Ethan

I don't know ... I kind of forgot about him! Maybe if I ever write again I'll have to figure out what happened to him. Thanks for reading

You're right, there is definitely cross-over. Maybe I only know how to write 2 types of people 😆

Thanks! I would love to write more just finding a good chunk of time can be tough. Also need to actually think of creative storylines!

Welcome to the site @SkagenKrauss! I'm really moved that you would sign up to leave a comment. Thank you, so much. I have one other story on this site, but it is different. I've been slowly working on another idea for months -- but it is far from finished.

@Lisa!!! So good to see your name. I'm well - and hope you and your family are too during these crazy times! I'm so glad you enjoyed the story. I'm a half-decent writer now because of all of your help editing my first story! Will send you that message!

Thanks @aditus for taking the time to write this review -- I really appreciate it! I think I'm probably the only person who feels the ending works. Perhaps one day I'll go back and add more ... I just need to find that spark of inspiration again.

His face lights up when he sees me. “You came.” “Of course, I said I would,” I reply. I faced a stark choice tonight, one that I debated in my head for what felt like hours. I thought I could either try to let go of the past, think about my future, and go to Oliver, or confront my past again, maybe get some real answers, and meet Ali. Weighing heavy on my mind through all of it, the letter. The emotion, the raw pain was clear in every word. I know the turmoil and angst one feels i

That was quick! But a lot better than waiting the 6 years it took me the first time to complete this story 😕. Thank you so much for your wonderful comments! It really motivates me to write again. Still on hiatus for now (and clearly I'm not the fastest writer), but you never know what this crazy year will bring next. Cheers. 🤠

Thank you! At times when writing this it felt like I was having a conversation with myself in my head (I know I'm totally crazy, it's fine 🤓)

I thought it was a pretty good list too 😏

You shouldn't doubt yourself. We are all creative in our own ways and have our own stories to tell. What helped me get started was finding an idea, then characters I was passionate about. I just started putting thoughts down, and then kept re-writing.

Clearly part of the minority. Thanks, CK!

I put that part in on purpose because Jamie needed to be honest with Ali. He didn't say they were dating - only that he was seeing someone else, which is true. Their relationship was ruined by lies - so I think Jamie needed to be super honest. Also, sorry @crystalline @Bft @FanLit ... at the moment I am not at all motivated to pick up my pen again. After my first story, I was uncertain whether to post anything here again. And this experience didn't exactly help (see end of comment above) So who knows. That may change one day. I half wrote another story - but it is way more intense than this ... so if people couldn't handle this ending ... Yeah, don't think I want to do that again. Plus, that story still needs A LOT more work. And my actual job is about to get extremely busy for the next few weeks. Plus, there are only a few more weeks left until it snows ... so I'm going to try to enjoy the outdoors as much as possible. @FanLit a big thank you for defending my work ... if I ever post again - it's cause of people like you

Okay, wow. I thought I might get a bit of push back, but not to this level. At the end of every chapter, I always welcomed comments, feedback and criticism. If you don’t like something, or feel a part of the story could have been better, I’ll never take offence. I may push back, but I know it is not personal. If you hated the story that’s fine too. However, there is also a level of decorum one assumes and expects, which I don’t think was the case with some comments. At the end of the day, as the author I can tell the story however I see fit. I do not feel I have to defend my work, but I will say a few things What I promised on, I delivered. The premise of the story was understanding who Jamie accidentally slept with, and after the first chapter, why he hated that person as much as he did. We learn the answer to both questions. And I did it in a timely manner. I didn't drag this story on forever or abandon it. Unlike “The Lady or the Tiger” (which I read before responding, and came to a different conclusion) — and to those angry the story finished on a cliffhanger - it did not. If the ultimate goal is to know who Jamie ends up with, the answer is there - you don’t have to guess. Yes, I left it open - but the right answer is my answer. Now, why did I hide the answer as opposed to say it openly? Isn’t that the whole point of this story? We always assume we know the truth, that reality is right in front of us, when that isn’t always the case. Sometimes we have to search for the truth like they did. Sometimes reality is hidden. As for closure - again I think there is closure in this story (as to who Jamie ends up with), though it is not obvious closure. Was Jamie’s mom involved? We don’t know. We may never know. They may never know. It didn’t make sense to tie up every loose end because that’s not how life works. Tying their story up in a "bow on top” goes against the essence of this story. As I literally say in this chapter: “We assume the truth is always obvious. Either something is true or it’s a lie. But sometimes it’s more complicated. Sometimes the truth is messy. Our story is clearly messy.” Their story is messy. To be true to their story - I had to leave part of their story messy. And that is where the reader comes in. Again, I disagree that everything has to be laid before you. You bring something to every story you read - your own experiences. And no matter if you want to or not, you do inject that into the story - and that doesn’t make any less worthy. And yes you’re left with questions - but so are Jamie and Ali. Again, it goes with the theme of the book. Finally - going back to decorum. Look, you can have an opinion and that is fine - but in no way is saying I bastardized the story “and get back to the key board and finish the damn story” appropriate. Neither does it motivate me to actually write more. I’m also a bit disappointed by how many people liked that comment. First, I don’t owe anyone here anything. I have a extremely demanding job. I normally work 11-12 hours a day. So I don't get too much time to write - and when I do I write for myself. This is FREE content. You may have spent 10-15 minutes reading this chapter - I spent weeks writing it. I think I can speak for other authors on this site when I say, we’re not expecting anything in return - but it would be nice to have some level of engagement. When I joined GA I thought this was a community of authors and readers. That's not entirely true. I got tonnes more meaningful engagement on nifty, a site I didn’t think had any. I’d say I’m relatively lucky with how many people have interacted with my story - but looking around that doesn’t appear to be the norm for most others. And that is very discouraging. Never commenting on anything, but then popping up to make demands — no one is going to take you seriously. And that doesn't motivate anyone to post more on this site.

