Perfect love did that to a person, and this had been perfect.

I have always had an interest in how cultural rituals play into something as unpredictable as romance.

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.

It's strange, I think, the way our lives turn out. Moments of circumstance, when later combined with conscious decisions and actions and a boatload of hope, can eventually forge a future that seems predestined.

Would you stop thinking about what everyone wants. Stop thinking about what I want, what he wants, what your parents want. What do you want?

Everyone always noticed Ashley. She was like a flashing neon sign for anyone with an ounce of testosterone.

It made perfect sense, and at the same time nothing seemed to.