mine {h.s.} | {b3}

FIN

— FIN —

for the last time, i have to share my thanks with you all. so: thank you, thank you, thank YOU for reading this story. for spending so much of your time reading about hacie. thank you for joining me for the past 204,851 words of this book and 803,879 words of hacie's developing story. we tackled a story that spans approximately a decade in the past (almost) two years. when i was sitting in my creative nonfiction class with a blank page in front of me, a pencil in my hand and i wrote the words:

love to hate journey. begins when harry and gracie work at the same hospital together and harry starts as the hated jerk; comparatively, gracie is immediately loved and accepted. both come from a broken home childhood, but gracie has overcome her struggles. over time, gracie ends up liking and accepting harry. she takes him under her wing and brings him in for friendship—they become each other's "person." eventually, harry moves in with gracie. they have this sort of understanding prompted by gracie's understanding of harry's sleeping around and harry's unflinching ability to listen to gracie's boy problems.

their friendship is never entirely romantic and they continue to see other people. gracie's boyfriend moves in and harry moves out—in with his girlfriend. still, harry and gracie are close—if not closer. they know all of the intimate details about the other's relationships. when gracie gets married, harry is the maid of honor/getaway car.

harry and his girlfriend get in a rut. they're in a very serious relationship, but hit a patch in which they're not moving forward. something happens to gracie's husband—dies, leaves, whatever—and gracie is left alone. harry moves back in with gracie after she shows up at his house in tears and unstable. over time, gracie begins getting back out there. she goes on her own dates. on the first, she calls harry for pickup halfway through. harry immediately comes, leaving his own date. finally, girlfriend grows uncomfortable with their relationship and gives him the ultimatum: her or gracie. harry chooses gracie because she is the only one who stayed around. drunkenly, they hook up and gracie freaks out since he was the first person after her husband. this causes her to run. she is a flight risk, and harry is what grounds her.

i never suspected this is what would come of it. i never suspected that i would fall in love the way that i did. i never suspected that my original plot would change and i never expected that i would love the changes that came of it. then, when i put the beginning of hacie's story into a blank document on october 13, 2019, i never suspected that this would be where we ended. i never knew that i would have all of you wonderful readers to show for it. series are threatening on wattpad, you never know how many people transition from one book to another. if you made it to the end, i am indebted to you forever.

thank you for being the most loyal readers and sticking with me. thank you for trusting me with characters that we all love. thank you for letting me explore my writing skills. thank you for trusting me when i did silly things. thank you for believing in me and thank you for sharing your love with the stories that i read and write. you are all my most favorite people.

until i am in situations of saying goodbye, i never know how sentimental that i am. i never know how hard it will be until i have written the last line that a character will speak, until i am leaving a story that i will never open again. this is a bittersweet day for me. i'm sure that once i have a clearer head, i'll regret not being more articulate in my gratitude and emotions now, but for now, all i can say is thank you, i love you.

i look forward to writing new stories for you. stories with new characters that you'll (hopefully) love just as much, if not more. already, i have a couple for you to browse through at whim:

boston — a hockey harry affair.

sign — multilingual harry as the asl interpreter for main character's roommate

smut stop shop — a collection of one shots

october — enemies to lovers actorry

otherwise, keep an eye out for some new stories for me. i have so many that i can't wait to share with you.

i love, love, love you all, mean it.

thank you all for being the best. i'm eternally grateful and indebted.