And then she rode off—not with Spaulding, but not with Katrina, either.
As Marietta disappeared around a corner, Katrina scowled at Spaulding. “Unbelievable,” she said. “You’re so overpoweringly lame that your lameness lames up everyone you come in contact with, and now you’ve ruined Marietta.”
Spaulding just grinned.
When he got home, all was quiet except for the distant tapping of Aunt Gwen at her keyboard. Spaulding went straight to the kitchen to make a p.c.-and-j. But as he took out the supplies, the sound of typing stopped.
Aunt Gwendolyn came into the room. “Spaulding!”
He hid the chip bag behind his back. “Hi, Aunt Gwen. I was just—”
“Getting something to eat? Well, no need—I made you a snack.”
Oh, great. Reheated stew? Oven-baked kale chips?
But his aunt held out a plate bearing a sandwich. “Two kinds of chips and three kinds of jelly.” She winked. “I think you’ve earned it.”
Acknowledgments
I wish I had unlimited pages for this! I grew up in such a caring community that I can’t possibly thank everyone individually who has supported and encouraged me over the years. So, to the people of Plumas County: thank you for making our corner of the world a warm and generous place.
I owe thanks to so many artists. To name just a few: Allen Stenzel, Kris Patzlaff, Sarah Whorf, and Jim Moore. To Dianne Lipscomb: you’re so much more than one of my art teachers! I’ve learned so much from you, not only about art, but also about how to be a stronger, bolder, braver person.
To wonderful librarians: Margaret Miles, Sharla Satterfield, and Sherry Kumler; and especially to Jeanette Brauner, who made the library a welcoming place for a shy homeschooled oddball. To my funny, smart, kind, endlessly inspiring library kids—Serena, Auggie, Tenaya, Lily, River, Hank, Adeline, Toby, Addy, Emmy, Kaleb, Levi, Maeve, Violet, Lucius, Sam, Marlin, Emily, Maddie, Kiah, Dylan, Kaitlynn, and so many others: I write for you guys. You give me hope for the future.
Thanks to the warm-hearted, witty, and frighteningly multi-talented Ellie Sipila. Many thanks to Stacey Graham. Thanks to Heather Kelly, Ardi Alspach, Sari Lampert Murray, and the whole team at Sterling. And I truly can’t find the words to properly express my gratitude to my brilliant, insightful, and kind editor, Christina Pulles. Christina, you made this book worlds better than I ever could have done alone.
To Colleen, whose generosity helped make this possible. To Rajinder, for advice, endless kindness, book chats, movie nights, and for raising my standards in chai tea. To Lil, for years of vicarious thrills.
To Jenn, the very definition of a BFF. Thank you for never getting tired of me, even when I was being a know-it-all, or bossy, or painfully dorky (a total Spaulding, in other words).
To my mom and dad. Thank you for a million things, but to keep it book-related: thanks for introducing me to all the books that would remain my lifelong favorites. For letting me spend entire days reading. For letting me prop my books up in front of my plate at dinner so I didn’t have to stop reading even to eat or, you know, talk or anything dumb like that. For also letting me watch waaay too much TV. (I still say I was learning story structure and comedic timing.)
And, of course, to Billy. For pep talks whenever I’m discouraged, for talking out plot points with me endlessly, for making dinners so I could work (even when it didn’t really look like work), and then cleaning up dinner too, even though it wasn’t your turn.
Finally, to everyone who read this book: thank you so much for spending some time in Thedgeroot with me! I hope we can do it again soon.
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