She's a nice girl," Tennessee said as a way of saying goodbye to them, as a way of saying thank you and I'm sorry, as a way of saying, I wish I had never let you go and I wish we had never met.

“A pain exploded up high in her chest and spit her out of this terrible world.”

“But it is never about who has given what. That is not the way of gifts. This is…”

“...was an elegant woman in a city of so many thousands of elegant women...”

“To be truly brave, I believe a person has to be more than a little stupid. If y…”