Fitz

Chapter 8 I was stunned to see my husband walk onto the stage at karaoke. I had neither seen nor heard from him in five months, ever since he walked out of my life, also abandoning Zach without a word, or even a note. Scott looked good, and I don't know how that made me feel. He looked like he was in slightly better shape than when he left, and his hair was styled to perfection. His confidence as he took the stage disarmed me. It was as if it was just another day for him. "A while back, I

Thank you so much! Originally, there wasn't going to be much of an apology and Will was going to be more involved with Scott's plan, but I realized there was no way Will would do that to Noah. It tempered the surprise of the reveal a bit, but I think it led to a better overall chapter. Fortunately, Chapter 8 should be out in the near future so you won't have to wait long!

My biggest complaint of Chapter 3? That I decided to push you out of the nest, which meant I wasn't the first to tell you how great it was!!!! :2thumbs: :2thumbs: :2thumbs: But (and you knew that word would be there lol) check your email!

Well, I finally got around to reading chapter 2. Great job. I found one minor knit to pick, but I'll email you about it. The changes you made really helped make everything seem real! Looking forward to more!

Well between my references to Scott reappearing soon, the fact this chapter would be the point where the two timelines merged, and the fact I've said a big cliffhanger was coming, it's not REALLY that surprising that Scott showed up! Scott has his reasons for going this route. I'm not saying they're necessarily GOOD reasons, mind you, but he does have them. The Elton John song is'Sorry Seems to be the Hardest Word', and you'll just have to wait and see! As far as "All by Myself", according to wikipedia, it was written and first performed by Eric Carmen. I've heard a version of it sung by a guy that gave the Celine Dion version a run for it's money, but I don't know who it was by, and I swear it was bigger-sounding than Eric Carmen's. I'm personally not a huge fan of Avril Lavigne, but some of her songs are pretty good. I think it's more that she came out just after Pink and a few other pop-rock women hit the scene, and she just seemed a little more 'bubblegum' compared to them. I actually never realized until I was listening for this project that she plays guitar, though, so she's got a bit more street cred as far as I'm concerned now!

Thank you so much Mikie!! Can you send me some of your warms? It's cold in Hotlanta!!

Yeah, I'm more surprised that some people seemed surprised about the cliffhanger. I've hinted a big one was coming, and I hinted that Scott was coming back, and I have a tendency to use karaoke scenes for plot revelations. Glad you are enjoying the story and thanks!!

Chapter 7 Zach and I walked over to Tom and Tina's house for dinner around six. Having Tommy over seemed to bring my son completely out of his funk, and he spent the two blocks happily reliving every single moment of his school day. I hadn't even asked how his day was. It was a wonderful change from the forced monosyllabic grunts I would get in response to questions only the day before. Of course, even as he rambled, I couldn't stop thinking about Amy's offer to set me up on a date. While I wa

Ray-Rah Go Mikey!! (Just had to live up to my 'cheerleader' shoutout!) In all seriousness, great showing out the gate. Don't look now, but you're officially an author! Please please PLEASE share with me when you get your first 'wtf' email (you'll know when you get it). To me, that's the true sign you've 'made it'!

Part of the reason Noah didn't contact him is despite how hurt he is, he's not sure he wants him to come back. I'm not sure what I would do if I was in Noah's position, so I don't know if I can really blame him for doing it. After all, Scott left without any notice, and also made no attempt to make contact despite not leaving town. For Noah, it's also something of a last straw. Scott regularly over-reacts and Noah is forced to be the bigger person and clean up after him. When Scott just left without warning, it's just too much. Also, Scott didn't just cut off Noah and Zach. He stopped going to work, and wouldn't contact anyone else, either. The only reason Noah knew anything about Scott was he wasn't exactly trying to hide his financial activity. Had Scott just cleaned out their savings, Noah wouldn't have the vaguest idea where Scott was. Don't get me wrong, I see your criticism here. I'm just providing a counter-argument. Thank you!!

