“He is rich who owns the day,” Penelope murmured, and Cole looked up at her, surprised. She laughed. “It’s an Emerson poem. Your father said it to me once. He also said no worries all the time.”
“Really? I’ll look up the poem,” Cole said. He stood, and they hugged goodbye, with promises to call and stay in touch. Penelope watched his dark head move down the street among the people, dodging wayward children with good humor, melting into the crowd. She could have sworn he was whistling.
THE END
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Thank you to Jessica Tribble, Lauren Plude, and the whole Thomas & Mercer team, including Sarah Shaw, Jessica Preeg, Laura Barrett, and Gracie Doyle. I’m incredibly grateful for your investment in my career and commitment to finding a place in the world for my stories. Special thanks to Mark Gottlieb and Christine Hogrebe, who work tirelessly on my behalf, offer career advice, and answer my endless questions. Tiffany Yates-Martin, you’ve done it again. Forced me to dig deeper than I would have on my own and pulled this book straight from my heart. I truly love what you can get out of me and feel so lucky that I have our partnership!
To my readers, bloggers, Instagrammers, book clubs, Facebook reading groups, Bloomies, friends, family, sorority sisters: it’s been a weird year! No in-person events means we’ve all had to improvise. And yet you all show up. Over and over again. I’m so grateful for your continued support and willingness to shout my books to the rooftops. It’s truly kept me uplifted. Writing and releasing a book in a pandemic is a whole thing, man. I wouldn’t have been able to type THE END without knowing that you’re all cheering me on. Love you guys.
My author crew: The Tall Poppy Writers—my lady loves, my support system. The Calamity Dames: our group text is my reason for getting out of bed. I love when I wake up laughing at whatever text comes flying in: “What the shit is this?” It’s like FUEL. We commiserate, we celebrate, we plan. I love us. To my beta readers: Kimberly Giarratano, Sonja Yoerg, Ann Garvin, Amy Impellizzeri, Heather Webb. You offer a special brand of no-frills, honest, and on-point advice that always has had a huge impact on my writing. You are the best.
My oldest friends and closest family—thank you for being there. With my eighth book just as much as my first. It truly never ceases to amaze me how you show up, tell your friends, share my social media, text me while reading. I am the single luckiest author I know to have so many people in my corner. I love you, Mom, Dad, Meg, Becky, Molly, Aunt Meej, Unk.
And now, my family family. Chip, the best husband everrrr. I can’t keep telling you this with every book, can I? I’m just as thankful now as I was nine years ago when I first started on this crazy journey. I love our life. You provide exactly zero inspiration for any of the relationships in my stories because they’re all terrible. Thanks for making me laugh every single day. I promise to try to do more laundry. To my girls, whom I love with all my heart: Thanks for always making yourselves breakfast and lunch. Thanks for crashing my Instagram live videos. Thanks for being patient with your forgetful mom who tries so hard. You guys are the best.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Photo © 2016 Pooja Dhar
Kate Moretti is the bestselling author of six novels and a novella. Her first novel, Thought I Knew You, was a New York Times bestseller. The Vanishing Year was a nominee in the Goodreads Choice Awards Mystery & Thriller category for 2016 and was called “chillingly satisfying” (Publishers Weekly) with “superb” closing twists (New York Times Book Review).
Moretti has worked in the pharmaceutical industry for twenty years as a scientist and enjoys traveling and cooking. She lives in Pennsylvania in an old farmhouse with her husband, two children, and no known ghosts. Her lifelong dream is to find a secret passageway.
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