Touching the Surface (26 page)

“Well, I’ll be.” Freddie spoke with a mixture of awe and authority.

He was staring off across the lake. I turned, following his gaze. A lone eagle circled the exact spot where I had exited the water as a new Third Timer. It seemed like an eternity ago. It was hard to recall the girl I’d been back then. I wondered if I appeared as different on the outside as I felt on the inside.

“She’s beautiful,” I whispered.

“Yes, she is.”

I felt his broad fingers brush the top of my head.

•  •  •

We piled into the truck. I was wedged between the Lowry boys. Trevor’s hand lay across the back of the seat and I felt his
arm resting against my neck. I peered out the window and was hit by a wave of panic.

“What if I mess it up again?” I asked.

“What if you can’t mess it up?” Mel said through the TX" aid="147LC

acknowledgments

To my agent, Michelle Wolfson, and my editor, Anica Rissi—before I started the search for agent and editor, I thought very carefully about what I truly wanted out of those two relationships. I believe in the power of intentions—the magic of words let loose into the universe. Looking inside myself, I realized that what I wanted more than anything in the world were two people I could be myself with. I repeated that wish over and over until you came into my life. Michelle and Anica, you are everything I ever dreamed of and more than I could’ve imagined. Together, we make a bigger version of what we already are. This is our book.

My deepest thanks to everyone at Simon Pulse who took to be your Passengering on hiI bit my lip
Surface
under their wing and helped it to fly. Especially
Bethany Buck, Mara Anastas, Jessica Handelman, Katherine Devendorf, Michael Strother, Guillian Helm, Jen Klonsky, Carolyn Swerdloff, and Virginia Herrick. This newbie-goober is indebted to you. I must also give a howl to Michelle Wolfson’s Wolf Pack. My thanks to Tawna Fenske, Linda Grimes, and Kiersten White for the warm welcome; Monica Bustamante-Wagner for being a new pup with me; and Kasie West, Daisy Whitney, and Alyssa Schwartz for giving me someone to haze. Once you go Pack . . . you never go back.

Thanks to Laurie Halse Anderson for being the very first person to ever treat me like a writer—it made all th

e difference. And to K. L. (Kelly) Going, my “Writer Mama”—you encouraged me to tell the world. I hope I’ve made you proud. Thank you for believing in me.

Thank you to Heather McElduff for the author luncheon and the driveway. It was pivotal. Much appreciation goes to Chris Shave for sitting next to me at my first conference. I might have left if you hadn’t. And much love to the rest of C&#;Children’s ’Riters Always Procrastinate—especially Linda Hanlon, Michelle Mead, Dean Pacchiana, and Roxanne Werner. I’m also grateful to everyone who’s been such a big part of my life through my local Shop Talk and SCBWI (Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators) Eastern NY. You have all become such wonderful friends. Additionally, I must
give a shout-out to everyone at SCBWI Eastern PA for making me an “honorary” Pennsylvanian.

I would also like to give hugs to all those friends and beta readers who have given me feedback and support. The whole crew of District 14, Rachel Houston, Jessie Harrell, Haley Burns, Lindsay Pologe, Alicia Rowell, Erin Sine, Phyllis Garella, Lisa Koosis, Amber Klemann, Susan Sanchez, and Ida Pearce. And to my Critters—Megan Gilpin, Mindy Weiss, and Jodi Moore—I don’t know what I’d do without you. You’ve taught me so much. I adore you. And it must be said: Jodi, thank you for sitting in the golf bag holder with me.

To everyone at Blodgett Memorial Library—it has meant so much to me that you’ve been cheering me on from the moment I began to write. And to Merritt Bookstore and Oblong Books & Music, my local independent bookstor8217;RAP—

es, you made me a part of your communities long before I had a book to put on your shelves. To my girls at Workshop and everyone at Yanarella—dancing with you makes me a better writer. Cheers and hugs to Taylor Longenberger and Rebecca Britt, future authors who are teaching me how to be a mentor. And to Amy Miccio, boy-watcher extraordinaire, you are important to me. I also have to thank the SCBWI, Verla Kay and her Blue Boards, the gang at YA Lveryone in the Apocalypsies and the Class of 2k12. Being a part of
this tribe has made all the difference. You guys are a bucketful of awesome. And to my homeopath and friend, Melissa Sgroi, my safe place to fall—I’m thinking of you. And I also must thank Dawn Turcy Sela of Dawn Sela Photography for my beautiful author photos. I love that two small-town girls, working as cashiers at the Grand Union, have found themselves in their art.

I would like to thank my family—which is a whole lot of people. If you are, or ever have been, a Urbanak, Stanulwich, or Sabatini, then you know how much I love you. A special Kimmiepoppins thank-you to Lorayne Pulcastro for giving me Trevor’s waterwheel. To Joanne Sabatini, the Lanes, and the Pierantozzi family for being my personal fan club. I want to thank my brother, Terry Stanulwich, for saying that he’s proud of me. It mean to be your Passengerorlo beforesit Chat, and e