Intersection Column | Happy Places and Gritty Romances

by Deborah Clack

Where is your happy place? It can be a spot you visit regularly. Or it can be a place that exists only in your imagination. That thing that popped into your head when you first read the question. That place. Maybe you’ve never shared it with anyone. Maybe you, like me, have a penny jar you throw spare change into to save for a return someday.

Wherever that place is … could you write a story about it? Would it be a fantasy formed with a brand-new world? An historical with sweeping scenery and emotion-packed drama? A romance filled with tragedy, humor, and hope?

The idea for Even After This began with a funny, offhanded comment from my husband about how if he died, I would just take the life insurance money and live at the Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs, never to be heard from again.

It’s my happy place. The Rocky Mountains provide a gorgeous backdrop that allows me to sink into the scenery and simply disappear under the umbrella of a beautiful hotel who, upon my arrival, acts like they’ve been waiting on bated breath for me to return and will do everything they can to restore my soul. I literally save my pennies to visit this safe haven.

The longer my husband joked with me about living there after his death, the deeper a story formed in my head about a widow who finds love again when she returns to the Broadmoor. But I couldn’t figure out what put her there.

Then real life happened. My family experienced profound loss heaped upon by more loss. It was so many feelings in such shifting sand.

And that’s when I knew exactly what brought my heroine Meredith in Even After This to Colorado Springs. When the book opens, it’s four years after her tragic loss. Her life feels uncomfortable, like scratchy underwear. She’s lost her dreams. Her purpose.

I know what you’re thinking. Grief is not a great advertisement for a romance. But as you get swept away in Meredith’s story, while you watch her blurt that she’s on Famous People Probation to the bonafide movie star hero who asks her to dance, then tries to introduce him to her family at an awkward Thanksgiving, and later ski for the first time down a mountain in front of his family, you smile. You might even laugh out loud. While you read about her controlling sister, unrequited attention from an old friend, and horrendous treatment by the hero’s completely irrational ex, you might find yourself wrapped up in some drama and cheering her on. And while you read about a hero who can sit with her in her grief, patiently draw her dreams out of her, and reverently treasure her, you might swoon a little bit. Maybe a lot.

Grief is universal. When something changes in our lives, big or small, we’re left with feelings. All the feelings. Understanding grief can feel like a moving target. Some of us may be in the throes of it right now, and for that I am truly sorry. You are not alone.

So when I wrote this book, I needed to give a voice to grief. Not platitudes or well-intentioned clichés. But the very real, sometimes gritty, sometimes irony-filled grief that comes when we look up after a loss and say, “It’s time.” I want to live again.

Recently, a dear friend read Even After This. At one point, she texted, “How Deborah? How is it possible to have a book completely rip your heart out and yet also make you laugh like a hyena??”

I don’t know. But I think it’s because that’s real life. The grit and the beauty all wrapped together as one. The moment when we say, “Even after this.” The moment when we find hope and love.

Whatever popped into your head at the beginning when I asked where your happy place is … what do you think? Do you need to let yourself be in that space and dream big? Want to set up a savings plan or a change jar to be able to travel there in the future? Want to put your first sentence on a page because you have a story that won’t let go of you? Whatever it is, I’m cheering you on. Give your desire a voice. Give it the voice God gave you. He is also cheering you on.

---

About the Author

Publishers Weekly bestselling author Deborah Clack is a native Texan who believes in the power of fiction, in the lost art of lip-synching, and that chocolate should be eaten without nuts. A high school AP history teacher for ten years, Deborah earned a master's degree in education and was awarded Teacher of the Year for arts in education. Now she creates stories of her own filled with endearing characters and a hard-fought romance. Learn more at DeborahClack.com

---

About the Book

Four years after tragedy, Meredith Harper packs up her grief, awkward social graces, and sizable life insurance in search of a vacation and investment property in Colorado Springs. A botched dinner reservation throws her into the path of a bona fide movie star, Harlan Holcombe. As Harlan and Meredith spend more time together, he helps her believe there might be more for her not just in life but in love.