“I am leaning back and running with it and staring at the stars and I’m eleven, I’m sixteen, I’m eighteen, I’m a newborn I’m everyone everywhere with you without you unbound set free in limbo lost at sea.”

“Here I am in a rabbit run, here I am in a valley of pine, waiting for you to find me. I could pretend I’m speaking to everyone—assume a middle distance and transcend myself—but I’m taking to you and you know it.”

“My gratitude for good writing is unbounded; I’m grateful for it the way I’m grateful for the ocean.”

“I’m really cracking. No, I’m beyond cracking. I’m shattered. I’m lost. I’m fragmented.”

“I’m here Bethie. Loving you. Wanting you. I’m not going to run into a hole and lick my wounds. I’m going to bleed in front of you.”

“But then you ... you come along. You screwed up my plan. Suddenly my life’s not liveable, it’s not fine and I’m no longer happy. My life’s worse, much more worse than before ... and it’s all because of you. I’m scared of you. I run from you. And I push you away ... but why? Because I am scared of you, I’m scared of my feelings for you ... I’m scared of losing you. But mostly ... mostly I’m scared that if I don’t hold on too tight ... I’m scared that I’ll lose you forever.”