Lisa Wingate - Talk of the Town

-io all those larger-than-life Texas girls Who do it up big or not at all.

To Marge and Bob In honor of a sweet, real-life love story. And to the ladies of the McGregor Tiara Literary Society. Thanks for the prom dress The tiara times And all the great nights of book discussion. What a hoot!

You can't create a whole town without having met some real-life characters. A few of you reading this story might think you recognize someone you know within these pages. Let me assure you that any resemblances to persons living or dead are probably exactly what they seem to be. I have, of course, changed the names to protect the innocent and altered details to salvage reputations. As always, I promise to make all participants herein even better looking, thinner, wittier, and more charming than they already are, and to give each and every one of them good hair. In return, you agree to live in the quiet town of Daily for a little while, sip coffee, eat fried food, swap stories, and tell all your friends about it, since they're probably in the book, too. We'd love to have them drop in for a big of Texas time.

While we're all here, I'd like to thank a few honorary citizens of Daily. My gratitude goes out to Lisa Payne, who advised me on all manner of TV terminology and equipment. Thanks to Sharon Mannion for proofreading and being my traveling buddy and to Janice Wingate for helping with address lists, stranded kids, and pretty much anything else. Thanks to our aunts, uncles, and cousins for always keeping the southern-fried stories going at family gatherings. If every family laughed so much and ate so well, we'd need a lot fewer talk shows.

My gratitude also goes out to a list of people without whom this book would not have reached publication. Thank you to my agent, Claudia Cross, at Sterling Lord Literistic, who helped to see Daily through several stages. Thanks to author-friend Scott Walker, who introduced me to the nice folks at Bethany House. Thanks to Dave Long for believing in Daily when it was little more than an idea, for being great to work with, and for always being an encourager. Thanks also to Sarah Long for being a lovely dinner companion and for helping with editorial suggestions. My gratitude goes to Julie Klassen, editor and author in her own right. Thank you for your acute suggestions, great advice, and your depth of feeling for the characters and the story. Reading the comments in the margin has never been so much fun.

Gratitude and warm regards go out to all the folks at Bethany House, who turn ideas into books that make a difference. My special appreciation goes to those who made my visit there such a lovely, uplifting, and exciting experience. Thanks to Julie, Dave, Carol Johnson, and Dave Horton for the wonderful lunchtime conversation about books, desserts, Daily, and all things in between. Thanks also to Tim Peterson, Steve Oates, Jim Hart, Brett Benson, Debra Larsen, Linda White, and Carra Carr for taking time out to talk about the book and make plans for the future. The only thing more rewarding than spending time with imaginary believers is working alongside the real ones.

I'd be remiss if I didn't finish by sending gratitude to readers far and near. Thank you for journeying along on my imaginary adventures, for sharing them with friends, and for taking time to send notes of encouragement my way. It has been an amazing blessing to see the ways in which God connects us across the miles. I hope you'll have as much fun in Daily as I did, and of course this means that now we're neighbors. Say hi to Imagene, Donetta, and the folks for me. And watch out for Bob. He's been know to run on at the mouth and bum the lunch orders at the cafe. But the pie is good. Imagene made it. Don't ask her for the recipe, though. It's a secret. I hear that pie might win her a spot on Good Morning America one day.

But that's another story...

There is that famous moment in Casablanca when Bogart looks at Bergman and, in that steely way of his, delivers a penetrating question about life, about circumstance and fate.

Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, why did she have to walk into his?

Bogie's question was on my mind the moment I laid eyes on the tiny town of Daily, Texas. Of all the places in all the world, why did I have to end up here?

I had a disquieting sense of something dark and life-altering hovering just beyond the sleepy, sun-drenched main street. The only explanation for my being sent on assignment to this middleof-nowhere little burg was that my boss was setting me up for a full-scale F-5 disaster so she could fire me. Ursula Uberstach would do something like that. Ursula breathed in human suffering the way most people breathe oxygen. Which made her a great reality TV producer and a lousy boss. Now that she'd finished toying with the underlings on the staff, she was sniffing around me, searching for signs of weakness, honing in on a point of attack. Ursula delighted in messing up other people's lives just when they were supposed to be the happiest.