For Carol and Melvin, aka the crazy people next door.
Love you, love you, love you.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
As always, my deepest and most heartfelt thank-you to Jen and Alexandra,
for making the sun shine and the moon glow. You have my heart forever. And to
everyone at Macmillan and Janklow & Nesbit. I'd point fingers, but I'm sure I'd
miss some deserving unsung hero in the process. You all rock so hard.
To my family, including but not limited to spouse, parents, grandparents,
sisters, brothers, sons, daughters, first cousins, second cousins, first cousins once
removed (I have no idea what that means), nieces, nephews, and my wonderful,
wonderful family of friends. I have to thank especially my sister Annette, who is
demanding royalties because I keep publishing tidbits of her life, my brother
Luther for letting me use his name even though I didn't actually ask beforehand,
and my brother Quentin for being the bestest most pimpin'-est pimp ever!
Thank-yous must go out to my critique goddess, Tammy, the incomparable
Celeste Bradley, the beautiful Dan Dan, and the knockout Kit, who read this book
at the speed of light to give me much-needed feedback. And, of course, thank you
to the goddesses of LERA and the Dorothys of the Ruby Slippered Sisterhood.
Where would I be without you? Especially Liz. Thanks for naming my book!
And thank you so much to all the readers and reviewers who love Charley
and Reyes's story as much as I do. May their adventures be many and their love
everlasting. After, of course, I put them through the wringer.
A special thank-you to Mike Davidson for Garrett's list and for doing his
darnedest to get me on Oprah. I'm sure my absence was an oversight. Thanks for
giving it your all.
CONTENTS
Title Page
Dedication
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
