This novel is deeply personal. Can I tell you why? About ten years ago, I had the great pleasure of connecting with the fabulous author, proud Texan, and supremely talented English teacher, Leila Meacham. For some reason, she decided to take me on as her student, and we established a lovely relationship, communicating via the phone and email for many years. Early on, I told her my ambitions and that I was thinking about writing something other than thrillers. I said that I had these wild characters in my head who lived in wine country in eastern Washington state and that I felt pulled to tell their stories. The thing was, unlike my thrillers, the story wouldn't have the added horsepower of unsolved crimes, loaded guns, and car chases to propel the plot. Though colorful, these were just everyday people trying to figure their way in the world. Leila read some of my stuff and encouraged me to follow my heart and switch genres. I'm so thankful I listened to her. She also told me that despite how much work I had ahead of me to hone my craft—and she assured me that in my case it was daunting—I had the thing even she couldn't teach: talent. Her words were all the validation I needed and continue to motivate me to this day. All the way until she was issued her wings, Leila pushed my development as a novelist and coached my writing career. She had this extraordinary ability to critique me heavily while at the same time firing me up to keep chasing my dream. Even into her final months of life, even while she recovered from seemingly endless radiation treatments, she continued to share her writing wisdom with me, long emails on topics such as honing one's style, zapping qualifiers, finding the exact word, building the perfect character arc, limiting passive voice, and avoiding clichés. That, my friends, is what being a teacher is all about. In our last exchange, I mentioned that I was going to write a novel inspired by her. At that time, the title was We Love You, Mrs. Cartwright. I told her that, for drama's sake, I'd have to give flaws to the character representing her, so that I would have somewhere to go with her arc. I would have been hard pressed to find a flaw with the real-life Leila. Of course, being an author herself, she understood, and I think she was even tickled by the idea. I'm sad she's not here to read what I did with the story. Then again, maybe she is. She will certainly always and forever be in my heart. May we all live such a rich, graceful, giving, and beautiful life as my friend, mentor, and sage. We love you, Mrs. Meacham. This one's for you and every other teacher that has dedicated their life to making the world a better place, one student at a time.

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