The Distance Between Us

Seventeen-year-old Caymen Meyers lives with her single mother, Susan, in a tiny apartment above their porcelain doll store, Dolls and More. Caymen works the register every afternoon on work release from school, deploying dry humor to cope with a life she finds monotonous. She divides the town into two categories: the rich and the people who sell things to the rich. When a confident young man walks into the store, beckoning her over without looking at her, Caymen pegs him immediately as wealthy. He buys a doll for his grandmother's birthday, and she processes his credit card, learning his name is Xander Spence. He tries to learn hers, but she refuses, offering only that she is Susan's daughter.

Caymen's world is small. Her only friend is Skye Lockwood, a young woman who works at the antique store next door. Skye introduces her new boyfriend, Henry, the guitarist for a local band called Crusty Toads, and Henry arranges for the lead singer, Mason, to meet Caymen. Mason is charismatic, and after a concert at a local dive bar, he surprises Caymen with a kiss. She is flustered but unsure of her feelings.

Meanwhile, Susan has been unusually tired, barely eating, and falling asleep early. While searching her mother's office for her paycheck, Caymen discovers the store's balance book shows a deficit of over $2,253. The store is in serious financial trouble.

Xander returns to pick up a special-order doll and turns out to be the grandson of Mrs. Dalton, one of Caymen's favorite customers. Over a phone call with his grandmother, Xander coaxes Caymen's name out, breaking through one of her barriers. He begins showing up each morning with hot chocolate, walking Caymen to school, and engaging her in a question-and-answer game that reveals small details while avoiding deeper subjects. Caymen conceals his visits from Susan, who distrusts the wealthy. Caymen's father was a rich young man who abandoned Susan during her pregnancy; his parents paid hush money that became the start-up capital for the doll store. This history has shaped Susan's deep wariness of the rich, which Caymen has absorbed.

When Xander reveals that his family owns the Road's End hotel chain, a 500-location empire, Caymen grasps the full scale of his wealth. He draws a parallel between their situations: Both are expected to take over family businesses they did not choose. Caymen bristles, knowing his family would survive without him while her mother genuinely depends on her. Xander proposes they take turns planning career days, outings to help each other discover what they want to do with their lives.

Xander's first career day takes Caymen to a photo shoot at the hotel penthouse, where she shadows a photographer and discovers she enjoys composing shots. His father, Blaine Spence, arrives unexpectedly, and Caymen wonders whether Xander is using her to rebel against his father. She borrows Xander's camera to photograph dolls for a potential store website. For Caymen's turn, she takes Xander to the cemetery where Skye's father works. They dig a grave together and share vulnerable admissions: His biggest fear is failure, and she confesses she often feels older than her age.

Xander then takes Caymen to a French restaurant where his wealthy friends are gathered. Still coated in dirt from the cemetery, she feels out of place. Overhearing what she interprets as one of them calling her a stray, she calls Skye for a ride and leaves, convinced she does not belong in Xander's world.

Tension builds on multiple fronts. A celebrity magazine publishes a photo of Xander holding hands with actress Sadie Newel, described as his longtime girlfriend. Caymen is devastated and returns his camera to the hotel front desk, intending to sever the connection. At the same time, a mysterious man named Matthew visits the store asking for Susan, and when Caymen builds a website for the store, Susan shuts it down angrily without explanation. Distraught, Caymen calls Xander, who suggests Susan may fear the website would allow Caymen's father to find them.

Xander's second career day takes Caymen on a private jet to the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV), where his brother Lucas attends college. In a science lab, a teaching assistant walks Caymen through blood analysis and old case files, and she is visibly awestruck. During the visit, Lucas mentions the magazine article. Xander is furious, buys the magazine, and proves the photo is old. He plays Sadie's voicemail, confirming they are not together. Caymen is flooded with relief, and the emotional barrier between them begins to dissolve.

Back home, an answering machine message scheduling an ultrasound for Susan sends Caymen into a panic. Skye concludes Susan must be pregnant, and Caymen is terrified her mother is repeating the unplanned pregnancy that derailed her life 17 years ago. Caymen and Skye impulsively toilet-paper the gate of Xander's estate and are caught by security. Inside the Spences' kitchen, Caymen and Xander share their first kiss. The emotion overwhelms her, and she confides about her mother's possible pregnancy, crying in his arms.

Their relationship deepens, and Caymen agrees to attend his mother's charity benefit. Susan discovers them together and confronts Caymen at home, insisting rich men see girls like them only as temporary amusements. She tells Caymen her father never wanted to see her, and the words cut deep.

At the benefit, Mrs. Dalton and Xander's mother welcome Caymen warmly. But Xander's oldest brother, Samuel, asks if she is related to the wealthy Meyers family behind SCM Pharmacy, and Xander confirms it. Caymen is stunned: Xander's family accepted her because they believe she comes from money. Using the event planner's seating chart, she locates the Meyers couple across the room. The woman locks eyes with Caymen and mouths the name Susan. These strangers are Caymen's maternal grandparents, whom Susan claimed had disowned her. Caymen realizes her mother grew up wealthy and hid the truth.

Overwhelmed, Caymen flees. Robert, one of Xander's friends, tells Xander he saw Caymen with Mason, deepening the confusion. Back at the store, Susan apologizes, admitting she hid her parents out of fear Caymen would want their lifestyle. Mid-conversation, Susan grabs her stomach and vomits blood. Caymen rushes her to the hospital.

Left alone overnight, Caymen returns to the store and discovers nearly every backup doll box in the stockroom is empty. Susan has been selling inventory without reordering, secretly liquidating to stay afloat. In the morning, Caymen contacts her grandparents, Sean and Vivian Meyers. Sean, whose dry wit mirrors Caymen's, takes charge at the hospital. Matthew turns out to be a bill collector, not a romantic interest.

Xander arrives and tells Caymen he learned about her grandparents less than a month ago from Mrs. Dalton. Once he realized Caymen did not even know them, he understood she had no money, and he still wants to be with her. They reconcile, and Caymen tells him she loves him. He says it back.

The doctor diagnoses Susan with bleeding stomach ulcers, a serious but treatable condition. Reunited with her parents, Susan acknowledges the doll store was never Caymen's passion and releases her from any obligation to run it. She gives Caymen permission to contact her father. Caymen announces she plans to attend college as a science major. The novel closes with Caymen and Xander teasing each other as they walk into Susan's hospital room, their future uncertain but hopeful.