Hello, everyone! Don't worry, the next chapter I post will be an actual chapter, and I'll be posting it tonight!

I want to first and foremost apologize for taking so incredibly long to continue posting the next chapters of my stories. I have been struggling with whether or not to post this at all, but I feel as though I owe you an explanation of sorts, as I too have long dealt with authors who suddenly fall off the face of the earth and you're left loving these little scenarios that have come from them and want to see where they take it. As the author, I have the luxury of playing out the rest of the story without actually having to do any of the work of writing it down, but that leaves the reader woefully wanting more.

After I graduated from college, I moved in with my brother, his wife, and my nephew who is now 2 and a half. I love them all dearly, but their house was and is very chaotic. It made my life fun and interesting for a time, and it gave me the unique opportunity to really get to know and love my nephew, but it also made me feel extremely confined and locked away. I lost myself for a time while living with them. My life became about their lives and their schedules, and I lost who I was. I quickly spiraled into some not great places emotionally and mentally and I ended up closing off all of my creative outlets. That's about when I stopped writing, reading, singing, playing music, etc.

I picked myself back up a few months ago by making the decision to become a runner. By devoting time to myself, I was able to start building my own schedule and that kickstarted my work towards building myself back up from ground zero. It's been a lot of hard work, but I've moved out, found my own apartment, started singing in 2 New choirs, am leading a children's choir, playing in a handbells choir (I know... Nerdy. But seriously don't knock it til you try it. It's actually really fun), and the part you *hopefully* care about: I started writing again!

So, there you have it. I have finally come back. Just to be sure, I wrote 6 chapters before I decided I could start posting again, and that's exactly what I'm going to do. Expect one chapter every 4 to 5 days, but at least one a week. For those of you who also are reading Awakened, I've been focusing on Callie's Dream, but I do have 2 chapters in the works for Awakened, so stay tuned for that as well.

My last note: this story is about to get to the actual nitty gritty problems that make our girls fight to be together. Some of what I'm going to talk about might be a trigger for sexual assault victims. The story is about the healing process following a sexual assault, and won't have details or lots of description involving the event, but it will be mentioned. In the end, our girls will be together! Calzona is end game!

I don't want you to feel at all pressured to keep reading this story if you even start to barely feel triggered. Please stop if you do. Send me a message privately if you feel comfortable doing so, and I'll write you a fluffy ending or a prompt of your choosing. If you don't feel comfortable sending me a message, you can comment on the chapter anonymously with a prompt and I'll post it for your reading pleasure! I don't want to hurt any of you, but I feel like the story I have planned is interesting and twisty and I'm really excited to keep it going.

Last of all, I want to thank all of you for your kind words of encouragement, your messages, your comments, and your support. I know I'm supposed to be this artist of words, but I simply can't find words strong enough to express how much all of you have helped me and how much I appreciate each and every single one of you.

See you tonight for the next chapter!

-Tina