Page 113 of Caught Up In You

open me, wyatt hart

My heart leaps into my throat, because I recognize that messy scrawl.

I haven’t heard from Owen since that text the morning after I ran out of his house, that sad, weak apology. I’ve managed to avoid him completely, and in a small town like Cardinal Springs, that has practically been a second full-time job. I amtired.

And now here he is—or his handwriting, anyway.

I consider walking out, but my feet are rooted to the floor, my curiosity getting the best of me. I lower myself down to my knees.

I open the box and find…

Tapes.

Piles of tapes.

Each one is numbered and has songs listed on the small lined cover in the same messy scrawl.

I pick up tape number one and read the track list, only to burst out laughing when I realize it’s “Hurts So Good” by John Mellencamp ten times. The same song over and over, just like that first night at Sorry Charlie’s.

I reach for tape number two. This one is a more straightforward mixtape with lots of different songs, but the references become clear pretty quickly. “Scenes from an Italian Restaurant” and “My Funny Valentine” and “Let The Circle Be Unbroken.” Each one is a little wink to a moment I shared with Owen. I laugh when I see The Pina Colada Song on the next tape. There’s a whole tape full of eighties hits that played at the dance marathon. There’s one called “Bro Country Sucks” that’s just the greatest outlaw country of all time interspersed with Romy’s songs. There’s an entire tape full of songs about pickup trucks.

My breath catches when I get to tape number fifteen: a copy of Debbie’s breakup tape. I laugh only to realize that I’m crying.

And then I reach for tape sixteen, the only one left in the box.

“Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word” by Elton John

“If I Could Turn Back Time” by Cher

“Emily I’m Sorry” by boygenius

“Apologize” by Timbaland (feat. One Republic)

“Let Her Go” by Passenger

“Somebody That I Used to Know” by Gotye (feat. Kimbra)

“Back to December” by Taylor Swift

“making the bed” by Olivia Rodrigo

“Say Something” by A Great Big World and Christina Aguilera

“Jealous Guy” by John Lennon

And at the bottom of the box is a note.

To be continued…

I gasp, then look up to see Owen standing in the warm light of the bookstore. He’s smiling, but the deep line between his eyebrows betrays his nerves. His dark, thick hair is pushed back, and his sharp jawline is covered by a shadow several hours past five o’clock.

“Sorry for all the subterfuge,” he says with a shrug, another box in his hand.

“It’s okay,” I whisper, my voice watery. After so many weeks of avoiding him, I feel his presence in every part of my body. My hips ache for the feel of his large hands. My neck longs for his lips. I feel a phantom tug at the curls at the nape of my neck, an echo of meetings past. All this time Owen’s been haunting me, no more than now, when he’s standing right in front of me.

I can’t move.

“I spent weeks trying to figure out how to show you how much I love you,” he says, and my chest swells sharply. “And how sorry I am for wrecking everything.”

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