“Sugar's cheek was smooth and taut beneath the veil. It felt like one of these netted onions in a grocery store.”

“But come on, like she hadn't seen every aisle in his grocery store already?”

“I think sometimes that people are like onions. On the outside smooth and whole and simple but inside ring upon ring, complex and deep.”

“I wonder if Dean is his nice persona and Holder is his scary one. Holder is definitely the one I saw at the grocery store earlier. I think I like Dean a lot better.”

“Human thought, flying on the trapezes of the star-filled universe, with mathematics stretched beneath, was like an acrobat working with a net but suddenly noticing that in reality there is no net.”

“The front door opened smoothly to my key, the air inside stirred as I came in and it didn't feel over-intimate anymore; it felt like a slight smile and a cool brief touch on the cheek, like a welcome.”