The Timer Game (44 page)

“So maybe the key is trying,” Mac said. “Sticking around.”

“For her sake.”

“And for ours.”

She looked at him and felt a fierce wonder. He reached awkwardly for her with his good arm, and she raised her arms, wrapped herself around him. The familiar texture of his skin, his smell. He bent down and cupped her face with his good hand. His lips found her face. Her neck. Her mouth.

“You,” she said. “You.”

A wave caught the boat and it crested, tilted. The wave foamed. When they looked again, it was gone. Mac was staring at Katie with a look of longing and loss and transfixed joy and Grace took his hand and led him out to sea where their daughter crouched in silty waves.

“Katie.”

She glanced up, looked at them. “Yes, Mama?”

Mac’s hand was heavy in hers and Grace saw his throat move.

“There’s somebody here you need to meet.”

Katie waited warily, her hair gold against the vivid blue sky.

“Katie.” Mac’s voice was thick, barely heard over the waves.

A gull screamed high overhead and dived.

“It’s me, honey. It’s your dad.”

He held out his good arm and Katie ran into it, and Grace lifted her up, her strong young legs scissoring, her glad cries mingling with the waves and gulls. Grace took a breath and held on.

Fact: Almost three hundred children in America at any given time are waiting for a heart transplant. A third of them die waiting, or from transplant rejection.

Fact: Scientists have grown skin, teeth, ears, noses, bladders, chest cartilage, thumb bones and heart valves in labs and successfully implanted them. Over fifty universities, among them Harvard, MIT, and the University of Colorado, now have tissue-engineering programs.

Fact: In 1998, researchers met in Toronto with the ten-year goal of using tissue engineering to create an unlimited supply of lab-grown organs, especially hearts. The revenue value for creating a lab-grown heart has been placed at well over a billion dollars.

Acknowledgments:

First and always, my family. My husband, Fred, for his love and serene faith in me, for gate-keeping so I could get the work done, and at the end of the day, for being so much fun. My children, Aaron Arnout and Martha Smith, who each read versions along the way and made helpful and illuminating comments. Aaron, you are an extraordinary writer, funny, compassionate, complex. Martha, you are an extraordinary writer, generous, fearless, filled with light. Thanks for sharing your singular voices, and more than that, your lives. You three are the greatest gifts in my life.

My extended family. My mom, Florence, who encouraged creativity and whose own creativity is a constant inspiration, and my stepdad, Bruno Johnson, whose calm presence brings so much to our family; thanks, guys, for your love and support. My sisters, Nancy Wike, Neva Hutchinson, and Bonnie Hawley. Thanks for your laughter, counsel, stories. You’re each a good friend and the very best sister. They’re married to good, strong men: David Wike, Peter Hutchinson, Tom Hawley; and I thank them for making my sisters’ lives so happy. Uncle Didrik Mydland, for your enthusiasm, and Aunt Katie Mydland, who taught me how to be an aunt; I hope I can live up to it. My mother-in-law, Dorothy Smith, for your love and kindnesses. Jack and Dossy White, close friends as well as family, who’ve shared many adventures: thanks for folding us in. Jerry and Jill Smith, whose company we cherish and who live too far away; Carol and John Landis, for your friendship always and encouragement when I needed it the most; Sandra and Rich Kersulis, who teach me by example what it means to live with grace and courage; and Barbara and Bill Graham, for more reasons that I can name, not the least of which is every meal Barbara’s ever made, and a dazzling day spent flying with Bill in a Cirrus.

My remarkable agent, Nancy Yost. None of this would have been possible without you, and I am deeply grateful for your belief in me, your friendship, and for shepherding this novel through to its life in the hands of readers, both here, and in other countries. Your insights shaped the book in significant ways and your talent took it way past what I could have imagined. You are simply the best. Barbara Lowenstein, Tom Mone, Norman Kurz, Natanya Wheeler, Zoe Fishman, thank you all.

