This is the thought that will anchor me, for months and years to come. It will bring me security and peace. It will stop me from feeling as though I’m constantly, frantically chasing validation, and careering out of control.

It is the thought that makes me realise I am writing my own happy beginning.

Epilogue

It’s a wrap

Tonight, the roof will be raised, and The Know will be toasted, before it goes offline. The content will be absorbed into the shiny new Panache website, and Harri is preparing to waive her no crying at work rule. She’s going to miss everyone very much. Even Tabitha.

Touch.com is still an exasperating embryo. Harri can’t wait until she and Imogen are able to spend their nine to five writing and scheming—instead of fitting it in after hours, and wrestling for room for their creative vision. For every ten minutes she spends doing the work she loves, Harri must spend a full and frustrating day with an investor, slowly and patiently explaining how the internet works.

She spent a few sleepless nights worrying about what might become of the gang. Happily, Kim was thrilled to be part of the glossy new Panache redesign, and even more thrilled to work with Giles, who he has chosen to be his new spiritual mentor. (Giles is less than thrilled about the fact that Kim calls him Yoda.) Akila has said she’ll consult for Touch, for mates’ rates, in addition to consulting for Panache for a fee that means that she only has to work four months of the year, if she wants to. And sweet, neurotic, arch-worrier Louise might have the happiest ending of all. She has just found out that she’s been selected for the next series of The Great British Bake Off.

And yet—this does not feel like an ending, at all. This is the first day of the future. Harri wants to shudder at the aphorism, but it seems so apt.