Almost, Maybe

Before Marlowe Ackerman goes away to Brown University, she does the bravest thing she's ever done.

She confesses to her best friend, Oliver Abbott, that she is in love with him.

And Oliver breaks her heart gently. To him, Marlowe is his safe place. His best friend. The one person who has always been there for him. His feelings for her have never changed, and he is certain they never will.

At eighteen, Oliver is desperate for a fresh start after years of being the awkward, gangly dork. Parties, girls, fraternity life, reinvention-he wants everything he thinks college is supposed to give him.

But once he gets there, nothing feels right without Marlowe.

While she thrives at Brown, Oliver falls apart. He fails classes, wakes up hungover, surrounds himself with the wrong people, and slowly realizes the reason his feelings for Marlowe never changed is because he has loved her all along.

But he's too late.

When he goes to tell her, he finds her in bed with her boyfriend, Sam. Jealousy and heartbreak make him spit ugly, cruel words he will regret for the rest of his life.

Marlowe ends their friendship for good.

Ten years later, Oliver has changed. He is a history teacher at their old high school, a wrestling coach, and a man who has spent a decade learning from the worst mistake of his life.

When he hears that Marlowe Ackerman is coming back to town for their high school reunion, Oliver knows better than to think he deserves a second chance.

But he wants one.

Not just to tell Marlowe he still loves her.

To show her he has become someone worthy of loving her the way she deserves.

He was her almost.

Maybe now, he can be her always.