“So You Want to KnowAll about her. Who shereally is. (Was?) Whyshe swerved off the high road. Hard leftto nowhere,recklessly indifferent to me.Hunter Seth Haskins,her firstbornson. I've been chockingthat down fornineteen years.Why did she go onher mindless way,leaving me spinning in a whirlwind of her dust?”

“So you want to know all about me. WhoI am.What chance meeting of brush and canvas paintedthe faceyou see? What made me despise the girlin the mirrorenough to transform her,turn her to into a stranger,only not. So you want to hear the whole story. WhyI swervedoff the high road,hard left to nowhere,recklesslyindifferent to those coughing my dust,picked up speed no limits,no top end,just a high velocity rush to madness.”

“...because in a way it happened to someone else. I don't really speak that person's language anymore, and when I think about her, she embarrasses me sometimes, but I don't want to forget her, I don't want to pretend she never existed. So before I start forgetting, I have to get down exactly who she was, and exactly how she felt about everything. She was me a lot longer than I've been me so far.”

“I've made love to her -- finally and wholly, I've had her in every way I've wanted and needed. And I want more. I want to own her, and the idea she will someday share this with someone other than me is hard to swallow.”

“But the truth is, I want to be some woman's work boots, not her high heels.""Work boots?" What was sexy about that? And did women have work boots?"Yeah. You know, the boots she pulls out when she wants to get down and dirty, hiking or gardening or boating or painting the kitchen. The ones she relies on and trusts and lives her life hard and good and on her terms in. Her favorites.”

“Virginia screamed, grabbing for the door handle and nearly throwing herself from the moving car. James swerved to the side of the road, slamming on the brakes before she killed herself trying to escape. As it was, she flung herself from the car, falling to her knees and scrambling to her feet. Then she ran. Took off like a bolt until she rounded the bend and disappeared from view. 'Way to go, slick,' AJ said snarkily, climbing into the front seat. 'You ran her off.”