I AM IMMENSELY GRATEFUL TO THE EDITORIAL STAFF AT HAWTHORNE Books, particularly Rhonda Hughes, who saw my California dream the way I hoped it could be seen. Thanks to Sarah Dowling for the many patient reads and encouragement, and to the faculty and my cohort at the University of Washington Bothell MFA in Creative Writing and Poetics (especially Dave Sanders, Tracy Gregory, Ellen Donnelly, Andrew Carson, Rebecca Brown, Jeanne Heuving, and Amaranth Borsuk) for receiving and responding to my work. Endless gratitude to Kellini Walter, Dana Montanari, Wendy Staley Colbert, and Abigail Carter for your support, love, words, breakfasts, escapes to cozy cabins with wood-burning stoves, and for traveling this writer journey alongside me. Special thank you to Theo Nestor, for showing me how it’s done and for providing unconditional reassurance, inspiration, and, when needed, life support, and for your more-precious-than-gold friendship. To Suzanne Swirsky, my lifelong champion, shark expert, memory holder, the Diana Barry to my Anne Shirley: I would be nothing without you. My deepest love and gratitude to Lukas, Lola, and Tansy Velush, who form the shape of my heart. And to my family, and especially to my parents: thank you for the music.