EDIT: I am trying to create a "clicker" game, that loads the last recorded number from the data file.

I am working on a simple, one button game, it is a clicker game. Nothing fancy, just a JButton and a JLabel. I'm fairly new at the Java IO Class, so I don't know what's causing this to happen. I'm not getting any errors, but a random number, except the same number every time.

Write Method:

public static void write(long data) {

    File file = new File("data.txt");
    path = file.getAbsolutePath();

    try {
        PrintWriter writer = new PrintWriter(file);
        writer.println(data);
        writer.close();
    } catch (IOException e) {
        System.out.println(e);
    }

}

Read Method:

public static long read() {

    long data = 0;
    try {
        BufferedReader reader = new BufferedReader(new FileReader(path));
        data = reader.read();
        reader.close();
        return data;
    } catch (IOException e) {
        System.err.format("Exception occurred trying to read '%s'.", path);
        e.printStackTrace();
        return 0;
    }
}

Graphical User Interface:

public static void gui() {

    . . .

    // Declarations {
    JFrame frame = new JFrame("Clicker");
    JPanel panel = new JPanel();
    JButton clickerButton = new JButton("Click");
    JLabel amountOfClicks = new JLabel("Click to get started!");
    // }

    . . .
    // * * * * * * * * * * *
    panel.setLayout(new GridLayout(2, 0));

    // Action {
    clickerButton.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {
        @Override
        public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent evt) {
            if (read() >= 1) {
                clickerCount = read() + 1;
                amountOfClicks.setText("You have clicked: " + clickerCount + " times.");
                write(clickerCount);
            } else {
                clickerCount = clickerCount + 1;
                amountOfClicks.setText("You have clicked: " + clickerCount + " times.");
                write(clickerCount);
            }
        }
    });
    // }
    . . .

Also the random number I get (48), when I click the button it should increase by 1. But now since it starts at "48", first click: increases by 1. Second: 4. Third: 1. Then stops increasing. The reason why I'm wanting to write to a file is so, I can load the last recorded number.