“Sparks fly everywhere, Parker. The world’s practically on fire. You need something more solid in your relationships than some silly little spark.”

“Parker stared at the bare branches along Saint Marks Place as they swayed with the wind, reaching for one another, and longed for the warmth of a million little leaves and their multicolored smiles.”

“At some point, time isn’t something on the horizon anymore, something you think about happening one day, but something that’s already happened, only there to replay in your mind.”

“Parker soon became familiar with the one certainty of sorrow, that ultimately loneliness trumps logic.”

“Parker let the letter drop to the floor, an act she often criticized in movies for its melodrama.”

“Parker sat on the opposite end of the couch, distracted by thoughts of the coming year and all the secrets it kept from her.”

“This was what Parker had learned early on about disappointment; its sting lasts only in the beginning, only until the body goes numb from its repetition.”