Page 127 of Owen Bailey Needs Advice

“I knew I was right about her,” Levi barks. “I take back every kind thing I said about Archer. I—”

“Levi,” Meredith says, “sweetie, shut up.”

Alice cracks a grin at Meredith’s scolding. “Did you hear her, Uncle Owen? That Meredith is a crack-up.”

My mother hands baby Lulabelle back to her mother and makes her way through the sea of Baileys. “Honey, what happened?”

“Nothing,” I say, not in the mood to explain myself. “It’s over with Annie.”

“Over?” Coco says.

“Wait.” Alice moans. “I liked her.”

“Me too,” I say to my niece. “I just need to think—okay?”

I make my way through the crowd and find the only private room in this house: the hall bathroom.

It seems that just seconds ago, Annie had locked herself in a room and I had assured her that I was different. Thatwewere different. She seemed to believe me. She said she did. If she felt so differently, why wouldn’t she tell me? She’d have me learn of it in a public article? Maybe she planned to let me down easy after Christmas and then print the article. None of those possibilities make me feel any better though.

Her words broke my heart—but the fact that she was willing to let me go on thinking that we had made it, that she reciprocated all of my feelings, is what hurts the most.

None of it makes sense, and none of it feels like Annie.

There’s a knock on the bathroom door, and I honestly don’t know who it is—anyone from my family could be on the other side disturbing my not-so-peaceful moment.

“Owen,” Miles says. “What happened?”

“She doesn’t want me. That’s it.”

“Ow—”

I crack open the door and peer out at my brother. “Just give me a minute, Miles. I’ll be out in time for stockings, I promise.”

“Take your time,” he says, sadness in his eyes.

But not two minutes later, there’s another knock. “Miles—” I grind my teeth and open the door a crack, but it isn’t Miles who stands outside this bathroom door.

It’s Annie.

“Just hear me out, Owen,” she says, a tremor in her voice. My view isn’t great down the hallway—but it’s good enough to see that every member of the Bailey family, including Annie’s sister, watches this spectacle.

“I got the message. You don’t have to ex—”

“Owen, please shut up,” she cries, and with her words, a sputter of Alice giggles filter in behind her.

I let the door swing open wider, and I stand there, ready for her excuses, ready for Maddox Powell’s words to affect the rest of my life—because that’s what this is, isn’t it? Maddox Powell convinced Annie to believe a lie about herself, and now we don’t get to be together. If I ever see that man again—

“Owen, I love you.”

I stare, unsure if I heard her right or if I even believe her.

“I wrote that article a week after we started dating. I wrote it with fear and doubt in my head. I just couldn’t see how this would ever work out then. But it wasn’t honest, and it wasn’t true. I never could have printed it. I was wrong. I’m sorry I ever wrote it.”

I open my mouth to speak, but she isn’t done. My heart and brain take in each word, trying to decide if they’re real.

“You said you wouldn’t give up on me. You said we were worth fighting for.” Her voice breaks, and she holds out the article she wrote. She flips it over to the blank backside—though it’s no longer blank. There are scribbled pen marks all along the back. She shoves the thing at me. “Read it,” she commands. “Honest and true.”

And with all of my family and her sister watching, I do.

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