When Y/N returns to the small beach town of Briar Cove for the first time in ten years, she expects nothing to have changed—and everything to feel different. She’s right on both counts. The waves still roll in the same way they did when she was seventeen. The boardwalk still creaks under late-night footsteps. And the summer still smells like salt, sunscreen, and memories she thought she’d outgrown. But nothing prepares her for James. He’s next door. Older now, quieter in the ways that matter, and impossible to ignore. Because Briar Cove doesn’t just bring people back—it brings back who they used to be. And for Y/N, that means the summer she never really stopped waiting for… and the boy she never really stopped loving. Some places don’t let you move on. Some summers don’t end. And some people only make sense when you finally come back to them. *Meant to be read from the perspective of Y/N being Taylor Swift’s “Betty”