Even though I dreamed about opening a bakery for years, not a restaurant, it turns out this is even better than what I imagined. I get to feed people every day, get to take care of them, but in a way that serves me. And although I did end up finally earning my degree, I didn’t even need it to open the Butterfly; it turns out that all I really needed was my years of experience and the willingness to take a chance on myself and believe that I had a good idea. And now, all of this is mine.

Well, it’s not just mine, and that makes it so much better. It belongs to me and Nick, because I have someone to help me now. Someone to support me, someone to show up in the waiting room, someone to take care of me when I’m sick. Someone to be there.

I don’t have to handle things by myself anymore. Now, I have Milo and Fred here to check on Dad, to spend time with him, to attend bingo night. And when I visit him, Nick comes, too, and he never ever flinches at how painful it is, how much it sucks that Dad’s forgetting so much and changing every day. Sometimes, I even have a longer-than-five-minutes cry in the car with Nick, and he doesn’t have to say anything to make it better, because nothing ever could. He’s just there, and that’s enough.

“Hey.” Nick opens the door. “You doing okay out here?”

I turn and smile at him.

“You’re doing the thing again,” he says. “Where you stare at me and smile.”

“Hmmm, am I?” I spin around and walk through my café.

As I place the salad and slice of pie on Annie and Drew’s table and Nora pelts me with a fistful of crayons, I look over my shoulder. Nick is still standing there, staring at me, smiling, just like I knew he would be.

And as I smile back, I can’t think of any place I’d rather be.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

As usual, I find myself deeply afraid that I’ll forget to thank someone who had a crucial role in shaping this book, so please accept this as a blanket thank-you to everyone I’ve ever met, but especially the following people.

I’m so lucky to have Stephen Barbara as my agent. Thank you for being a voice of reason and helping my books find their perfect homes.

I’m still pinching myself that I get to work with Cindy Hwang, editor extraordinaire, who always knows exactly how to make my books better (and who, instead of asking me to avoid writing about bodily fluids so much, actually offers suggestions on how to make said discussions even more disgusting).

I’m grateful every day for the Berkley team, including Diana Franco, Tara O’Connor, Angela Kim, Jessica Brock, Fareeda Bullert, Brittanie Black, Elisha Katz, and all the people I haven’t met who work so hard on my books. I appreciate everything you do.