“I’d promised myself that I’d really work on talking more, talking about uncomfortable things, because I could see from Brian how well things could work out if you did.”

“I milked, of course, and did some work around the barn, and tried not to think about Brian, which was like trying not to breathe.”

“And if I didn’t, I’d spend the rest of my life wondering who I could have turned into if only I’d had the guts to try.”

“It was like he was in a contest to see who could do the least work, only he was the only contestant.”

“Talk Back? That's really what it's called? You're supposed to walk into some church basement and say, 'I'm here to learn how to Talk Back'?”

“But it turns out that even if I don’t talk a lot, when it’s something that matters I still have a lot to say.”

“It kind of struck me how great it would be to go out with a guy that size. And if you, you know, got tired of dating him, you could always use him as a house or something.”