Sorry to keep you all waiting -- I ended up redoing two really important sections in the next chapter. I wasn't fully satisfied before, but I think I'm happy now. I just sent it off to my editor to take a look. He's usually pretty quick. As long as he's happy too, I'm hoping I have it up in the next few days. Again, sorry! But I think the wait will be worth it. Plus, it's the longest chapter yet in the series.

Ali's last letter was taken from the shed before Jamie could retrieve it. What we know is that it was seen by whoever took it, by Ali's father, and now Jamie. We don't know if anyone else ever saw it.

Age doesn't matter. I'm still young at heart 🤪

Dear Jamie, Thank you so much for the birthday wishes and the card! I’m 18, an old guy, just like you I can already feel my knees starting to hurt! It’s weird knowing I’m officially an adult now. I can vote! So much responsibility! As expected, my mom completely ignored my wishes and threw a gigantic party. It was beyond excessive. Her argument – your only child only turns 18 once. She invited everyone, and I mean EVERYONE! It felt like the entire world was there. Well, everyone exce

My aim is to have it up sometime tomorrow

Hahahah! Maybe it will, maybe it won't 🤷‍♂️. But that would be one long letter! Or maybe, I'll try something new, and just skip to Chapter 11, and let you all figure out what was in the letter. I almost did that the other day. I was uploading Chapter 8 and when I went to hit publish it didn't work because I was no longer signed in. Because I'm an idiot, I made several changes on the webpage, as opposed to my Word doc, so lost them all. Frustrated, I went back to re-post and accidentally grabbed Chapter 9 instead (which still needed some tweaks). It took me a few minutes to realize my mistake ... but that would have been bad, and very confusing!

@Bard Simpson you make several great points about Jamie and his behaviour. In his defence, all I can say is, he was deeply hurt by what happened with Ali, and has become overly protective to shield himself from that again. And he's held onto this lie for 10 years now, and isn't sure what to believe. Yes, he could go about it in a better way ... and he should have stayed to talk to Ali. But that's mostly my fault! I thought it would be fitting given their relationship was based on letters that it should all climax with Jamie getting Ali's last letter, and that being the document that (possibly) changes how he feels.

Interesting theory. This is not to say you are either right or wrong -- but if Jamie's father took Ali's letter, he probably would have taken Jamie's follow up letters too. Jamie signed his named on those letters, so his father would have likely been able to figure out they were from his son. Just something to think about. Thanks for the comment

I don't think I've ever received so many comments right after posting a chapter. Feels kinda nice ☺️ (can't let this get to my head)

I don't think Oliver is preying on Jamie ... he's a guy who likes another guy and took a chance and asked him out.

Bullshit. He’s lying. There is no way in the world my father gave his father the letter. To this day neither of my parents know about the letters or what happened. It was difficult to hide all of it from them after we moved, but I didn’t tell them because I didn’t want to burden them. I want to challenge him, but not yet. For now, I bite my tongue as anger builds inside of me. I need to hear more. “I thought we were friends,” he continues, “and because I thought I could trust Jamie, in