.


His voice was lower than I expected. "Didn't know you were having people over."


He didn't move, didn't say anything. Just stood there, looking at me like I was a different person than the girl he used to know. And maybe I was.


I didn't hide under big T-shirts anymore. I didn't stammer around him. I didn't wait in doorways for permission to be seen.


Now, he was the one who looked a little caught off guard.


The screen door opened again, breaking the moment.


Liv's voice rang out. "We brought popsicles, and Jackson forgot sunscreen so he's gonna fry."


But not before glancing back — catching Callum still standing there, eyes fixed on me like I was sunlight.


Like he was remembering something he didn't know he'd forgotten.


Chapter 22 - Callum