I'm so tired I never want to wake up again. But I've figured out now that it was never them that made me feel that way. It was just me, all along.

There's a tap on the door then. We all exchange looks, Tommy Falk's as uncertain as the rest of ours. No one moves, so I finally wipe my hands off on my pants, go to the door, and open it a crack. Sean stands on the other side, one hand in his trouser pocket, the other holding a loaf of bread. I wasn't prepared for it to be Sean, so my stomach does a neat little trick that feels like either hunger or escaping.

Sam,' the girl said. 'Sam.' She was the past present and future. I wanted to answer , but I was broken.

It was the perfect moment to tell her. This is my last year. But I couldn’t say it. Not yet. I wanted another minute, another hour, another night of pretending this wasn’t the end.

Ronan merely invested a look with as much contempt as he could muster. A lady reached over the top of Noah to pat Matthew's head fondly before continuing down the aisle. She didn't seem to care that he was fifteen, which was all right, because he didn't, either. Both Ronan and Declan observed this interaction with the pleased expressions of parents watching their prodigy at work.

It's rude to stare, but the great thing about staring at a sedated person is that they don't know you're doing it.

It was mint and memories and the past and the future and she felt as if she’d done this before and already she longed to do it again.