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.