Kelley Ragland at St. Martin’s. I need an entire page just for you, but you’ve been reminding me of the value of reduction, so here it is: You are a superb editor, with a light touch and penetrating eye, and my novel is so much better because I’ve been graced by your gift. Thanks for the care and thought you put into making my novel shine and for your belief in what this book could do. Hector DeJean, thanks for hitting the ground running and for spreading the word; Lauren Manzella and Matt Martz, thanks for your help and heart; my copyeditor Karen Richardson, for your meticulous attention to detail; and Andy Martin, the head of this fine imprint, who helped me find the path.

Thanks to the others on my team: Ed Stackler, for careful reading of early drafts; Sarie Morrell, for your fresh ideas, game plan and hard work; Marc and Elaine Zicree, supermentors of the first order—you’ve taught me so much; Gayla Nethercott, my terrific Hollywood agent—for your friendship, integrity, and passionate belief in my work; Cheri Bowers, friend and accountant (and how many can use those two words in the same sentence), Amy and Justin Knupp, Stonecreek Media, for my webpage,
www.susanarnoutsmith.com
.

I’ve been blessed with a life of many friends. Thanks to the preschool group, Colleen and Kevin Morse, Gale and Jim Krause, and Joanne and Bruce Leidenberger, and the comfort of going through time.

I especially want to thank Terri Lynn Christianson, a friend since our girls were galloping ponies in ballet, and Joanne Newman, an artist in her own right—members of the “birthday club” and friends I trust with my stories; Anne Sparks, friend of the heart whose insight and compassion I cherish; Mary Nagel, who tells the truth and always makes me laugh; Paul Neff, who encourages my art and reminds me that art takes many forms; Susanne Friestedt, who pushes me to enjoy more and fear less, Herb Shaindlin, a friend through several lifetimes; Shelly Mecum, a force of great good in this world and whose voice always makes me think harder, go deeper; and Dawn Troup, who believed in a fourteen-year old girl, and has never stopped believing.

A novel is always about creating a world out of random bits, and many experts have given me freely of their time and expertise: first with great thanks, Randy Gibson, San Diego Police crime lab, who read many drafts, answered questions and opened numerous doors for me—all with graciousness, humor and tact; Steve Cowman, San Diego Fire and Rescue, for talking about bad things that can happen and what to do; Dr. Don Tecca, emergency room physician, for describing the basics; Dr. Asa Morton, for his stories about the beauty of Guatemala; Dr. Genaro Fernandez, cardiologist, for his careful read and excellent suggestions; Andrew Holtz, longtime friend and former television colleague, for his thoughtful read and sidebar notes on what it was like working for network TV news; Janine Miller, San Diego Police crime lab, who helped me shape Grace’s world by sharing her own and was generous with her feedback; Larry Dale, San Diego Police crime lab, for his time and tours; Nick Vent, San Diego Department of Environmental Health, for his careful read, helpful comments and terrific stories that added so much; Wood Irwin, for helping navigate the bewildering world of biotech and making it look easy; Jerry Keeney for generously sharing “bits” that make a novel come alive; Robert Griswold, for taking time during a busy part of his life to answer questions; Denys Williams, San Diego Sheriff’s crime lab, for early on welcoming me into her world; Sue Bishop, for filling in La Cholla Airpark colors, and Bill Graham, for the window into flight; Captain Fred Schroeder, Public Information Officer, Folsom Prison, who patiently answered in detail all my questions, even the stupid ones; architect Tim Martin for answering building design questions; BillyJean Vollman for describing Mather Field; and the incomparable Dr. Ken Heying, for reminding me how resilient children can be, even in the face of evil.

The mistakes, of course, are mine.

I also want to thank the men and women at St. Martin’s whose job it is to take this book and see that it actually gets into stores. Headed by Jeff Capshew, they are the often unsung heroes of any writer’s tale and I’m honored to remember them here.