At one point, she'd wanted to hurl the whole breakfast at the wall. And then she'd remember why it was that men had temper tantrums and women didn't: cleanup.

That was the thing about best friends. Like sisters and mothers, they could piss you off and make you cry and break your heart, but in the end, when the chips were down, they were there, making you laugh even in your darkest hours.

It's not intentions that matter. It's actions. We are what we do and say, not what we intend to.

The heat made people crazy. They woke from their damp bedsheets and went in search of a glass of water, surprised to find that when their vision cleared, they were holding instead the gun they kept hidden in the bookcase.

Do you love him?" How would I know?" You'd know.

Thoughts - even fears - were airy things, formless until you made them solid with your voice and once given that weight, they could crush you.

When you get . . . to the end, you see that love and family are all there is. Nothing else matters.