The sky deepens and the blue-chunk moon sharpens. Wheels beneath me hum.
Max texts me. Our housemates made lentil salad and chickpea burgers. They’re about to watch a documentary on beekeepers. Even though it’s been hours, Max says he’s “jonesing for a Vera fix.”
Isn’t it the best thing—that love is a kind of magic that turns strangers into family?
In a shock of enlightenment speeding toward home, I get it: This now couldn’t be without everything terrible that happened before it. This beautiful now.
I think it might be possible to love what I wish had never happened.
I get the world’s mean pain and sweet, warm lips.
I get it’s not an either/or deal.
I forgive you, life.
I forgive.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
First, thank you to my agent, Claire Anderson-Wheeler, whose patience and vision helped bring this manuscript from its messy beginning to these polished pages. Not only is she this book’s strongest supporter, she also had a huge hand in shaping it. I owe so much to her.
Thank you, Tiffany Liao, for first falling for my book and giving it a wonderful home at Penguin. Your early edits were so influential and my only regret is that I didn’t get more time to work with you.
Thank you, Jessica Harriton and Ben Schrank, for your editing expertise. Jess, your advice and advocacy have been invaluable throughout every stage of this publication process and I appreciate all you do so much.
Thank you, Lauren Hougen, for your careful copyedits, Samantha Hoback for catching all my typos, Rachel Porter for your sensitivity reader wisdom, Samira Iravani for a gorgeous cover design, and everyone else at Penguin who lent their expertise to this book.
Thank you and virtual hugs to brilliant authors Amber Smith, Kerry Kletter, and Kathleen Glasgow—I’m humbled that you took the time to be my early readers.
Thanks to my best friend Ramona Itule-Patigian, who sat down with me and talked through my book early on, treating my characters and story like real things. We’re not sisters. But in another way, we are.
Thanks to my wonderful family full of my favorite humans: Mom, Dad, Matt, and Denese, and the North Carolina crew, Jackson and Katie, and Micaela.
I’m so grateful every day for my dear husband Jamie, who lets me rattle on about worlds that don’t exist and stare at my screen for ridiculous amounts of time and loves me anyway. For our astounding little daughter Roxanna Tulip, who was such a perfect baby she let me write the whole first draft of this book on maternity leave. And for Zora Firelily, the sequel.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Faith Gardner is the author of the young adult novel Perdita. Her short fiction has been published in places like ZYZZYVA, PANK and McSweeney's online. She lives in the Bay Area. Visit Faith online at www.faithgardner.com and follow her on twitter @iamfaithgardner.
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The Second Life of Ava Rivers Page 27