Were they in the past? But no. This was the future. In the distance he could see the lazily spinning turbines of a wind farm. Their blades glowed pink in the evening light.
Nick took Julia’s hand again. She was staring around her, a little afraid, a little proud. “Is this what the future looks like?”
“No,” he said softly. “Or at least, not the future I knew.”
“The oak tree wasn’t here in that future,” she said, her dark eyes shining.
“No.” Nick clasped her fingers. “No, my love, it wasn’t.”
• • •
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
To Tina Bennett; thank you for quietly enabling yet another happy chapter in my life. To Alexandra Machinist, thank you for grabbing the future by the collar; you are the best agent in this universe and any other. To Alex Clarke across the pond but still somehow in my backyard—thank you. To Trevor Horwood, the king of copyeditors, thank you. And to Denise Roy, for elbow grease, kindness, and X-ray vision—you are a genius and I’m so grateful.
To Holly Kosisky, who read and reread the ever-changing manuscript; thank you for being my Bip.
To family, friends, and mentors without whose contributions, large or small, this stone soup would never have been boiled—thank you. Pinckney Benedict, Duncan Black, Suzanne Brennan, Megan Brown, Eiren Caffall, Kim Cassidy, Margaret Clardy, Lindsay Feldman, George the Germ, Peter Gervickas, Laura Hawley, Gail Hemmeter, Tom Hemmeter, Jen Hill, Jeremy Hornik, Sarah Kavanagh, Deanna Kreisel, Joan Logan, Antonia Losano, Imke Meyer, Michael Moon, Margaret Robison, Jen Roder, Jordana Rosenberg, Mark Rounds, Heidi Schlipphacke, Laurel Schneider, Pat Schneider, Paul Schneider, Peter Schneider, Rebecca Schneider, Rosi Song, Georg Steinmeyer, Ellen Summers, Elizabeth Thomas, Michael Thomas, Sharon Ullman, Lelah Ridgway Vought, Matt Wright, David Young, and Sandy Zagarell.
To my students, who are ferocious and stubborn and brilliant and the best readers I know—thank you for loving books and for keeping me nimble.
And to Katie, whose insights and ideas are scattered throughout this novel like acorns.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
BEE RIDGWAY was born and raised in Amherst, Massachusetts. After various adventures in the United States and the United Kingdom, she has finally come to roost in Philadelphia. She is an English professor at Bryn Mawr College. This is her first novel.
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