I am still yours, Allie, my queen, my timeless beauty. You are, and always have been, the best thing in my life

Unless you had a popular video on YouTube or could perform shows in front of thousands, musical ability meant nothing.

So that's the ghost you been running from.

I suppose [my life] has most resembled a blue chip stock: fairly stable, more ups than downs, and gradually trending upward over time. A good buy, a lucky buy, and I've learned that not everyone can say that about his life.

A moment later, he plopped down on the sand beside her, and when they accidentally touched, Gabby had the briefest flash of them sitting together just like this on a hundred different weekends in the future.

We sit silently and watch the world around us. This has taken a lifetime to learn. It seems only the old are able to sit next to one another and not say anything and still feel content. The young, brash and impatient, must always break the silence. It is a waste, for silence is pure. Silence is holy. It draws people together because only those who are comfortable with each other can sit without speaking. This is the great paradox.

In another time and place, she might have felt differently, but thinking along those lines was pointless now.