Point, Click, Love (30 page)

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KATIE RAWLINGS:
Hurray, Claudia! I’m so proud of you!

MAXINE WALTERS:
You’ve been doing PR for what … 13 years? So in another 13 years you’ll be pure as the driven snow.

MARJORIE GOODING:
Pure as the driven snow, my ass! Claudia, you are going straight to hell, no matter how much phony nonprofit work you do!

ANNIE SAX:
Watch it, Marj, or else I’ll take back that fancy new phone I got you and tell my friends at Sprint to cut off your account.

JANIE SPINELLI:
Yay, Mom! But does this mean I can’t go to soccer camp in Wisconsin this summer?

STEVE SPINELLI:
Don’t worry, sweetheart, I’ve got you covered. Great work, Claudia! And, Marjorie, why don’t you lay off Claudia already? I don’t know why she hasn’t defriended you by now.

CLAUDIA SPINELLI:
I’m keeping her on—sort of like a punishment.

MARJORIE GOODING:
Don’t use me to absolve your sins! I’m outta here …

OlatheCryobank.com

TESTIMONIAL

I can’t begin to thank Olathe Cryobank enough! Here I am, cradling this little bundle of joy in my arms, and I owe it all to OC. Your database is amazing—and all that information! Well, maybe TOO much information, especially for someone as anal as me. And, of course, your staff was so attentive and understanding. I’d like to give special thanks to Jill in reception, who not only helped me get this gorgeous child but also helped me get a gorgeous boyfriend to go with him! Thanks, Jill! Can’t wait to give little Bob a brother or sister, but I think next time we won’t be needing the Cryobank’s services …

For Harry and Fanny,
the loves of my life

Acknowledgments

Thanks to Ellen Levine, as smart and kind an agent as any writer could hope for.

To my editor, Kelli Fillingim, whose enthusiasm brought this book to print and whose wise editing enriched it.

To Susan Byrnes, Julie Fingersh, Paul Greenberg, Loren Miller, and Greg Sax for their insightful critiques and lifelong friendship.

To Bryan Steiner, who not only helped inspire this story but made life fun during the writing of it.

To my family, who have provided me with endless amounts of love and hilarity. Most of all, thanks to my parents, Patti and Al Shapiro, who dedicated their lives to my siblings and me and always made us feel it was their privilege to do it.

About the Author

M
OLLY
S
HAPIRO
is the author of
Eternal City
, winner of the Willa Cather
Fiction Prize. She earned a bachelor’s degree in semiotics from Brown and
a master’s degree in creative writing
from Columbia. She has lived and
worked in New York, San Francisco,
Seattle, Boston, and Rome. She
currently lives in Kansas City,
Missouri, with her two children,
Harry and Fanny.