“I had kissed her at odd times, in out of the way corners, in the manner of a mountain guide, nothing more.”

“Manners require time, and nothing is more vulgar than haste.”

“Abby closed her eyes and leaned down. I knew she meant to kiss the corner of my mouth, but I turned so that our lips met. It was my last chance. I had to kiss her goodbye.”

“There's nothing more beautiful then the way the ocean refuses to stop kissing the shoreline, no matter how many times it's sent away.”

“I kissed her, a long hard kiss. Because baby didn't know it, but baby was dead, and in a way I couldn't have loved her more.”

“I can't begin to guess her story, except that there were undoubtedly two times or three, when what had happened to her was grievously at odds with what she had expected - so grievously at odds that any return to the faith or the patterns of the time before the event became impossible.”