“Oh yeah? Of what?”
“An origami unicorn.”
A wide grin spreads across his face. “I can’t wait to see it.”
The air-conditioning kicks on overhead with a loud rumble, blasting cold air down on us. A dusty, round clock ticks overhead. 7:44 p.m. Two minutes faster than the watch on my wrist. But I don’t need to count minutes or hours or days—not anymore. Adam and I have plenty of time.
The future is no longer a threat but a promise of things to come. For once, I look forward to it.
Acknowledgments
This book would not exist without the help of so many people, to whom I owe my endless thanks.
To my husband, Gary Briggs, for being my inspiration, my best friend, and my number-one fan. The future seems bright as long as you’re at my side.
To the Adams and Briggs families for always believing in me and supporting my dreams, and especially my parents, Gaylene and Peter Adams, for raising me as a reader and a geek.
To my awesome agent, Kate Testerman, who never gave up on this book or on me, along with everyone else at KT Literary.
To Wendy McClure and everyone at Albert Whitman for giving this story a home, making it even better, and then sharing it with the world.
To Rachel Searles, who helped me figure out this book’s plot at Panera and over many emails; Cortney Pearson, who read each chapter the second I finished it and cheered for me to keep writing; and Stephanie Garber, who helped me figure out a tricky plot point and always made me smile.
To the other author friends who kept me going and helped me in various ways through the years: Susan Adrian, Karen Akins, Riley Edgewood, Dana Elmendorf, Amaris Glass, Jessica Love, Kathryn Rose, and Krista Van Dolzer.
To my Latina readers for helping with the Spanish and making Elena more authentic: Nancy Unruh Berumen and Aline Strickler; with additional thanks to Zoraida Córdova and Mónica Bustamante Wagner, who answered some of my questions.
To everyone who has followed me on my path to publication and offered me a kind word, a smile, or a congrats along the way—I truly appreciate all of you.
And finally to all of the readers and bloggers who take the time to read my books and help spread the word about them. You make being an author the best job in the entire world.