Geez...what is with people and HAEs?! Whether or not this story will have one will ultimately be in the eye of the beholder. My editor and I talked about this back when I sent him my outline for the story. While he thinks it does, I disagree. However, there's still a good bit of story between now and then! As much as I want to give little teases, the speculation has become rampant and there really is very little information left to be revealed before it all comes out in the story, although it won't be until Chapter 8 or so...there is still the pending karaoke scene to deal with! (and I have a gut feeling that the scene will run away from me a bit!)

As always, thanks! The next chapter is in progress, but between my current work schedule and upcoming holiday travels, I'm not sure exactly when it will come out. I'm still hopeful that the usual 2 weeks will apply, though. Everyone's thoughts are really flowing now, and I'm going to have to decline giving any teases, since I don't want to give anything away yet. Scott will be making his reappearance very soon!

It was very important to me to treat both of these tragic events 'right'. Instead of dwelling on the emotion of the death itself, I chose to put more emotion in her struggle for life. The death of anyone, especially a child, is a tragic enough experience. Fortunately, most of the tragedy in Noah's life is now out in the open. While Noah (and the readers) are still in the dark as to the exact reasons Scott left the way he did, his reasons will eventually made clear. I'm purposely allowing readers to speculate (and hate him) as much as they want. That said, this chapter also marks a turning point for the story, where Noah will begin to look backward far less as his life moves forward. (Sorry had to do it lol)

Chapter 6 Like usual, I ate lunch at my desk. For the past few days, I had been unable to avoid getting lost in my thoughts about the past. I fought the urge to do it again, my thoughts filled with the memories of Mia's pending birth, and the ordeals that followed. Instead, I multitasked as I ate, responding to emails, and looking over reports. For a small company, we seemed to generate an endless stream of reports. I was sure much of it was redundant, but Tom wanted a paper trail for everyt

Thank you so much. 'essential' might be a bit further than I'd take it, but I definitely see it. I knew I'd be writing several chapters of fairly heavy material, and wanted to keep this one light. I've found that I can't second guess myself when writing dialog. Whenever I went back to try to rephrase, or get the conversation back where I was trying to get it to go, it came across as very forced. The ending was not actually the one I was intending on writing... they were NOT supposed to agree to meet again, but any attempts to get the conversation to a point of no return just didn't work! The answer to whether or not they make it work is found in Chapter 5 of Moving Forward. There will eventually be more than a passing reference to it when Will reappears in the main time line of the story (the scene in 5 is another example of the characters dictating how a scene played out instead of the author!) Thanks again!!

Or did I? Excellent theory, and while a level of that may have been a factor, it's definitely not 'the' reason. Honestly, I hadn't thought much about that angle, and while it probably would have come up when I wrote that section, I'll make sure to credit you for the idea if/when it does!

I always love to hear when I've hooked someone!! Of course Scott meant it when he made his promise, but he wasn't actually dealing with his grief at the moment. He was convinced that Noah and Zach would help keep his reaction in check. We know what happened, but why is still partially cloudy. The details will come out next chapter! (at least Noah's interpretation of them...Scott may hold a slightly different view...)

hahahah very fair!!! There's always those little things though. That very minor leak, the shower stall where the lowest point is not the drain (seriously...how did I miss that - although to be fair, I only turned the shower on to check water pressure, I didn't wait to see how well it drained!!), etc. I don't mean a major leak, just a tiny annoying drip that's fixed with the tiniest of turns with a screwdriver that you would never notice until you live with it every day. The house, asking price and all, is real, based on a house a block off of Piedmont Park. I was browsing to get price ideas for the chapter, when I stumbled on it. If you want to see it, the Realty photos are in an album in my story's facebook page. The link is in my profile.

