I wondered – would a bullet through my temple actually kill me or just leave a really big mess for me to clean up?

She wasn't speaking to me - in the juvenile, petty sense of the phrase.

Melanie still grieves for Jared," she stated. I felt my head nod without willing the action. "You grieve for him." I closed my eyes. "The dreams continue?" "Every night," I mumbled. "Tell me about then." Her voice was soft, persuasive. "I don't like to talk about them." "I know. Try. It might help." "How? How will it help to tell you that I see his face every time I close my eyes? That I wake up and cry when he's not there? That the memories are so strong I can't separate hers from mine anymore?

Your scent is like a drug to me like my own personal brand of heroin.

Never before had I recognized the ring of majesty that was in Billy Black's voice, though I realized now that this authority had always been there.

Do you really have any idea how important you are to me? Any concept at all of how much I love you?" He pulled me tighter against his hard chest, tucking my head under his chin. I pressed my lips against his snow-cold neck. "I know how much I love you," I answered. You compare one small tree to the entire forest." I rolled my eyes, but he couldn't see. "Impossible.

It makes me . . . anxious . . . to be away from you.