Lizzie Blake's Best Mistake (A Brush with Love, #2)(96)
“That’s…”
But Lizzie’s choked laugh stopped whatever lie he was going to spew. He looked up at her. She was shaking with giggles.
“You should see your face,” she said, snorting so hard, she had to bury her head in the pillow to control the noise. “I’m kidding, you idiot! Holy God, could you imagine? We’d die.”
“You’re pure evil, you know that?” he said, gripping Lizzie’s thigh and making her squeal quietly into the pillow. He truly had found himself a little rogue.
“Me being knocked up again would serve you right,” Lizzie said, finding the strength through her laughter to look at him. “Walking around topless like you do all the time? Holding a baby for crying out loud? It does things to a woman.”
“I’ll try to dress more conservatively,” he teased. “I can’t keep tempting fate.” They shook with silly giggles until they collapsed into a deep sleep.
A few hours later, their daughter cried.
They woke up in a disoriented tangle of limbs and bedsheets, their wild eyes meeting in the early morning hours.
And then they smiled at all the noise.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Writing is a fickle pursuit. Some stories pour out of you, while others feel like pulling teeth (and I’m somewhat of an expert on that). Lizzie and Rake’s story was an unequivocal joy to write. A product of the COVID-19 pandemic, this book was a bright light in a dark time, a safe place to frolic and play with ideas about love and growth and laughter and to see someone with ADHD, like me, be loved and cherished. Quite simply: writing this story made me happy. And that happiness was made possible by the love and support of so many people, and I am overflowing with gratitude for every single one of them.
Ben. I love you. I could fill a book with how much you mean to me, but those three words are at the heart of it. Thank you for encouraging me, cheering me on, and letting me disappear into these fictional worlds. And thank you for always letting me talk through my writer’s block. Your suggestions are almost never helpful because they always quickly derail into a murder mystery, but I still appreciate the effort.
My editor, Eileen Rothschild. OH MY GOD I LOVE WORKING WITH YOU. Thank you for embracing my voice and making me a better writer. You are a brilliant editor, and I still pinch myself that we get to work on all these books together.
My agent, Courtney Miller-Callihan. You are quite possibly the coolest person I know. Thank you for caring about me and my work. You make publishing a better place, and I admire you so much.
Mom, thank you for loving me as I am, doing your best to support the many many (expensive) special interest/hyper-focus hobbies I picked up over the years. I hope you never read this book so we can still make eye contact.
Dad, thank you for your endless supply of humor and laughter.
Chloe Liese, I’m not sure I’d ever finish writing a book if I didn’t have you to turn to for everything from craft to crassness. I’m so lucky to know you, and your work is a gift to the world.
Megan Stillwell, you are a national treasure and one of the most incredible women I know. I’m constantly awed by you. Thank you for being my friend and a fearless sounding board for ideas.
Hamda Shakil, you deserve all the happiness in the world. I can’t believe I’m lucky enough to know you.
Sarah Hogle, thank you for being a fearless author and fierce friend. Helen Hoang, I treasure our talks more than you could know, and I’m so grateful for you. Rosie Danan, Rachel Lynn Solomon, Elizabeth Everett, and Evie Dunmore, thank you for being so supportive of my work. I admire you all endlessly.
Jacque, thank you for your invaluable advice as a beta reader; your insight was everything. Elisabeth Wise, thank you for copyediting my first draft of this novel; your impeccable work made all the difference.
A huge, never-ending thank-you to my team at St. Martin’s Griffin. Lisa Bonvissuto, every interaction with you leaves a smile on my face! Thank you for being so fabulous. Alexis Neuville and Maria Vitale, you two are absolute stars and I’ll never be able to express how much I appreciate the work you’ve done. Brant Janeway and Marissa Sangiacomo, thank you for championing my books and helping them reach readers. You two are amazing. Thank you to Chrisinda Lynch, Joy Gannon, and Hannah Jones for making my extremely rough Mad Libs–esque draft end up a polished and gorgeous book.
Kerri Resnick, you SVU-loving creative genius. I don’t know how you create the endlessly stunning work that you do, but you’ve made the world a better place with it.
As I write these acknowledgments for my sophomore novel, my first book, A Brush with Love, still hasn’t even released, but I’ve already been indescribably touched and humbled by the support so many of you have shown for my work. Stacia, Esther, Mae, Amelia, Sarah Estep, Lindsay Grossman, Joana, Chloe, Marianne, Andrea Daniels, Ginger, Katie, Kris, Ashley, Hannah, Tara, Amanda, Hailey, Amanda, Katie Holt, you all have moved me deeply with your love and support. I can never thank you enough for your kind words and your encouragement. You’ve helped make this journey the best part of my life. Thank you to every reader that took a chance on my writing and for spending your time with my goofball characters.
And, finally, thank you to everyone who’s engaged with me in conversations about neurodiversity and mental health. Every message means the world to me, and I am incredibly privileged and lucky to be able to talk so openly about the beauties and struggles that come with being ADHD and autistic. Every brain is beautiful, and they all deserve love exactly as they are.