This book is long. You probably noticed, because you had to read the whole thing to get to this part. As a result, I have one side of one page to thank all the people who deserve thanks for this book, which is not nearly enough. So here’s the most important thing: I could not have written this book without you. You know who you are, all of you. I love you, and I am grateful.
Nathan, Griffin, and Tess, you are my everyday support and inspiration. Thank you. I love you all, plus Ed, Maxy(N), Maz, and whoever’s in Tank 2 this week. (And to Griffin especially: thank you for giving me the first two lines of “The Three Kings,” and, more importantly, thank you for all your encouragement. It means so much to me. You fill my bucket every day.) Chelsea Youss, you are a sister and a saint, and I love you; ditto Sophie Groton—without you guys, I could not have done this. I owe huge thanks, as always, to Gus and the crew at Emphasis Restaurant, as well as to the folks at Coffee RX and Cocoa Grinder in Bay Ridge for giving me places to go to Get Stuff Done. My work wife Cristin Stickles whisked me away to North Carolina and gave me a place to finally finish the first draft of this book, and I can’t overstate how much it meant, being able to finish this book in one of the places that gave birth to Nagspeake in the first place. Thanks also to my home away from home, McNally Jackson, and to Sarah, the Saturday crew, and every member of the growing McJ family. And, of course, last but never least, thank you to the people who made this book possible, made it special, and made sure it got to you, dear reader: to Lynne Polvino, for making my stories stronger and making me a better writer with every tale; to Jaime Zollars, for bringing Nagspeake to life yet again, as perfectly as ever; to Sharismar Rodriguez for making this book beautiful, the way she always does; and to Tina Dubois, Dana Spector, and Barry Goldblatt, for All The Other Things, including sanity.
And, most of all, to you, for sharing these hours with me. Roam well, friends. We will meet again.