Not Perfect: A Novel
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“No!” she said, pulling back. “Don’t ever say that!”
“Why not?”
“Nobody lives completely happily ever after—haven’t you realized that by now? The pressure is too great. I don’t want that pressure. How about: ‘And they were not perfect, and they had many things to atone for, but they had a lot of fun and could eventually afford light bulbs and everything bagels.’”
He nodded and pulled her back toward him.
“I can live with that,” he said. “Now let me go start this long process of canceling out the bad with a little good. I wish I had brought blankets for someone. It is so cold out here.”
“Next time,” Tabitha said. “We’ll do that next time.”
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Thank you to my wonderful agent, Uwe Stender. We’ve been working together for over eleven years now, and he continues to support and amaze me all the time. Thank you also to everyone else at TriadaUS—there is no better agency to have behind me.
Thank you to my thoughtful and smart editor, Jodi Warshaw at Lake Union Publishing. This is our third book together, and I couldn’t ask for a better guide and advocate. Thank you to developmental editor Jenna Free for working so hard to make sure Tabitha’s story was told in the right way, and never, ever, pushing me to move away from what I believed that should be. Thank you to Marlene Kelly, Amazon’s marketing director, for working to capture the essence of Not Perfect, and to Nicole Pomeroy, Amazon’s production manager, for doing so much to keep the book on track. Thank you to designer Emily Mahon for a fabulous cover. Thank you to Ginger Everhart, who copyedited the book with spectacular care, and Caroline Sibila, who proofread it with a kind heart and a sharp eye for detail. Thank you to Gabriella Dumpit, Amazon’s author relations manager, for continuing to work her magic behind the scenes. To Dennelle Catlett and Kathleen Carter Zrelak, thank you for working so hard to get the word out about my novels—I love working with both of you.
Thank you to Jennifer Weiner, Meghan Burnett, Melissa Jensen, Petula Dvorak, Kathleen Woodberry, Jane Greer, Andrea Cipriani Mecchi, and everyone who has supported me along the way. I would also like to thank Cynthia Mollen for her insight into some of the medical details in the book (if I made any mistakes, they are mine). Thank you to Nina Pritzker Cohen for always wanting to talk about my books in depth. Thank you to Meg Mitchell Moore for her kindness and enthusiasm. And thank you to Melissa DePino—I miss her when I’m writing solo, but she is always there for me to bounce an idea off of or to give me great feedback. I can’t wait to write the next one with her.
Finally, and most important, thank you to my family, especially my husband, Craig, and my children, Alice and Arthur. They fill our house with love and inspire me in everything I do.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Photo © 2016 Andrea Cipriani Mecchi
Elizabeth LaBan is the author of The Tragedy Paper, which has been translated into eleven languages; The Grandparents Handbook, which has been translated into seven languages; The Restaurant Critic’s Wife; and Pretty Little World. She lives in Philadelphia with her restaurant-critic husband and two children.