Acknowledgments

Finishing this novel during a pandemic that included my husband’s and my stints with COVID-19 was both challenging and a wonderful way to escape from a tough time into an imaginary world. I hope reading it felt like getting away from it all for you, too.

So many of you reached out to me to say you were looking forward to another adventure for Noreen, Tess and Rosie. The Wildwater Walking Club and I thank you from the bottom of our hearts for letting me know you wanted more. This book is for you!

My goals as a writer are to learn and grow with each book, to never let my amazing readers down, to write the book I’d want to read, to capture a slice of the lives of real 40-to-forever women, and to bring some fun into the world. I hope I’ve done it here.

A great big thank you to the many fabulous book clubs who’ve invited me to Zoom into their meetings to talk about one of my books. I’m so glad you pushed yourself to learn a new skill so that you could keep meeting while we’re all social distancing. The food might not be quite as good this way, but at least we only have to get dressed from the waist up!

I’m so grateful to Ken Harvey, Jack Kramer and Candy Hammond for their sharp eyes and huge hearts. A big thank you to Frank Poranski and Jake Jacobucci for map-checking the coddiwomple route, and to Pam Kramer for her awesome support. Thanks, too, to all the fabulous Never Too Late reinventors.

Forever thanks to Jake, Garet and Kaden for always being there. And to Pebbles, Squiggy and Sunshine for making sure I’m up before the crack of dawn.