My theory about meeting people,' he said,'is that it's better not to make a really good first impression. Because it's all downhill from there. You're always having to live up to that first impression, which was just an illusion.

And you're not the kind of girl I want." Surely he couldn't mean the fact that I was Mexican. From what I knew of Hardy, there wasn't a bit of prejudice in him. He never used racist words, never looked down on someone for things they couldn't help. "What kind do you want?" I asked with difficulty. "Someone I can leave without looking back.

Fencing isn't really fighting. It's more like chess with the risk of puncture wounds

When the pace of our feet matched perfectly, I felt a deep inner pang of satisfaction. I could have gone on walking like that forever, side by side with him. There had been few times in my life I had ever inhabited a moment so fully, with no loneliness lurking at the edges.

If you pretend everything's fine long enough, everything eventually becomes fine.

He stared at me with bitter understanding. We both knew there was no room in this for friendship. Nothing left but childhood history.

What did you do with memories, feelings, needs, that didn’t belong anywhere?