Jar of Hearts

The narrative flashes back to the day Geo meets Calvin at age 16. She’s with Angela and Kaiser, and he’s drinking beer in a 7-Eleven parking lot with three other guys. When Calvin pays less attention to Angela than to Geo, Angela gets jealous. He invites them to see his friend’s band play the next night. The two girls attend, and Geo spends the evening kissing Calvin. He’s very charming, and she falls hard for him. It’s her first time being in love.

By the time Geo leaves prison, she has a stack of letters with the same blue envelopes and handwriting as that first one. All but the first remain unopened. Boney is found dead the morning of Geo’s release. Geo knows that she was killed for threatening Ella’s family. Cat and Geo say heartfelt goodbyes, and Geo vows that she won’t let Cat die in prison. She promises Ella to visit her brother and children and give her brother crucial information about Ella’s business and profits. In return, he’ll give Geo a gun to protect herself and her father from Calvin.

Upon arriving at her father’s house, Geo sees that someone spray-painted “MURDERER” across his garage door. She learns that her ex-fiancé, Andrew, got married and recently had twin daughters. Geo’s childhood bedroom brings painful memories of Calvin flooding back. A Mason jar that he once gave her, filled with cinnamon heart-shaped candies, sits empty on the dresser. It was an apology after the first time he hit her. Geo hurls the jar at the wall, but it doesn’t break.

A flashback of Geo’s early relationship with Calvin shows how the abuse and controlling behavior start. Geo spends so much time with him that she’s consistently late for and unfocused at cheerleading practice. This causes a fight that leads to Angela kicking her off the squad. Though Calvin wanted Geo to quit, when he sees how upset she is, he promises that he’ll fix it. He plans to charm Angela into letting Geo back on the team.

On Geo’s first night at home, she can’t sleep. Kaiser visits, and Geo tells him that she wishes she was a better friend to him in high school. He says that he now understands why she wasn’t and forgives her. Kaiser tells Geo about Claire and Henry’s murder and shows her pictures, which make her vomit. He explains that the heart was drawn in a shade of Shipp Pharmaceuticals lipstick called Cinnamon Heart. They view security footage of a man purchasing the lipstick, and she recognizes Calvin. When Kaiser demands answers that Geo can’t give, she criticizes him for Calvin’s escape, equating it to her own mistake at age 16 and saying that they both allowed Calvin to keep killing.

Geo’s bank denies her request for a home loan because of her criminal record. When she returns home, new graffiti on the garage door says, “BURN IN HELL” (158). A preteen boy on a bicycle comments that someone must hate her, and he asks if she killed her best friend. The boy leaves when he sees Roberta Heller walking over. Roberta makes hateful remarks and says that Geo is the devil before throwing her coffee in Geo’s face. Later, Geo visits her mother’s and Angela’s grave sites at Rose Hill Cemetery.

A flashback shows Geo’s fight with Angela. After a few days, the girls apologize and make up. They talk about Kaiser being in love with Geo. She doesn’t love him, but she gets jealous at the thought of him dating someone else. Angela asks if Calvin hits Geo, but Geo denies it. Angela lets Geo back on the cheer squad and promises that she’ll make an effort to get to know Calvin.

In another flashback, Geo and Angela are at a Friday night high school party. Geo is drunk and about to walk home when Kaiser stops her. He says that he wants to be with her, and they kiss. Geo stops the kiss, saying that she loves Calvin, and encourages Kaiser to date Barb, a girl who likes him. Angela and Geo leave the party together. They can’t go home since they’re each supposed to be sleeping over at the other’s house, so they decide to go to Calvin’s.

Cat calls Geo from prison to say that her cancer is spreading but that she was approved for parole and will be released on Monday. She’ll stay with Geo at Walt’s house for now and then move with Geo when Geo gets her own place. 

Kaiser comes by and notices that someone painted profanity on Geo’s car. The two reminisce about their youth, and Geo talks about guilt and why people can’t forgive her. Kaiser is about to tell Geo about Calvin being Henry’s biological father when he’s interrupted by a call about a new lead on Calvin. He leaves in a hurry. Geo’s thoughts reveal that there’s more to the story of Angela’s murder that she didn’t discuss in court and never plans to.

The flashback resumes at Calvin’s apartment, where Geo and Angela continue drinking. Angela flirts with Calvin out of jealousy. The girls start dancing together and kissing to turn Calvin on, but Geo soon passes out. She wakes up to find Calvin raping Angela. When Angela threatens to have Calvin arrested, he strangles her to death. Calvin convinces Geo that she’s equally at fault and forces her to help him bury Angela in the woods behind Geo’s house. The vision of Angela’s dead face as they bury her haunts Geo every night for the next 14 years.

Getting accustomed to life after prison is very hard for Geo. Everything feels like a luxury she doesn’t deserve. People aren’t friendly, strangers take pictures of her, and she’s very lonely. She tries to get a job at a hair salon, but none will hire her. Kaiser comes by and says that the lead on Calvin didn’t pan out. She’s upset when she learns that Henry is Calvin’s child, so Kaiser comforts her. They kiss, which leads to them sleeping together.

After Kaiser leaves, Geo recalls the morning after her best friend’s death. Angela’s mother called to look for her. Geo lied and said that she had last seen Angela at the high school party. Police came to Geo’s house that night, and she told them the same story. The fourth night after Angela’s disappearance, Geo was overwhelmed with guilt and decided that she would confess everything the next morning. However, Calvin snuck into her room through her window and insisted that they finally have sex, as he was planning to leave town. Geo refused, and Calvin raped her. Then, he left, and she didn’t see him again until his trial, 14 years later. 

In the present, Kaiser texts Geo that two more bodies were found and that Calvin has been spotted in town.