Chapters (23)
My friends are everything to me, and they have supported me and my writing life in more ways than I can count. Thank you to my dear friend Lizzie Stark, whose family’s beach house in Cape May inspired the setting for this book, and to George Locke, her husband, who taught me everything I know about noise music and kettlebells; thank you to Cam Terwilliger, who for months met me at six every morning at Diesel Café in Somerville to write; to James Scott and Urban Waite, with whom I wish I were sitting right now around a pit fire, sipping bourbon; to Laura van den Berg and Paul Yoon, magical, otherworldly beings; to John Cotter and Elisa Gabbert, fellow book-club members; to Benjamin Allen and Ashley Peterson, with whom Katie and I will always be tubing down the Deerfield River of our hearts; to Dan Pribble, my DM for life, and to Marianna Hagbloom, who taught me everything I know about whale penises; to Scott Votel (a.k.a. Gregor Hategood) and Moira Mannix, whose calm advice helped Katie and me in our first months of parenthood; to Amanda Dykstra, who needs to keep writing, and to Greg Esposito, whose recipe for haddock has strengthened my marriage; to Sean Lanigan, who also needs to keep writing, and Cami Hennekens, beloved former roommates; to Jaime Clarke and Mary Cotton, owners of the indispensible Newtonville Books; to Jennifer Olsen, Christen Enos, Kathleen Rooney, and Abby Beckel, who welcomed me at Emerson and have been good friends ever since; to Julia Cadieux, who informed me that balls smell like pancake batter; to Elizabeth Souder, whose sofa allowed me to move to New York many years ago; and to my oldest friends, Iain Campbell, Carlos Chavez, and Vicky Tsai, who have always loved and supported me.
Thank you, Mom and Dad, for raising me right and always encouraging me, even when my decisions haven’t seemed sensible, and thank you, Wes, my brother, for being my best friend all my life—and to my sister-in-law, Cindy, and my nephews, K.C. and Ben: I love you all.
Thank you, Aunt Jackie, for more than I can say here.
And thank you, finally and most of all, to Katie Hunt, my wife, my love, and to our baby daughter, Audrey, whose due date provided the deadline I needed to finish this book. My tender sweeties, I love you both so much.
