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I’ll be fine.

We are fine.

There’s still no rain, but inside, the waterworks won’t stop. I woke up crying and declined the girls’ offer to take me out for lunch. I’m a puffy-eyed, hormonal mess, and I caved the second I saw the date on my phone screen.

Talia: Happy 10 years, baby

Taking a peek at our shared calendar, he’s due to record acoustic versions of his songs for the next week.

I shoot up in bed.

The CD.

I’m on my feet, the bedsheets tangling around my legs as I make for the stairs. I catapult into the living room and grab Tate’s gift from the shelving unit, tracing his chicken-scratch handwriting.

I slot the CD into the home-audio system and press Play.

At first, there’s static and shuffling.

“Testing, one, two, three.”

I press my fingers to my lips.

Tate’s deep chuckle bounces off the walls. “I’ve always wanted to say that. Anyway…Today’s date is August twenty-third, and we’re recording A Decade of Us, performed by Tate Brooks, dedicated to his wife, Talia Brooks. I’d like it known on record that yesterday I overcame my fear of needles. No, actually, I’m still petrified and I have to go back this afternoon to get it finished.” I hear him shiver. “But for you, Tally Girl, I’ll do anything.”

I laugh through the tears as Tate tunes his guitar.

“This song is called ‘My Once and Only.’”

When Tate’s whiskey-smooth cadence filters through the speakers, it leaves me motionless. I’ve missed his voice, the way the lyrics twist and melt with the strings of his guitar.

Then he gets to the chorus, and I gasp.

And I would’ve sat there for hours

At the table I grew up at

Knowing she was it, she was everything

She was my once and only

Momma’s words sing true

Because the moment we met, I knew

Once and only, you look so lonely

Let me fill that void

I’ve never heard this song, but the words paint a vivid picture in my head, transporting me back in time to when two clumsy teenagers shared a meal. Did they know it would be the first of many?

The song ends before Tate moves on to the next.

“This is ‘Sunshine Kisses.’”

Again, the song is new, but I immediately know its meaning. Our first kiss. He’d always teased me for saying his kisses tasted like sunshine.

I wanna be your first, last, everything