by Mary Adkins
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Acknowledgments
I am forever indebted to my agent, Claire Anderson-Wheeler. I am so grateful to the universe for bringing me to you. The same goes to my editor, Emily Griffin. I felt it was fate when we first talked about running long distances and being miserable about it. Working with you has been a daily privilege ever since. Melissa Cox and Elinor Cooper in the UK—it has likewise been a joy.
My friends who read this book when it was a first draft, Rina Goldfield and Emily Wulwick, thank you for being that kind of friend. Sarah Stone, you are the writer whisperer. Kimberlee Auerbach Berlin and Victory Matsui, thank you for your early insights as well.
My writing group helped raise this book through its challenging toddler and teenage years. Joselin Linder, Kate Tellers, Joanne Solomon, Nicole Solomon, Christine Clarke, T. J. Wells, Jorge Novoa, Jessica Mannion, Sam Ritchie, Alex DiFrancesco, Gabra Zackman, and Natalia Kislitsina—thank you for being this novel’s favorite aunts and uncles. I don’t know what I did to wind up among you other than knowing Kate Tellers, but as with many good things, that’s probably all it was. I cherish our Tuesdays of hummus, overpriced red, and “what-ifs.” May we remain compatibly deranged for many years.
And to the rest of my writer family—Haley Hoffman, Rachel Abramowitz, Greg Marshall, and my partner in most crimes, Lucas Schaefer—thank you for the endless supply of inspiration, commiseration, and laughs.
To Lee Shapiro, Chibuzo Enemchukwu, Israt Pasha, and Derek Frankhauser, thank you for your generosity as experts where I’m clueless.
Writing takes up a lot of space sometimes. I’m grateful to Audrey and Hal Krisbergh, and to Justin Ahren and the Noepe Center, for generously offering me a place to work.
Dr. Z., you’re out there somewhere, raising your one eyebrow and probably giving me an “8” on this. Thanks for being my most irreverent and passionate English teacher, apart from Mrs. Chancy. Everyone, go find Diane Chancy and take seventh-grade English from her if you want to make the rest of your life better.
My sister, Katie Beth Ongena, is the kind of sibling who made me want to write a novel about sisters. Thank you for being as wonderful as it gets. Clista and Glen Adkins, thank you for being parents who pushed us to do what we love, to be creative, and to live lives we want to wake up to in the morning. You may have questioned that choice once or twice upon receiving phone calls about quitting jobs and dropping out of law school, but I’m so grateful for it.
Lucas, thank you for being my frequent editor and daily reminder to laugh at myself. I love spending this life with you.
Finn, I was putting the final touches on this manuscript while you were the size of a kumquat. As I write this, you’re the size of a jalapeño. I hope this book doesn’t embarrass you one day, but if it does, you can use it in your stand-up.
Copyright
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
WHEN YOU READ THIS. Copyright © 2019 by Mary Adkins. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
Cover design, cover illustrations, title page, and openers illustration by James Iacobelli
FIRST EDITION
Digital Edition FEBRUARY 2019 ISBN: 978-0-06-283470-6
Version 12202018
Print ISBN: 978-0-06-283467-6
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