Thanks, as always, to Kate McKean for her help and support. I’m so relieved Cal was deemed likable enough to warrant his own slice of the story, and it was gleeful fun getting inside his head. The belief in him is in large part due to Andrew Harwell, who seems to like the jerk as much as I do. The HarperCollins team really pulled it out for the design of this one, and I’m always in awe of their hard work and creativity. Thanks to my family and friends for never letting me explode into a supernova of stress and worry. Jean Rhys and Lee Falk were huge inspirations for this novella—Wide Sargasso Sea being one of my favorite books and The Phantom being a vast and wonderful comic series. With that, I have to also give acknowledgment to Steve Wright, who introduced me to Wide Sargasso Sea in the first place, in one of his many influential courses. Finally, a word of thanks to Jeff Kurtenacker for the soundtrack that played for 90 percent of my work time on this—a writer is always indebted to a good soundtrack.