I’d like to thank everyone at LPQ, Larchmont, and The Hatchery, who give me endless cups of coffee and a place to work: Wilder, Kacy, Vanessa, Carter, Amy, Maria, and Talia. If I’ve forgotten your name, it’s not because I don’t appreciate you, it’s because I’m an idiot.
I’d like to thank my editor, Kate Seaver, who says positive, constructive things about my work then deftly suggests changes that improve it immeasurably.
I’d also like to thank Margalo Chellas Goldbach, a lovely, intelligent, and highly creative child, who provided the original version of one of the more impressive tantrums in the book, and who will now, sadly, never be allowed to forget it.
Lastly, although Larchmont is a real neighborhood in Los Angeles, and many of the sights I describe are real and lovely, all of the characters are completely fictional. Any resemblance to actual people is completely coincidental and unintentional. I used my imagination, as writers are wont to do.