A lifetime with such a woman was not nearly enough.

I no longer believed in the idea of soul mates, or love at first sight. But I was beginning to believe that a very few times in your life, if you were lucky, you might meet someone who was exactly right for you. Not because he was perfect, or because you were, but because your combined flaws were arranged in a way that allowed two separate beings to hinge together.

Perhaps only those who had loved and lost could appreciate this magic.

You're so full of it, darlin'.

I had learned this lesson so many times before. It was the great inner truth that didn't require the support of logic. Every time I loved, I lost, and I was diminished. I wondered how much of me would be left after tomorrow.

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

But I hadn't known what love was. And I wondered how you could ever be sure, when you thought you loved someone, if you really did.