How to save the amount of lives when the player dies and then uses one life?

Hi I'm struggling with this issue.I searched a lot before asking here.

So i have programmed an arcade game which when it dies it pops up a menu with a continue option using one life out of five.Like Subway Surfers with the keys.

The issue is that when i use one heart i want to save it.But everytime i restart the game it keeps saying the initial number which is five.Or without using a life,it by itself,subtracts by one without even clicking the "Save me" button.

Here is my code:

 public Text heart;
 public Text heart2;

 public int counter;
 
   


 void Start () {
    
     heart.text = "" + counter;
     heart2.text = "" +counter;

 }
 
 // Update is called once per frame
 void Update () {
 
 }
   
 public void SaveMe()
 {
     heart.text = counter.ToString();
     heart2.text = counter.ToString();
     int heartScore = PlayerPrefs.GetInt("Life2", 0);
     heartScore--;
     if(heartScore<0)
     {
         heartScore = counter;
     }
     PlayerPrefs.SetInt("Life2", heartScore);
     heart.text = PlayerPrefs.GetInt("Life2", 0).ToString();
     heart2.text = PlayerPrefs.GetInt("Life2", 0).ToString();
 }

}

Then i call this method in the button script.