The Last Dreamer (21 page)

She thought that the answer was yes,
but when she reached Dara’s room, she realized that it actually was no, not at all.
Iliana hadn’t focused on it for a long time, but on the bulletin board right above the bed was a photo of Dara with Brandon Ryde of Amplify, taken after the concert she had treated Dara to last month. He had put his cap on Dara’s head just as Iliana snapped the photo, and Dara had transferred the photo to her Instagram account, where she had gotten more than eighty “likes” from her friends and classmates. Then she had posted the photo on his
Facebook fan page, and he
had “liked” it there. She came downstairs the next morning exclaiming how awesome he was to have “liked” her photo, inferring from his technological handiwork all the wonderful personality characteristics that Iliana had inferred from Jeff Downs’s unique smile. And so it began.

Iliana helped Dara into bed, covered her with her comforter, and kissed her cheek. Dara would be thirteen in a few weeks, and Matt would be fifteen a month after that. Driver’s licenses, prom, college
 . . .
Matt was at the starting gate of adulthood, and Dara was right on his heels. How long would it be until a flesh-and-blood boy replaced the charismatic singer on the bulletin board?

She watched Dara sleep for a bit, then quietly left the room. It was fine if Dara dreamed about pop stars—for now. But someday soon, her dreams needed to center around who she wanted to become and what wonderful things she wanted to accomplish. And Iliana was determined to teach her that
those
kinds of dreams were the ones that mattered. It was a lesson that she owed her beautiful daughter.

Acknowledgments

I am so thankful to my mentors and good friends, Patricia Dunn and Jimin Han, of Sarah Lawrence College’s Writing Institute, for their extraordinary teaching and unending support. Thanks, too, to Cynthia Manson, the best agent a writer could have, and to her immensely gifted editorial assistant, Nancee Adams-Taylor. I couldn’t be more thrilled to have Danielle Marshall of Lake Union Publishing as my acquisitions editor and Tiffany Yates Martin as my developmental editor. Their insights helped me discover and explore elements of the book that I never even realized were there—and working with them has been pure pleasure! My gratitude extends to the entire Lake Union team for all their help and expertise. Finally, I send a huge thank-you to my wonderful husband, Bennett, and our three amazing children—David, Rachel, and Alyssa. You four are my dream come true!

About the Author

Photo © 2015 Andrea Harnick Tuchman

Barbara Solomon Josselsohn is a magazine writer specializing in articles and essays about home and family. Her work has appeared in the
New York Times
,
Consumers Digest
,
Parents
,
American Baby
, and
Westchester Magazine
, as well as on numerous websites. She and her husband live in Westchester County, New York, and have three children and a lovable shih-poo.
The Last Dreamer
is her first novel.

Connect with Barbara at
www.barbarasolomonjosselsohn.com
.