“I have two brothers who can’t even dress themselves. You think I’m letting them be role models? It’s all yours if you want it.”
“Mickey, I don’t know what kind of a role model I would be to anyone, much less your kids.”
“First of all, it’s high time you called me Mick, which is what the people I care about call me. And second, you don’t have to decide right now. And last but not least, I think you’d be a great example to them. I don’t really care about the stuff you did back then.” She looked over at Francine’s mother and brother. “What I care about is that you have a heart, a big one. And in the end, you did the right thing.”
“We did make a pretty good team,” noted Francine.
“I think the term you’re looking for is world class. And there is a lot to be said for doing something interesting and worthwhile with your life.”
Francine said, “I have always done interesting things, but I don’t know how worthwhile they’ve been.”
“Life is but a series of second chances.”
“Do you really think so?”
“It’s just a matter of whether the will is there.” She paused. “So do we perform our next act together?”
In answer, Francine held out her hand, which Gibson shook.
“I think that we do, Mick.”
Acknowledgments
To Michael Pietsch, Ben Sevier, Elizabeth Kulhanek, Jonathan Valuckas, Matthew Ballast, Beth de Guzman, Ana Maria Allessi, Rena Kornbluh, Karen Kosztolnyik, Brian McLendon, Albert Tang, Andy Dodds, Ivy Cheng, Joseph Benincase, Alexis Gilbert, Andrew Duncan, Janine Perez, Lauren Sum, Morgan Martinez, Bob Castillo, Kristen Lemire, Briana Kuchta, Mark Steven Long, Marie Mundaca, Rachael Kelly, Kirsiah McNamara, Lisa Cahn, John Colucci, Megan Fitzpatrick, Nita Basu, Alison Lazarus, Barry Broadhead, Martha Bucci, Ali Cutrone, Raylan Davis, Tracy Dowd, Melanie Freedman, Elizabeth Blue Guess, Linda Jamison, John Leary, John Lefler, Rachel Hairston, Tishana Knight, Jennifer Kosek, Suzanne Marx, Derek Meehan, Christopher Murphy, Donna Nopper, Rob Philpott, Barbara Slavin, Karen Torres, Rich Tullis, Mary Urban, Tracy Williams, Julie Hernandez, Laura Shepherd, Maritza Lumpris, Jeff Shay, Carla Stockalper, Ky’ron Fitzgerald, and everyone at Grand Central Publishing. Thanks for being terrific partners for over twenty-five years. You make my life a lot easier with your support and enthusiasm.
To Aaron and Arleen Priest, Lucy Childs, Lisa Erbach Vance, Frances Jalet-Miller, Kristen Pini, and Natalie Rosselli, for being great friends and counselors.
To Mitch Hoffman, for a great editing job and being a wonderful listener.
To Joanna Prior, Jeremy Trevathan, Lucy Hale, Trisha Jackson, Stuart Dwyer, Leanne Williams, Alex Saunders, Sara Lloyd, Claire Evans, Jamie Forrest, Laura Sherlock, Jonathan Atkins, Christine Jones, Andy Joannou, Charlotte Williams, Rebecca Kellaway, Charlotte Cross, Lucy Grainger, Lucy Jones, and Neil Lang at Pan Macmillan, for being a stellar publisher and always innovating.
To Praveen Naidoo and the wonderful team at Pan Macmillan in Australia, for outstanding work.
To Caspian Dennis and Sandy Violette, who have been by my side from day one.
To the charity auction winners, Arlene Robinson (Gloucester-Mathews Humane Society) and Wilson Sullivan (’Sconset Trust), I hope you enjoyed your characters.
And to Kristen White and Michelle Butler, for being the A Team!