Three (Article 5 #3)(109)

He cupped his hands over his mouth. “Are we going to get breakfast or what?”

I giggled into Chase’s ear. “If you ignore him, he’ll go away.”

With that, Chase turned back, and kissed me again.





ACKNOWLEDGMENTS


Writing this is harder than I thought. Five years ago I was convinced I would never be published; I’d accepted that this dream of mine was going to forever remain my little secret. And now Chase and Ember’s journey is over (at least my part in it), and I’m thanking the people involved with making this trilogy a reality. It’s a teensy bit emotional.

I am so grateful to the team at Browne & Miller—Joanna and Danielle—for everything they have done for me, but most especially for pulling a poorly written query letter from the slush pile and seeing potential.

I’m enormously lucky to have Melissa Frain on my side—I can say for certain Sean is, too. Without her, I would probably, be drowning, in a river, of commas, and poor Sean would probably be sulky and, well, less cute. She’s a rock star editor—the bee’s knees, the cat’s pajamas (but please don’t tell her I said so, I’d never hear the end of it).

The people at Tor have been ever amazing from the very beginning of this series. Kathleen Doherty, thank you for your kindness and support. Alexis Saarela, you are absolutely the best publicist I could ask for. Seth Lerner, these covers have made the books. Well done and thank you.

I couldn’t have done any of this without my husband. I’m not sure I would have wanted to. There are certain people who just make you want to be your best self, and I will be thankful every day of my life to have found mine. As I write this, my son is attempting to scale the bookshelves—I take this to mean he’ll be a reader. It’s hard to believe it was only eleven months ago I was frantically trying to finish the last scenes between contractions. If anyone thinks the end of Three is too scary, blame labor. If you feel hopeful, as I hope you will, blame my son. He’s taught me all about it.

Once upon a time, I met another local author for bagels at a Panera in Louisville. I should have known that first day that she’d end up being my biggest cheerleader. A special thanks to Katie McGarry for holding my hand through this entire journey. We did it, Katie! Can you believe it?

And finally, thank you to the ladies at Jazzercise who sweat extra hard with me when I was in revisions, to the bloggers and authors who have been so supportive and inspiring, and to the people who have written me letters about Chase and Ember, about books, and about your own struggles and triumphs. I am deeply humbled, and grateful for you all.