Lisa Patton, thank you for the time to work in your gorgeous home and for being your delightful self. Likewise to Shannon King: You offered your beautiful home as a gorgeous and inspiring writing space. You also provided lunch with wine—which is the best kind of lunch.
Chelsea Humphrey, words can’t express how much your help spurred me on. I hope I can return the favor someday. Ahem.
Christopher Rice, your kindness about Worthy was a huge boost, and your continued kindness and funny comments have been an unexpected and welcomed addition to my life.
To the members of the never defunct Authors Out of Carolina: Kim Wright Wiley, Joy Callaway, and Erika Marks. You are my writing cohorts, and I am grateful for your wisdom and encouragement. Kim, your help was especially invaluable for this one. Turns out Carrabba’s in Myrtle Beach at four o’clock on a Monday is a place where magic happens.
Donna Ruth Powell of Charlotte White Dove Release was an amazing resource who opened her heart and home to me. She made that part of this story come alive and gave me insight I couldn’t have gained by simply reading about doves.
Nancy Malcor, cousin extraordinaire, once again provided valuable legal advice. Whatever I got wrong is not your fault. Whatever I got right is to your credit. It’s good to have a prosecutor in the family, especially one as stylish, smart, and hysterical as you are.
Thank you also to Mia Brown Geiger, friend of Nancy, who clued me in on what really goes on in hair salons.
Thanks also to my daughter’s former roommate, Taylor Newcomb, who came to dinner at our house and told us the story of an elderly relative who repeated the same story every day, day after day. Taylor said that, my brain went to, “But what if one day the story changed?” and a key part of this book was born.
Rohn Brown, you get a thank-you this time, as you introduced me to Monty Python. I’ve now mentioned MPATHG in two different novels, so clearly your spot-on impressions made a lasting impact, especially on a nine-hour drive to Kentucky.
To the artists who sang the songs that became the soundtrack (in my head) to this novel: “When We Were Young” by Adele, “This Town” by Niall Horan, “Castle on a Hill” by Ed Sheeran, “Learning to Fly” by Tom Petty, “Roll Me Away” by Bob Seger, “Say I’m the One” by Griffin House, “Here with Me” by The Killers, “Vice” by Miranda Lambert, “Hazard” by Richard Marx, “Marry Me” by Thomas Rhett, “Misunderstood” by Slow City Hotel, “Take It to Heart” by Michael McDonald, and anything by P!nk, as she’s the inspiration for Clary. I’m sure there were other songs, but these are the standouts, the ones I could always play to help me get inside the minds and hearts of these particular characters.
HUGE thanks to all the readers (and booksellers!) who buy/sell my books, come to/organize my events, ask me to sign books, tell their friends/customers about them, send me encouraging emails, and so on. I always try to picture my intended reader as I write, and your faces are what I picture. Thank you for being on the other end of this process.
And finally, to the Holy Trinity, who show up a few times in this book and show up for me every single day, in more ways than I can count. Apart from You, I can do nothing (Psalm 109: 26–27).
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Photo © 2016 Portrait Innovations
Marybeth Mayhew Whalen is the author of When We Were Worthy, The Things We Wish Were True, and five previous novels. She speaks to women’s groups around the United States and is the cofounder of the popular women’s fiction site She Reads (www.shereads.org). Marybeth and her husband, Curt, have been married for twenty-seven years and are the parents of six children. Marybeth divides her time between the suburbs of Charlotte, North Carolina, and the coastline of Sunset Beach, North Carolina. You can find her at www.marybethwhalen.com.
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