Sitting there with them, it was almost hard to remember when I first came to Perkins, so determined to remember to be a one-woman operation to the end. But that was the thing about taking help and giving it, or so I was learning; there was no such thing as really getting even. Instead, this connection, once opened, remained ongoing over time.

It wasn’t so much that I was positive. I just wasn’t fully subscribing to such a negative way of thinking anymore.

Right now, though, I wanted not to think forward or backward, but only to lose myself in the words.

You should have seen your face," she said, her breath hot in my ear. "Sa-woooon.

Everything, in the end, comes down to timing. One second, one minute, one hour, could make all the difference. So much hanging on just these things, tiny increments that together build a life. Like words build a story, and what had Ted said? One word can change the entire world.

Whenever something great happens, you’re always kind of poised for the universe to correct itself.

Because the truth sometimes hurts," I said. Yeah," he said. "So do lies, though.