“We’re about a block away from the restaurant,” Theo said. “Dawn texted—she’s there at a table.”

Ben took a deep breath.

“Oh. Okay, great.”

They pulled into a parking spot, and Ben took off his seat belt. Anna grabbed his hand before he got out of the car.

“Do you have any idea how happy you make me?” she asked him.

His entire face bloomed into a huge smile.

“Yeah,” he said. “I do.”

Acknowledgments

I didn’t think I could write this book. At first, it felt impossible to write a book during a global pandemic, especially a book about love. But then this book became my joy, during a very hard year. I am grateful beyond words for everyone in my life who helped me find love and joy and creativity in the hardest of all years to find all of those things, and who made it possible for me to tell Ben and Anna’s story.

Holly Root and Cindy Hwang: I thought I was grateful for the two of you before this; I realize now I had no idea how incredibly lucky I am to have you as my agent and editor. Without your patience, support, and above all, your faith in me, this book would not exist. Thank you both, from the bottom of my heart, for everything.

Jessica Brock, how would I do anything without you? I hope I never find out. Fareeda Bullert, thank you for one million things, but especially the title. Angela Kim, Craig Burke, Erin Galloway, Megha Jain, Rita Frangie, Ayang Cempaka, Eileen Chetti, Lisa Davis, Yasmin Mathew, and everyone at Berkley and Penguin Random House who works on my books, you’ve all gone above and beyond in the past year. Your jobs got infinitely harder, and I’m still amazed at how wonderful you’ve been. Thank you for every email and brainstorming session and phone call and everything else. I appreciate all of you so very much and hope we never have to put another book out together during a pandemic. Thank you to Alyssa Moore, Melanie Castillo, and all of you at Root Literary for all of your hard work throughout an incredibly hard year. Thank you to Alice Lawson and everyone at Gersh for your unfailing support of me and my books. Huge thanks to Reese Witherspoon and the whole team at Hello Sunshine for being the best cheerleaders out there.

Amy Spalding and Akilah Brown, thank you for all of the emails and texts about names, geography, snacks, and so much more. Jessica Morgan, thank you for your wisdom, your friendship, and your encouragement about everything from writing to buying just one more pair of earrings. Kayla Cagan, thank you for your advice and jokes and thoughtfulness. Nicole Chung, I cannot wait to give you the biggest hug in the world. So many writers have been there for me since the beginning, and especially this year; thank you Jami Attenberg, Melissa Baumgart, Robin Benway, Austin Channing Brown, Nicole Cliffe, Heather Cocks, Alexis Coe, Ruby Lang, Danny Lavery, Lyz Lenz, Samin Nosrat, Rachel Fershleiser, Helen Rosner, and Sara Zarr for your advice, handholding, expertise, and support.

Jill Vizas, where does friendship stop and family begin? I’m not quite sure, but I know we crossed that line a long time ago. Simi Patnaik and Nicole Clouse, I wouldn’t have made it through this year without you two. Janet Goode, I miss you and I love you so much. Lisa McIntire, thank you for everything, but especially that thing you said in a text message that I thought about for many months and then put in this book. Kimberly Chin, thank you for all of our backyard meals, hopefully we’ll get to eat a meal together inside someday soon. Enormous thanks to Christina Tucker, Alyssa Furukawa, Samantha Powell, Dana White, Alicia Harris, Nanita Cranford, Melissa Sladden, Jina Kim, Joy Alferness and the entire Alferness family, Sarah Mackey, Margaret H. Willison, Kate Leos, Lyette Mercier, Micah Ludeke, Katie Faulkner, Maret Orliss, Catherine Gelera, Kate Flaim, Maggie Levine, Sara Simon, Julian Davis Mortenson, Nathan Cortez, Sarah Tiedeman, Kyle Wong, Ryan Gallagher, Toby Rugger, and Jessica Simmons for your friendship and love.

Special thanks to every member of every single one of my group texts. I’ve treasured all of the jokes, selfies, venting, love, tears, hugs, support, and so much more. Get ready for sustained, very tight hugs in the hopefully near future.

Thank you to my family, who have loved and supported me so much throughout my whole life. To my own enormous family group text: you all knew I would put you in a book someday, didn’t you? My cousins, I love you so very much. A special shout-out to my cousin Leann, since I keep putting the names of the people who live in your house in my books, I can’t help it. (I’ll get to the rest, I promise.) And of course, thank you to my mom and dad, who have taught me so much, and have always had faith in me, even when I had none. I love you.

Librarians and booksellers, you all had to change how you did your jobs on a dime, and I’m in awe of your resilience, your creativity, and your ability to keep telling the world about your favorite books, no matter what. Special thanks to my hometown bookstore, East Bay Booksellers, and all of the staff there, who helped me get hundreds of signed books out to readers during a pandemic—you all blew me away with your organization, enthusiasm, and good humor in the face of everything. Thank you so much.

And a huge thank-you to all of my readers. Thank you for buying my books, getting them from the library, recommending them to friends, posting on social media, and everything else you do. Your notes and messages about my books have been such a balm for me during hard times, and I think about them so often. I’m grateful for every single one of you. Thank you all, for everything.