Happy Place

Harriet wakes up beside Wyn and sneaks off to grab her luggage. Harriet needs to leave in secret, as goodbyes are painful. On the way to the airport with Sabrina and Cleo, Harriet admits that she is miserable with her job, and they support whatever she decides to do. She doesn’t have any idea of her next step. The friends cry at the airport while they hug.

Still teary, Harriet waits at her gate. She looks at Wyn’s incredible tables on her phone. Suddenly, she has an epiphany: Wyn is scared that she won’t choose him, not trusting that she’ll love him forever or that he’s good enough. Harriet decides that no one, including Wyn, can tell her who or what will make her happy. She hears her inner voice choosing Wyn.

Harriet rushes through the airport to find Wyn. She can’t wait to be with him forever. When she finds him at his gate, she tells him that even if he’s scared, they have to try. He has always made her happy. She wants to move to Montana on her own terms, to start fresh with him in a new happy place. Wyn needs to stop feeling like he’s the lucky one in this relationship. He promises that he’ll do anything for her, so if Montana isn’t the right place for them, he’ll move. He would rather have her “five days a year than anyone else all the time” and wants them “to be together [...] as much as we can. As long as we can. As soon as we can” (374).

After withdrawing from her residency, Harriet calls her parents and shares her life changes. Astonished, they plead for her to reconsider. Harriet promises the withdrawal is her choice and that she’ll pay back their loans. Her mom cries, believing she’ll regret this choice. Harriet bravely explains that she doesn’t want to waste time on anything that doesn’t make her happy. Surgery was never for her—it made her tired, not fulfilled. She already has a job at a pottery studio in Montana.

Her sister Eloise texts her that their mom is freaking out, but tells Harriet not to feel responsible for their mom’s feelings. Eloise is proud of Harriet for doing what’s best for her; she has her back. Harriet is touched. The sisters bond.

Months later, Harriet’s parents visit her and Wyn in Montana. Her dad is supportive, proud of her artwork and gumption. Her mom takes longer to come around but admires her pottery. Her mom gave up everything for Harriet’s father; she lost herself after moving to Indiana for him and switching careers. She doesn’t want the same to happen to Harriet. She only wants her to be happy. Harriet is happy, and she didn’t come to Montana or start making pottery for Wyn but for herself.

Harriet and Wyn get an apartment in Bozeman and visit Gloria often. Harriet feels blissful to live in the mountains, enjoy campfire maple syrup, and come home to Wyn and his smell of sawdust. She has several happy places to go to in her mind. There’s the Maine cottage, where Cleo asked about their alternate lives, Sabrina and Parth competed over games, and Kimmy sang into spoons. There’s Cleo’s baby, Zora, who is a miracle. But Harriet’s real happy place is with Wyn, their life together, and their upcoming wedding at a ranch. Every moment she’s with him, her heart chooses him all over again: “You, you, you” (385).