Henry shook his head, 'I was drunk,' he said, trying to sound both ashamed and firm in this belief. He remembered the rosebush incident very clearly, of course, but he knew that sneaking into the bedroom window of his fiancee's little sister wasn't something he wanted to explain to his father. Sometimes, Henry reflected, being taken for a perpetual drunk was sort of convenient.

Already she could feel the stunning weight of a lifetime of regret for letting him go, and she knew that it was enought to bury her alive.

To look in the face of hard things and keep moving forward - that's what one has to do.

She found herself longing for home-not just for the hotel but for New York and all the real novels that she could lose herself in there.

It's the craziest thing, but I can't stop thinking about you.

She was trying to sound tough and impatient, but she knew that vulnerable desire to be wooed was still brimming in her tone.

But I wanted to tell you before I left how completely abjectly sorry I am for all the pain I have caused you and that if I die you were the one true love of my life. By the time you read this I will be gone but please know I am still always at your side.... Yours forever Henery William Schoonmaker