“This woman is American, but she speaks with no regional accent. She could be from anywhere. She could be anyone.”

“This was globalization: everyone everywhere was interchangeable. You could be anyone anywhere to do anything.”

“Plus she had to admit that a small part of her secrecy was that she was holding something back, for herself. If she never told Dexter the truth, she was still reserving the right to return to her old life. To one day be a covert operative again. To be a person who could keep the largest secrets from everyone, including her husband, forever.”

“But she was still operating on lonely-person principles, still worried that her happiness could be wrenched away at any moment, for reasons out of her control.”

“She stared at this first bit of positive proof, the entrance to the rabbit hole from which she might never reemerge.”

“So she forgave him. And instead she berated herself for her suspicion, for her snooping. For the things she promised herself she wouldn't do, the feelings she wouldn't have.”

“She was seduced by the romance of it; she was energized by the possibilities.”