All he knew was that they fit somehow, and that he felt as if he spent most of his life traveling a path that led inexorably to her.

We are not perfect. We make mistakes. We screw up but then we forgive and move forward.

I don't hate it here," she said automatically. Surprising herself, she realized that as much as she'd been trying to convince herself otherwise, she was telling the truth. "It's just that I don't belong here." He gave her a meloncholy smile. "If it's any consolation, when I was growing up, I didn't feel like I belonged here, either. I dreamed about going to New York. But it's strange, because when I finally escaped this place, I ended up missing it more than I thought I would. There's something about the ocean that just calls to me.

Love, after all, always said more about those who felt it than it did about the ones they loved.

People want pretty much the same things: They wanted to be happy. Most young people seemed to think that those things lay somewhere in the future, while most older people believed they lay in the past.

Commitment, I finally said. Both people have to be committed. I think if two people are committed to the marriage, if they really want to make it work, then they'll find a way to do it. No matter what happens in life.

because the past was always around her and might return at any time. It prowled the world searching for her, and she knew it was growing angrier at every passing day.