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.

I was still standing in the kitchen when the front door opened.


Voices, footsteps — a familiar burst of chaotic energy as Kaden's crew poured in like it was still summer break and not real life.


I barely had time to wipe my hands on a towel before I heard her laugh.


I didn't even need to see her to know it was her.


She came into view like a glossy magazine ad — all legs, tan skin, and perfectly effortless hair swept into a low bun that probably took forty-five seconds to do but somehow looked expensive. A cropped white tank top and cutoff jeans that hugged her like they were made for her body.


Her arm brushed Kaden's when she walked in, like they were all still close. Like time hadn't made anyone strangers.


Just that same unreadable mask he wore when he didn't want anyone to know what he was thinking.


I stood still, gripping the edge of the counter like it could keep me grounded.


Gabbie's eyes flicked to me — and something flickered across her face. Recognition? Surprise? Triumph?


"Hey, Cara," she said, voice sugar-slick. "Wow. You've really grown up."


I smiled, tight and practiced. "Yeah, it's been a while."


She glanced down at my bikini, then back up like she was cataloging the changes.


I fought the heat crawling up my neck and turned to Kaden instead. "Didn't know you were bringing people over."


He shrugged. "Spur of the moment. We were all out, figured we'd stop by. Pool still open?"


He smiled, already heading for the back door.


Gabbie didn't follow right away. Instead, she leaned a little closer to Callum and said something I couldn't hear. He didn't smile. Didn't touch her. Just gave the faintest nod.


Because I remembered being fourteen and watching her from the shadows — seeing how easily she got his attention. How naturally she fit into his world. How much I wanted to be her.


Chapter 26 - Gabbie