Not following her is the hardest thing I've ever done.

It seemed like forever ago, like we've had this brief but still infinite forever. Some infinities are bigger than other infinities.

The things I would do to that boy. I mean, not now that I know you're interested in him. But, oh, sweet holy Lord, I would ride that one-legged pony all the way around the corral." "Kaitlyn," I said. "Sorry. Do you think you'd have to be on top?" "Kaitlyn," I said.

I said nothing—I hadn’t known Marya, and anyway, “listening quietly” was my general social strategy

but there was nothing I could do to dim the supernovae exploding inside my brain, an endless chain of intra cranial firecrackers

the point is that there are always answers.

Is that what relationships become? A reduced version of the hurt, nothing else let in. It was more than that. I know it was more than that.