Fixing Delilah Read online

Page 22


  Librarians, booksellers, teachers, bloggers, and readers, without your passion for young adult literature, my stories would be trees falling in a desolate forest. Thank you for hearing me, and for telling the world about the books you love.

  To borrow Patrick’s words on true friends, “I wouldn’t trade one of them for a hundred of the other kind.” Amy Hains, my WBF, Delilah’s strength is yours, and Emily is infused with the goodness of your friendship. Rachel Miller, Delilah’s admiration for your namesake character is matched only by my admiration for you, and that’s not an uncompliment. Thank you both for reading my work, crying at all the right parts, and always believing in me.

  My family, my family-in-law, and my lifelong Dunkirk crew are the ones who keep showing up, buying books, and squealing in my general direction at public venues. You crazy people really know how to make a girl feel like a star.

  From Delilah’s first words in Fairplay, Colorado, to her last in Buffalo, NY (and that whole teeth-gnashing part in the middle), lots of readers and writers donated their time, expertise, and literary companionship to the noble purpose of keeping me sane. Thank you, Danielle Benedetti, Megan Frazer, Cheryl Renee Herbsman, Jennifer Jabaley, Sarah MacLean, Jenny Moss, Jackson Pearce, Carrie Ryan, Meredith Sale, Kurtis Scaletta, Sharon Somers, Michelle Zink, Lighthouse Writers Workshop, The 2009 Debutantes, and The Tenners.

  Above all, my deepest gratitude is for Alex, my pet monster, my best friend, my husband, my heart. You are the reason it’s easy for me to write about falling in love. There are pieces of this story that once belonged to you, and I love you for making them ours. Thanks for “hacer-te-ing the café” and wandering this world with me in the middle of the night. I’m totally keeping you.

  Table of Contents

  Front Cover Image

  Welcome

  Dedication

  A Q&A with Sarah Ockler, author of Fixing Delilah

  Chapter one

  Chapter two

  Chapter three

  Chapter four

  Chapter five

  Chapter six

  Chapter seven

  Chapter eight

  Chapter nine

  Chapter ten

  Chapter eleven

  Chapter twelve

  Chapter thirteen

  Chapter fourteen

  Chapter fifteen

  Chapter sixteen

  Chapter seventeen

  Chapter eighteen

  Chapter nineteen

  Chapter twenty

  Chapter twenty-one

  Chapter twenty-two

  Chapter twenty-three

  Chapter twenty-four

  Chapter twenty-five

  Chapter twenty-six

  Chapter twenty-seven

  Chapter twenty-eight

  Chapter twenty-nine

  Chapter thirty

  Chapter thirty-one

  Chapter thirty-two

  Chapter thirty-three

  Chapter thirty-four

  Acknowledgments

  Copyright

  Copyright

  Copyright © by 2010 Sarah Ockler

  All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

  Little, Brown and Company

  Hachette Book Group

  237 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10017

  Visit our website at www.HachetteBookGroup.com

  www.lb-teens.com

  Little, Brown and Company is a division of Hachette Book Group, Inc.

  The Little, Brown name and logo are trademarks of Hachette Book Group, Inc.

  The publisher is not responsible for websites (or their content) that are not owned by the publisher.

  First eBook Edition: December 2010

  ISBN: 978-0-316-12915-2

  The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

  Table of Contents

  Front Cover Image

  Welcome

  Dedication

  A Q&A with Sarah Ockler, author of Fixing Delilah

  Chapter one

  Chapter two

  Chapter three

  Chapter four

  Chapter five

  Chapter six

  Chapter seven

  Chapter eight

  Chapter nine

  Chapter ten

  Chapter eleven

  Chapter twelve

  Chapter thirteen

  Chapter fourteen

  Chapter fifteen

  Chapter sixteen

  Chapter seventeen

  Chapter eighteen

  Chapter nineteen

  Chapter twenty

  Chapter twenty-one

  Chapter twenty-two

  Chapter twenty-three

  Chapter twenty-four

  Chapter twenty-five

  Chapter twenty-six

  Chapter twenty-seven

  Chapter twenty-eight

  Chapter twenty-nine

  Chapter thirty

  Chapter thirty-one

  Chapter thirty-two

  Chapter thirty-three

  Chapter thirty-four

  Acknowledgments

  Copyright