“Nothing makes me happy quite like a boatload of freshly fried fast food, smothered in good old MSG.”

“Quit calling me Grey. It makes me sound like I’m a boy. Like Dorian Gray.”“Dorian who?”I sighed. “Just think up something else. Plain old Nora works too, you know.”“Sure thing, Gumdrop.”I grimaced. “I take that back. Let’s stick with Grey.”

“I don’t like the idea of dragging you into something that could get messy fast. If you need one more reason, I love you. This is uncharted territory for me, but I need to know that at the end of the night, I have you to come home to.”

“Quit? You kidding? My life sucks when I'm only half-aware of it. If I quit drinking and saw what it's really like, I'd probably jump off a bridge.”

“I want to wake up with you every morning and fall asleep beside you each night,” Patch told me gravely. “I want to take care of you, cherish you, and love you in a way no other man ever could. I want to spoil you — every kiss, every touch, every thought, they all belong to you. I’ll make you happy. Every day, I’ll make you happy.”

“I love you.” His voice was straightforward, affectionate. “You make me remember who I used to be. You make me want to be that man again. Right now, holding you, I feel like we have a shot at beating all odds and making it together. I’m yours, if you’ll have me.”

“You’ve got food stuck in your teeth,” Vee toldMarcie. “In the crack between your two front teeth.Looks like chocolate Ex-Lax …”