I am indebted to the following people for their close reading, advice, and guidance with these stories: Don Lee at Ploughshares, Hannah Tinti at One Story, Christina Thompson at Harvard Review, Leigh Haber at Oprah Daily, Tyler Clements, Calla King-Clements, Eloise King-Clements, Josh Bodwell, Susan Conley, Sara Corbett, Anja Hanson, Caitlin Gutheil, Debra Spark, Linden Frederick, and Laura Rhoton McNeal. These pieces were transformed into a collection during a pandemic by the phenomenal people at Grove Atlantic: my brilliant and beloved editor Elisabeth Schmitz, Morgan Entrekin, Deb Seager, Judy Hottensen, Justina Batchelor, Sam Trovillion, Amy Hundley, Gretchen Mergenthaler, Julia Berner-Tobin, Paula Cooper Hughes, and Yvonne Cha. I’m deeply grateful to my dear and spectacular agent, Julie Barer. It’s impossible to publish a story collection without acknowledging my high school English teacher, Tony Paulus, who taught me what a short story was, then told me to write them. A thousand thanks to my husband, Tyler, and our daughters, Eloise and Calla, for everything every day.