“I could've died because you had to tie your shoelace?”

“I tie my smile like a shoelace.”

“-You are on the verge of being truly mad.-No, not at all. Look at me. I can tie my shoelaces. See?”

“You know you're getting old when you stoop to tie your shoelaces and wonder what else you could do while you're down there.”

“Was it a test?” she asked. “I mean, I know I'm still new to this. I'm still the rookie. Did you hang back to test me, to see if I'd be able to handle it alone?”“Well, kind of,” he said. “Actually, no, nothing like that. My shoelace was untied. That's why I was late. That's why you were alone.”“I could have been killed because you were tying your SHOELACE?”“An untied shoelace an be dangerous,” he said. “I could have tripped.”She stared at him. A moment dragged by.“I'm joking,” he said at last.She relaxed. “Really?”“Absolutely. I would never have tripped. I'm far too graceful”

“In my rush, I hadn’t tied my shoelaces. Noah was now tying them for me. He looked up at me through his dark fringe of lashes and smiled. The expression on his face melted me completely. I knew I had the goofiest grin plastered on my lips, and didn’t care. “There,” he said as he finished tying the laces on my left shoe. “Now you won’t fall.”Too late.”