It’s up to you, not fate. True. But it was also up to Lily. That was the trickiest part.

You never let things go unanswered for too long. Emails. Phone calls. Questions. As if you know the waiting is the hardest part for me.

You were in Sweden?" Boomer asked. "No," I said. "The trip got called off at the last minute. Because of political the unrest" "In Sweden?" Priya seemed skeptical. "Yeah-isn't it strange how the Times isn't covering it? Half the country's on strike because of that thing the crown prince said about Pippi Longstocking Which means no meatballs for Christmas, if you know what I mean." "That's so sad!" Boomer said.

It felt good to be surrounded by books, by all this solid knowledge, by these objects that could be ripped page by page but couldn't be torn if the pages all held together.

Freedom is also about what you will allow yourself to do.

Maybe there is hope in the fragments, that what is lost can always be filled in by someone who knows.

Because when something happens, she's the person I want to tell. The most basic indicator of love.