Courtneyjanesyder
Emily Hart has spent years learning how to survive love.
Her late partner left behind a mess of conflicting emotions-grief tangled with relief, guilt woven into freedom. After years trapped in an abusive relationship she didn't know how to escape, Emily is finally alone... and she has no idea who she is without the constant fear she lived in. Healing feels impossible. Loving again feels unthinkable.
Until Sam.
They meet by chance at a crowded cocktail bar-Emily seeking a moment of distraction, Sam lingering in the shadows with eyes that say he's carrying more than he'll ever admit. Their connection is immediate. Electric. Terrifying. One look, and Emily's chest aches in a way she hasn't felt in years.
But Sam has his own ghosts. And a job that keeps him disappearing without warning.
What follows is years of almosts:
soft kisses they pretend were accidents,
hands brushing that spark like fire,
late-night honesty,
quiet distance,
and an unspoken pull neither of them has the courage to name.
Emily wants to believe she deserves love.
Sam wants to believe he can offer it.
But trauma makes them cautious. Fear makes them silent. And timing has never been on their side.
As their lives tangle and untangle over the years, the question becomes the one neither of them can outrun:
What if the person you're meant for is the one you're most afraid to lose?
Heartbreaking, hopeful, and simmering with slow-burn tension, The Unspoken Thing is a story of healing after hurt, love after loss, and two people who spend years speaking the truth only through their touch-until the day they finally dare to say it out loud.