“I always believed that for every good thing that happens in life, two tragedies rush in to kick your ass to keep you from getting all saccharine and deluded. It was as if just before you turned left into paradise, Ethel Merman popped up in your backseat and shouted, ‘Turn right, you idiot!”

“You know,’ the woman said, ‘I’ve heard tell that there’s a speck of gold for every ten thousand bread crumbs on the planet. Do they say that, or did I make that up? I don’t know; anyway, you — and don’t let this go to your head — but you’re close to a speck, really, for coming to my aid.”

“The Ondřej feeling swept over him. The very thing he tried to explain to Sheila over the phone from France. The feeling that drove him to fly to Japan. You fall too fast, Brian Caleb. Please don’t be a pathetic idiot again. You be careful. His logical side screamed at him as he walked over to Jason and helped him down from the examination table.”

“I am yours, too,” I whispered back, and those several minutes were the happiest in my life, eclipsing everything that came before and everything that has come after.”

“She turned. ‘I’m quite serious, you know. I plan to murder him tonight.’ She touched my leg again; my muscles tensed. ‘I’ve got it all worked out. It’s a simply delightful plan.’ She cocked her head. ‘No, let me rephrase that. Really, it’s more delightfully simple.”

“The little plastic figure swung back and forth against Marco’s hip, as if trying to keep up with him. No — not keeping up. They were clearly in lockstep. A perfect team. One always knew where the other one was.”

“She could work any situation to her advantage, instantly turning herself into the life of the party, whether it was some soirée for an oil tycoon or a rally for the homeless.”