“Maybe the snow would cool his ardor down to the point where he could look at Sterling without wanting him to the point of compromising his pinciples, but he wasn't holding out much hope of that. Snow was only frozen water, after all, and it couldn't work miracles.”

“But they were not living, thought Harry: They were gone. The empty words could not disguise the fact that his parents' moldering remains lay beneath snow and stone, indifferent, unknowing. And tears came before he could stop them, boiling hot then instantly freezing on his face, and what was the point in wiping them off or pretending? He let them fall, his lips pressed hard together, looking down at the thick snow hiding from his eyes the place where the last of Lily and James lay, bones now, surely, or dust, not knowing or caring that their living son stood so near, his heart still beating, alive because of their sacrifice and close to wishing, at this moment, that he was sleeping under the snow with them.”

“Travel had seemed the key to the kingdom, back then. One dreamed of a life that would enable travel. Howard looked through his window at a lamp-post buried to its waist in show supporting two chained-up, frozen bikes, identifiable only by the tips of their handlebars. He imagined waking up this morning and digging his bike out of the snow and riding to a proper job, the kind Belseys had had for generations, and found he couldn't imagine it. This interested Howard, for a moment: the idea that he could no longer gauge the luxuries of his own life.”

“He kicked me out,okay?""How can a guy who only has one good leg to stand on kick you out?""He doesn't want me around.""I find that hard to believe, Katie.""Yeah,well,he threw snow at me and told me to leave."She looked astounded.As well she should be."Where did he get snow?" she asked.Okay,I'd obviously misread the reason for her astonishment.It wasn't that he'd thrown snow at me,but that he'd had snow to throw.”

“We can't leave the snow all bloody," I told the underside of his chin,shadowed with stubble. "It will scare the tourists.""The new snow will cover it up." He looked down at me."Shhh."Something in his Shhh tugged at my heart. He kept watchiing me,not examining m ear for medical emergencies but looking into my eyes,for a few more steps. I couldn't read his look.He was kind of blurry,for one thing,and I was kind of dizzy. I thought he looked..concerned. Sympathetic. Determined to rescue me from danger. I wished that was what he felt. But it couldn't have been.I was misreading him.”

“I laugh nervously and jerk my hand free, "I want the you that tilts his head back and eats the snow. I want the you that holds me and snuggles into me. I want him, but you hardly ever show him to me. I see a glimpse of him and then it's you that’s back." I point disappointedly. "I want the sweet guy who puts his hand out for me."His eyes fight something. His lips tighten, "He's in here too. I think there are a few of us.”