I Used to Hear His Thoughts. Now He Hears Mine.

In the seventh year of our long-distance relationship, I quit my job in New York and dragged my suitcase back to Boston.

But I punched in the door code three times, and it was wrong all three times.

The door opened from the inside.

It was my best friend, Paige Monroe.

She was wearing a man's white dress shirt. The hem barely reached the tops of her thighs.

I recognized that shirt. It was the one I'd given Nathan last Christmas.

Chapter One (Evie)

"Evie, you're back?"

She smiled as if it were the most natural thing in the world and stepped aside to let me in.

"I had a huge fight with my roommate, so I've been crashing at your boyfriend's place."

The bathroom door opened. Nathan Cole walked out with a pink towel wrapped around his waist, his hair still dripping.

"Don't just stand in the doorway." He glanced at me, his voice impatient. "I don't know why you showed up out of nowhere, but Paige has the master bedroom now. You can sleep in the guest room tonight."

A second later, that familiar voice started up in my head again.

Have you fallen for someone else after all this time apart?

Evie, tell her this is our home. Tell her she can't stay.

Come on, make a scene. Show me you still care.

For seven years now, ever since I couldn't say exactly when, I'd been able to hear Nathan's thoughts.

And he had always been like this.

If I was late answering a text, he took Paige to dinner. If I missed a weekend with him, he let Paige stay the night.

I used to ask. I used to cry. I used to make the exact scene his thoughts were begging for.

But this time, I looked at that pink towel around his waist, at the lace bra hanging on the balcony, and suddenly I didn't want to ask anything at all.

I took a step back and pulled up the handle of my suitcase.

A home with three people in it? I wasn't living there.

Paige reached out and grabbed my suitcase.

"Evie, it's just the door code. Are you seriously mad?" She blinked at me. "I could never remember the old code, so Nathan changed it to my birthday."

Nathan scoffed.

"She's being dramatic. It's just a few numbers. What's the big deal about changing them?"

His face was full of contempt, but the voice inside him was getting more and more frantic.

Say it. Say those numbers were the day we got together. Tell me I'm not allowed to change them.

Evie Lawson, how are you not reacting at all?

I didn't say a word.

Paige leaned against the doorframe and yawned. "Are you coming in or not? We're going to bed."

I took out the key I'd had for seven years and set it gently on the shoe cabinet by the door.

"No. You two go to bed."

Nathan stiffened.

"If you're not coming in, then get lost!"

The door slammed so hard I stumbled back a step. My purse fell to the floor, and a stack of old train tickets slid out.

New York to Boston. Four hours on Amtrak.

The ticket on top was dated seven years ago.

The day I transferred to New York, Nathan took me to Penn Station. The boarding call sounded three times before he finally let go of me.

"Go on. Don't look back." He said it so lightly.

But in that exact second, I heard his thoughts for the very first time.

I don't want you to go.

But I can't stop you.

Evie, I love you. You have to wait for me.

I stood there at the gate, and the tears came pouring out.

For the next seven years, I took that four-hour train again and again. Even when I worked until the early hours of the morning, I'd catch the first train out to see him.

Until one time, after two straight all-nighters, I passed out at the office and missed my train to see him.

When I woke up in the hospital, the first thing I did was call him. He didn't pick up until my seventh call.

"I'm at dinner with Paige." His voice was cold. "What are you crying about? You don't have time for me, so I'm not allowed to see her? Isn't she your best friend? She's keeping an eye on me for you. What are you worried about?"

That night, Paige posted three times on Instagram.

Hot pot. A bar. The Charles River at three in the morning.

And I lay alone in a hospital bed with an IV drip in my arm all night.

My tears fell on the train ticket. I tried to wipe them away, but I couldn't get it clean.

The door opened again.

"If you can't bear to leave, then get in here."

Nathan saw the tears on my face, and his expression softened a little. "How long are you here for this time?"

I didn't tell him I'd already quit my job.

There was no point.

I'd given up everything in New York because all I wanted was to end this long-distance relationship we'd suffered through for seven years. But while I wasn't here, he and Paige had already built a life together.

Paige came out of the bathroom with a towel and started drying his hair as if she'd done it a hundred times.

Nathan didn't pull away. He even bent his head for her.

In his thoughts, he said he loved me. But he'd long since gotten used to having her by his side.

There was no room for me in this home anymore.

That stack of train tickets was still scattered on the floor. I turned and walked toward the elevator.

Behind me, Nathan gave a cold laugh.

"Evie Lawson, if you walk out that door today, we're done."

I pressed the elevator button and didn't look back.

His thoughts suddenly went into chaos.

Evie, don't go. I just wanted to make you jealous.

Just turn around and I'll make it up to you right now.

The elevator doors opened, and I stepped inside.

Please. Don't go.

I heard it.

But this time, I didn't stop.

The elevator doors slid shut, inch by inch, cutting off his face, and his voice along with it.

That was when my phone rang.

"Evie, it's Sebastian." The man's voice on the other end was steady. "I got you the last slot for the final interview at headquarters. Tomorrow at ten. Are you sure about this?"

I wiped away my tears and cleared my throat.

"I'll be there."