It was probably good you couldn't flip the love switch because sometimes it was what you needed even if you didn't want it.

When I turned fifteen, I remember my father gave me a credit card which I was allowed to use for two things: emergencies and books.

She kept walking. The very small, brave part of her brain knew that this would be her one chance. If she turned around, she would lose it.

Bridget cried for the leavers and the left. For the people, like herself, grimly forsaking what precious gifts they would ever get.

She wondered if maybe tragedy was what it took to make your heart capable of admitting a new member.

They were here all at once, but not together. Survival took self-absorption, and it made them strangers with nothing to do and no way to relate. Emergencies gave you a shape and a plot to take part in, while death was no story at all. It left you nothing.

There was love expressed in the places you usually forget to look.