Destiny

  “I love you, too,” Olivia said, and Eric grabbed her hand to walk away.

  “Wait a minute. Let me say goodbye to this place,” Olivia said.

  “I’ll stay with you.”

  The two of them said goodbye to their favorite spot and to the heartache and joy that had come there. The curtain was falling on their final act, but it wasn’t going to fall without all the love, laughter, and passion that had found them in the first place. Eric and Olivia traveled the world together, and when they were too tired to go on, they went home to the same white house that had been in Olivia’s dreams so long ago.

  They say that you’re supposed to be satisfied with the same friends, boring jobs, and romances that fizzle out with time. They say you can’t have your cake and eat it, too . . . that life isn’t fair. That’s what people say who think you’re meant for nothing important. Then there are those who say it’s all up to fate. We’re just some small cogs in a bigger machine, and we really have no choice other than to play our designed role. I don’t think either is true. Life is built one brick at a time. Work harder, expect more, and love like there won’t be a tomorrow. Most importantly, hold onto the one who takes your breath away. Never let go of them. I didn’t, and against all odds, I found the perfect woman for me. She’s my best friend.

  This has been Eric and Olivia Wilson. Our story isn’t perfect, and it’s certainly not without complications, but in the middle of it all is a love that drives us through everything. That wasn’t chosen for us or settled for. It was the result of never giving up on what we knew was right in our hearts. Even when it seems impossible, happiness can be just around the corner. For me, it will always be in the form of a blue-eyed girl I found just in time to save my life.

  Destiny Notes

  I’ve just finished editing Destiny for the last time, and before I exhale, I want to share a few things with you about this book and my personal journey through the writing process. So here I go.

  When I first started Destiny, I was burned out, and what I was doing obviously wasn’t working. Some people thought it was. They saw me writing as my dreams being fulfilled, but my plans were so much bigger than what I had done. I wanted to write something epic and altogether different than I had done before. While many love action and mystery, my focus had always been on character’s relationships. I wanted to write a book that everyone could relate to. I don’t know if I’ve done that with Destiny, but I do know this: I’m very proud of this book. I didn’t know what to expect when I started Destiny. I had never written a romantic novel, and I thought my lack of experience in writing romance would hinder me, but I found something I never expected. It was natural, and this wasn’t a standard romance book. In many books, and with a lot of real life couples, we find that romance is only skin deep. It’s about sex or status. Eric and Olivia’s connection became about so much more than that, and as the reader, I hope you were pulled into a journey that was about so much more than what we think of as love. It was imperfect, and at many times, Eric and Olivia became the villains in their own story, just as we do in real life, but it all came from a very real place. I tried to put little parts of myself and real life experiences into this to make it feel authentic, but admittedly, this novel is in a lot of ways purely fiction.

  When I first started writing Destiny, I was love starved. No, it wasn’t that I couldn’t find a date or that I was just lonely. It was so much more than that. I realized that I had never found a person who truly loved me for who I am. Sure, some women I had met acted like they cared about me, but that love always came with condition. I had to have a certain amount of money, dress a certain way, and get along with certain people. In all honesty, I had conditions for my love, as well. I don’t believe real love has conditions, so I wrote a fictional story about the type of love I needed. It was without condition, and it wasn’t always easy, but Eric and Olivia found their way back to each other every time. It’s the imperfect perfection I crave so much in my life that I wanted to convey in these pages.

  Finally, I want to tell you one very important thing about this story. As I wrote and edited it, this book took shape into something that even surprised me. It’s not perfect, and I’m sure there are better stories out there, but it’s everything I hoped it would be. I’m proud of this, and I can say without a shadow of a doubt that a story can change your life because this one changed mine. It let me know what kind of love I should be shooting for and reminded me of why I love writing. For that, I’ll always be grateful for Destiny. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I loved writing it. More than that, I hope you never settle for less than the one who takes your breath away. It’s been a pleasure. I can’t wait to share more stories in the future.