Scott is a bit of a douche in how he reacts to things, to be honest. To be fair to him, though, you now have most of the seeds of what happened from Noah's perspective but NOT Scott's. His perspective will be coming in the future. I had plans for Scott to buy Noah a Porsche as a graduation gift dating back to the first time I came up with them buying a new car. The scene completely ran away from me, but I'm fine with that. The end result was a nice escape from the heaviness of chapter 4, 5, and 6. Scott feels like he's always gone out of his way to make sure that Noah no longer has to put any part of his life on hold. By Noah deciding to drop out (or accept a lesser degree than he wanted), he sees Noah as once again putting all his dreams and aspirations aside in a relatively meaningless gesture, since neither the money he brings in or the slightly freer schedule will do much with a sick kid on the way. Noah views it as one of the many fairly minor sacrifices people make for their families. It may not help much, but it still helps, and there's not much of a downside. When I was little, we lived in Colorado, but my dad was primarily working on a project in Virginia. While he was doing that, he was working on getting a master's degree. He had one semester left when his job officially transfered him back to Virginia, and he had to decide between finishing his last semester or coming back to Colorado to accomplish all the things needed to relocate our family. I know he still 'regrets' not being able to finish, but he also wouldn't make a different choice if he had the chance. I'm glad you think so! The next chapter is kinda in the works. I know what has to be done, but so far haven't been able to bring myself to start writing it. Chapter 6 will get the 'past' timeline nearly completely caught up with the 'present' one.

It's been a big change for me as well. Portions of the outline seem to kinda be written from his point of view (even though I purposely write it in third person)! Scott had a tendency to jump to conclusions and get a bit more emotional than a situation warranted. These past two chapters had a bit more on what that must have been like for Noah. He walked on eggshells a bit in Chapter 3 regarding buying a new house, and ended up kicking himself for expecting Scott to blow up on him. Scott's like me. He hates change, and doesn't generally cope with it very well. Glad you're enjoying!

The point of that line was that Mike might be a great guy, but Noah was still reeling from the last time a 'great guy' suddenly left him without warning (Scott). The exact order of events will be made more clear next chapter. Noah meets Mike about two months after Scott left. Don't worry, Scott will eventually get the chance to explain himself. As for all the questions you asked, you'll just have to wait and see!

Chapter 5 I was awoken by something large jumping onto the bed. It was immediately followed by something wet jabbing me in my ear. I tried to ignore it, but then I was being shaken. "Dad, get up!" "Huh, what's going on, buddy?" Zach sighed exasperatedly before saying, "C'mon. It's almost time to leave. Hurry up, or I'll be late for school." I rubbed my eyes and glared at the clock. Sure enough, he was right, and I'd overslept. Groggily, I got out of bed. "Alright, I'm up. Sorry about

Thank you so much! Part of the growth and reveal is purposeful, but I'd argue a lot of it is accidental. Even though it's not always intentional, I regularly think back to the many stories I've read online that had so much promise but just didn't quite work for one reason or another, and think to myself what I would have done differently. I think keeping that in the back of my mind as I write has helped me make sure things continually develop and progress.

Chapter 4 I knew I wasn't ready to introduce Mike to Zach. I was sure I could explain Mike away , and it'd be fine, but I felt like it was a step towards a relationship I knew I didn't want. Yeah, Mike was a great guy, but I had already had my heart broken by a great guy, and not long before Mike came on the scene. Maybe this is how Scott felt with Will, but I'm not really sure. All I know, is I viewed Mike as just a friend, despite the fact I had shared a bed with him the night before. With

Ahh...a question about the logistics. Yes, all that is to come. Regarding Mike, it's ok to not like it, but remember, Scott abandoned his commitment to Noah first. Without those details, it's hard to judge Noah too harshly. All will eventually be revealed. Chapter 4 is set to go, but I've decided to hold off while I finish up Chapter 5. I always planned to divide the chapters where I did, but my goal was to avoid cliffhangers as much as possible, and let the slow-reveal keep people drawn to the story. However, Chapter 4's ending is fairly evil, and not in a way I can spin it to be 'fun' to keep readers on the edge of their seats.