We don't go to the ocean for anything as simple as happiness, do we? We go there to feel alive. Like life, the ocean holds chance and change, grief and terror and beauty. It promises mortality, not peace.

Women were complicated creatures. Any man who thought he had one figured out simply wasn't paying attention.

What?" She drew herself up, stern as a cat presented with the wrong food for dinner.

Religion turned some folks belligerent.

I see you. I will be careful with the places that hurt.

Surely a woman who picked a spot so close to the ocean didn't automatically hide from the rain.

Regrets are the most useless form of guilt. They always arrive too late to do any good.