A week passes but it feels as if he's never been anywhere else. It's one of the things war does to you. Everything you see works to replace moments and people from your life before, until you can't remember why any of it mattered. It doesn't help if you're a soldier. The effect is the same.

Nothing hurts if you don't let it.

Maybe no one can know how it is for anyone else.

Knowing he was suffering pained me. That’s the way love tangles you up. I couldn’t stop loving him, and couldn’t shut off the feelings of wanting to care for him— but I also didn’t have to run to answer his letters. I was hurting, too, and no one was running to me.

But in the end, fighting for a love that was already gone felt like trying to live in the ruins of a lost city.

Don't tell readers what to think. Let the action speak for itself.

Dogs are easy. If their tails are up and their eyes are soft, you're in.