Best Friends, Occasional Enemies
Page 19
During the lunch break, we got to eat with Cynthia, the sound engineer from the studio, and Laura Wilson, the audio genius from my publisher. The whole time, Cynthia was a down-to-earth, incredibly nice person, and she didn’t act like the goddess she is or could be. Francesca was adorable and charming, and I prayed there was no food in my teeth.
After lunch, we went back to the recording studio, listened to Cynthia work her magic, then left before we embarrassed ourselves any further. We talked all the way home, when our conversation morphed from Miranda to the mother in the novel, then to motherhood in general, and finally, to mothers and daughters.
It was one of our best talks ever.
Which is, after all, the purpose of the arts. Books, music, movies, opera, plays, paintings, they’re all of a piece. To me, their highest and best purpose is to bring people closer, to connect them one to the other.
Even people who were already close, like Francesca and me.
Peace and love (Photograph by April Narby)
We’re best friends, after all.
And our relationship is made every day, in fights over green jackets, as well as in much sweeter moments like the ones we shared that afternoon, when we were two girlfriends, adoring our favorite girlfriend. Francesca and I make the good and the bad moments, all the time, every day, and it forms the very stuff of our bond.
I know there are lots of mothers and daughters in the world who are also best friends, and we’re all of us very lucky in each other.
And for those of you who aren’t there yet, may I just say that that can always be changed?
Fixed, in a New York minute.
Because when Francesca and I fuss, I can feel the power I have as her mother. We, all of us moms, have that power. So if you’re a mother fussing with your daughter right now, or even for the past year or years, you can change that. Don’t wait for her to come around.
Go first.
You’re the mother, right? And the alleged adult.
So say you’re sorry. Set it right. Do what it takes.
It’s not hard to make that first step when you remember how much you love her. How lucky you are to have her. Keep in mind, always, that you love her, and she loves you.
Love really is the answer.
And no one loves better, stronger, or harder than a mother.
So be her best friend.
And you’ll get a best friend.
For life.
Acknowledgments
By Lisa and Francesca
We’re both big fans of thanks and love, so thank you so much and love to everyone at St. Martin’s Press for supporting this book and its predecessors. First and foremost, thanks to Coach Jen Enderlin, our terrific editor, as well as to the brilliant John Sargent, Sally Richardson, Matthew Shear, George Witte, Matt Baldacci, Brian Keller, Jeff Capshew, Steve Cohen, Alison Lazarus, Steve Kleckner, Ken Holland, Merrill Bergenfeld, John Edwards, Martin Quinn, Tom Siino, Christine Jaeger, Rob Renzler, Talia Sherer, Jaime Ariza, Astra Berzinskas, Michael Storrings, John Murphy, Dori Weintraub, John Karle, Monica Katz, Nancy Trypuc, Kim Ludlum, Anne Marie Tallberg, Joe Goldschein, and Sara Goodman. We appreciate so much your enthusiasm for these books, and we thank you for everything.
Thanks so much and love to Mary Beth Roche, Laura Wilson, Anne Gardner, and the other great people at St. Martin’s audiobook division. Stories are meant to be told, not read, which is why we love audiobooks. And thanks for giving us the chance to record our own audiobooks, for which we even won two “Earphones” Awards, given by the prestigious AudioFile Magazine. We’re two for two, and that doesn’t happen without great direction and production. Yay, team!
Thanks and love to our amazing agents, Molly Friedrich, Paul Cirone, and Lucy Carson of the Friedrich Agency. They’re the smartest, funniest, and most loyal bunch you’ll ever meet. God bless them for their hard work and great hearts.
Thanks to The Philadelphia Inquirer, which publishes our “Chick Wit” column every Sunday, and to our editor, the wonderful Sandy Clark.
One of the biggest hearts in creation belongs to Laura Leonard, and her friendship sustains us. We love you, Laura, and thank you for helping us every day, in every way, and with this book. Laura keeps us straight on every line, and thanks so much for that. Plus you’re a great mom, and you raised us both.
Love to our girlfriends, a conspiracy of moms and daughters, among them Nan Daley and Nora and Jolie Demchur, Paula Menghetti and Bev, Tori, and Alex, Franca Palumbo and Jessica Limbacher, and of course, Molly Friedrich and Julia, Lucy, and Pi-qui Carson. We’ve all watched each other grow up, and we’re blessed in that, and so much else.
Family is the heart of this book, because family is the heart of everything. Thanks and all our love to Mother Mary and Brother Frank, who deserves a book unto himself. We still miss every day the late Frank Scottoline, but he is with us always.
Finally, we knew we were lucky before we wrote this book, but we’re most lucky in our readers, who have shared our stories and even told us some of their own, in email and on tour. You’re family now, too.
We’re stuck with each other, from now on. And for that, we extend our sincerest thanks to each of you, and our love.
This is a hug.
Other Nonfiction by Lisa Scottoline and Francesca Serritella
My Nest Isn’t Empty, It Just Has More Closet Space
Why My Third Husband Will Be a Dog
Fiction by Lisa Scottoline
Save Me
Think Twice
Look Again
Lady Killer
Daddy’s Girl
Dirty Blonde
Devil’s Corner
Killer Smile
Dead Ringer
Courting Trouble
The Vendetta Defense
Moment of Truth
Mistaken Identity
Rough Justice
Legal Tender
Running from the Law
Final Appeal
Everywhere That Mary Went
About the Authors
LISA SCOTTOLINE is the New York Times bestselling and Edgar Award–winning author of eighteen novels. She has 25 million copies of her books in print in the United States, and she has been published in twenty-five countries. She is currently serving as the president of the Mystery Writers of America. She lives in Philadelphia with an array of disobedient pets. Visit www.scottoline.com.
FRANCESCA SERRITELLA graduated cum laude from Harvard University, where she won the Thomas Temple Hoopes Prize, the Le Baron Russell Briggs Fiction Prize, and the Charles Edmund Horman Prize for her creative writing. Her writing has appeared in Cosmopolitan, and she is working on a novel. She lives in New York with only one dog, so far. Visit www.francescaserritella.com.
BEST FRIENDS, OCCASIONAL ENEMIES. Copyright © 2011 by Smart Blonde, LLC, and Francesca Scottoline Serritella. All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.
www.stmartins.com
All photographs courtesy of the authors except where noted.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Scottoline, Lisa.
Best friends, occasional enemies : the lighter side of life as a mother and daughter / Lisa Scottoline and Francesca Serritella. — 1st ed.
p. cm.
e-ISBN 9781429995573
1. Mothers and daughters—Humor. 2. Women—Humor. 3. Scottoline, Lisa. 4. Serritella, Francesca Scottoline. I. Serritella, Francesca Scottoline. II. Title.
PN6231.M68S37 2011
818'.5402—dc23
2011025863
First Edition: November 2011
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