“Safe SexIf he and she do not know each other, and feel confidentthey will not meet again; if he avoids affectionate words;if she has grown insensible skin under skin; if they desireonly the tribute of another’s cry; if they employ each otheras revenge on old lovers or families of entitlement and steel—then there will be no betrayals, no letters returned unread,no frenzy, no hurled words of permanent humiliation,no trembling days, no vomit at midnight, no repeatedapparition of a body floating face-down at the pond’s edge”

“He watched their faces, and he knew each meant desperately what she said because they loved each other, and deep inside surely each knew the words were false, that the true words were those unspoken.”

“He knows how Molly grieves. Once he's gone, she'll lock the place up. Then she'll cry some and drink some. And she'll do that, over and over again, until the skin over this latest wound has grown tough enough for her to carry on.”

“There is the truth of history, and there is the truth of what a person remembers. As {she} sat at the edge of {the lake}, memory blossoms floated unbounded, as though breathed, no words spoken. Like birds that fly across national borders, between countries at war at each other.”

“She was his and he was hers. They had under-the-skin privileges.”

“He kissed her temple, nuzzling her skin, and murmured again that she was the most beautiful lass in the world. They weren't just words he offered. Platitudes he didn't mean. He cared not about the scar that marred her face. In his eyes, she was the most beautiful lass he'd ever known and nothing would change that. Not a scar. Not circumstances. She was his, and he didn't give one damn what others thought.”