Writing this novel was a little bit like interrailing through Europe. Sometimes it was all beautiful views and gelato in the sunshine. Other times? It was more like losing my passport and sobbing in random train stations. I’m lucky to have been surrounded by so many people who helped me draw the lines that would eventually connect this story.

Molly Ker Hawn: You are a superstar and superhero. It’s impossible to overstate how grateful I am to have you in my corner, so I’ll just say this—I could bake you a million chocolate chip shortbreads as a gesture of thanks and still owe you a million more.

Pam Gruber: Your humor, heart, and guiding hand kept this book on track even when I feared it was going off the rails. (Sorry for all the train metaphors!) Thank you for the wit and wisdom you brought to Aubrey and Rae’s story and for never losing faith that it would come together in the end.

This cross-continental gal hit the jackpot when she found her home at Little, Brown Books for Young Readers in the US and UK. Bouquets of roses to these members of Team USA: Farrin Jacobs, Megan Tingley, Victoria Stapleton, Hannah Milton, Stef Hoffman, Jessica Shoffel, Danielle Yadao, Karina Granda, and Jen Graham. And to Tina McIntyre, who has supported me through every iteration of my publishing career. Bouquets of roses as well to these members of Team UK: Kate Agar, Stephanie Allen, Laure Pernette, Emily Thomas, and Sophie Burdess.

Thank you to everyone at The Bent Agency, and to all the foreign co-agents and publishers who bring stories to readers around the world.

My innumerable thanks also to the librarians, booksellers, and book bloggers who work so tirelessly to champion novels and find them homes.

Thank you to the wonderful YA community for making me feel so welcome this past year. I can’t name you all, but I can at least try: Alwyn Hamilton, Stephanie Kate Strohm, Martin Stewart, Jennifer E. Smith, Becky Albertalli, Alison Cherry, Katherine Webber, Carlie Sorosiak, Elizabeth Eulberg, Stephanie Garber, Emily Bain Murphy, Cat Clarke, Rebecca Barrow, Harriet Reuter Hapgood, Alexia Casale, Birdie Milano, Meira Drazin, and Ali Standish. Not to mention the awesome, badass Writing Weasels: Kat Ellis, Dawn Kurtagich, Fox Benwell, Marieke Nijkamp, Jenn Faughnan (Jenniely), David Purse, Ronni Davis, Tatum Flynn, Emma Jackson, and Simon Clark.

To Mom, Dad, Jessica, Cecil (and Malfi! and Ally!): I can’t thank you enough for putting up with me when I was in the Existential Crisis phase(s) of drafting this book. Here’s to all that swimming pool therapy and a hurricane wedding.

Thank you, Julie Haack, for being a best friend and a home all wrapped in one. Let’s eat pumpkin cupcakes and sing Sufjan to JoLaz soon, all right?

Thank you to Erica Rutter for flying across the world, and to Susan Manly and Angus Stewart for always making an occasion for cake. Additional thanks to every friend who helped me celebrate the first book and get through a bad case of Second-Novel Syndrome, including Laura Gragtmans, Amanda Lanceter, Amanda Evans, Jennifer Brutosky, Jamie Cumby, and Maria Sequeira Mendes. I owe each and every one of you a coffee!

Last but never least, thank you so much to Rachel Holmes. You are a softer version of Rae and the better half of me. Thank you for taking me to all the places mentioned in this book and for sitting next to me on countless trains, late-night flights, and long journeys home. It makes so much sense that every love story I ever write will begin and end with you.