This is the third time I have read The Story of Us. Yes, it's that good. The fact that Enos has an "internal compass" says volumes - not limited to location, he also has a built-in moral compass.

From beginning to end, we watch helplessly, as he becomes the Enos Strate we see in the original series, and now we understand why. The last few paragraphs send us headlong into that persona.

And the Epilogue - even after the third time, it still gives me goosebumps!

I think I’m gonna have to pull out another box of tissues.

Everything changes – spooky action at a distance.

Ah, small local race tracks, especially dirt tracks. Takes me back to when my husband and boys and I went every week during race season. We would sit in the stands and watch demolition derby at the halfway point between races, eat stale hot dogs, and come home with road dust on our faces no matter where we sat in the stands…great memories I had shoved way behind graduations and weddings and grandchildren. Sniff. Thanks.

Poignant chapter - lump in throat poignant. Life lessons come mostly when we’re young – which is why it is so important to have role models who are willing to share. Sometimes life lessons come when we are adults, but I call them wake-up calls.

Sooooo, Enos started keeping ‘secrets’ at an early age. Interesting…..

Darcy...

“Deep within his heart, the flicker of a new emotion stirred, something that made him want to throw his arms around her and never let her go.”
Made a shiver go through me – very impactful coming after he turned Daisy away in order to protect her from himself – and the darkness that was now his life and thoughts.

Loved that Mrs. Tizdale, the diminutive postmistress rode a motorcycle when Enos was 15! I can just imagine her telling Deputy Enos he had to take a number when he wanted a letter even when there was no one in the post office. Made me smile from ear to ear. (I’m thinking Mrs. Huang and Mrs. Tizdale would get along well.)

Well, now you went and done it! Hooked me again...

I had to smile at the 'rotgut.' Not many people know where that term came from, and just in case anyone's eating while reading this, not going to enlighten them. :)

I laughed out loud at Enos' voice: "This is town, huh? Makes Hazzard look like a big city. I don't know where they're hiding 900 people, though." and my favorite Enos quote: "And what are we supposed to tell him [cop] when he asks where our parents are? Sorry, sir, my pa' and her uncle are running 'shine right now, but they'll be back home later." Still chuckling.

The view in the mountains that took their breath away, was that the same one Enos wanted Daisy to see in the Christmas story?

Otis Strate...Otis Burt Shroyer. I love the connection to the names. :)

I see what you mean about this chapter feeling more like the start of something new than the cap to Enos and Daisy's young love. I was sad to come to the end ... until I noticed that you have more! Will be heading over to check those out immediately. Your writing is clean and emotional, your research extremely impressive, and your handle on the characters makes them seem very real. Well done!

Aw, sweet, conscientious, too-good-for-his-own-good Enos. Of course he did the right thing, and good for him. It made sense for him to have experienced other people's drunkenness in Atlanta, and to use that experience to keep Daisy's words in perspective.

Uh-oh! I think Daisy trying out the party girl life makes a lot of sense, as does the fact that the men she lives with have no idea. I can't wait to find out what she did while she was drunk ... and from the build-up, the fact that she woke up the next morning not in the hospital was a big relief!

So interesting to see Enos growing up - he gains and loses confidence at the same time but in different ways, which is hard to pull off, but necessary for the character to remain true to what he becomes, and you've done it really well here.

It's so telling that Daisy doesn't think of herself as a woman, but she thinks of Enos as a man - it makes their situation even more believable, especially given that of course Enos knows nothing of what she's thinking. And you can see the show's Daisy in her last words - confident in her attractions, but shy about getting what she deserves.

It is so difficult to pull off a love story where the two principals are kept apart by a misunderstanding, but here you have done it remarkably well. Their mutual shyness, their need of each other's friendship, the very depth of their feelings makes it seem natural that they would be so quick to think the worst of any future together, and both of them are tugging at my heartstrings.

I love how you've made Amy come alive, from Enos's impression of her to Daisy's and now to her own perspective. And the level of detail in your writing, the callbacks to the show, is amazing.

The two of them make me want to cry. You can see Daisy's innocence in all her behavior, and see the more brash overtly sexual woman she becomes in her reaction to Darcy's kiss. And Enos, covering his feelings because he thinks that's what's best for her ... doesn't know a thing about women, does he? Too bad Luke couldn't have taught him a few things!

Aw, the poor things! This is a rare case in which I really believe this simple understanding could fester, driving a permanent wedge between the two of them. Enos is too closed-mouthed and too unsure of himself to believe more than what he's told, and Daisy too impatient and too unsure of herself in an entirely different way.