She liked the life she had. She loved habits. She craved a day with nothing in it, a long, quiet stretch of hours in the studio.

I love her. I need her. I gave away everything I had for her. I just wanted her to know me.

A loving soul was always more beautiful over the long haul, but actual prettiness was fleeting.

She realized all at once the deeper thing that bothered her, the thing that made him not just irritating but intolerable: how he kept loving her blindly when she deserved it so little.

Time is what keeps things from happening all at once.

Her vision of the world under the water represented a beautiful stillness, a version of heaven. It was the lost city of Lena, her alternate universe, the life she yearned for but didn't get to have.

It was funny to hear her voice aloud. Her thoughts and perceptions usually existed so deep inside her, they rarely made it to the surface without a deliberate effort.