“Oil and Water, Daddy calls us. At four years younger than me, Katie is only fourteen and she already has half the boys in town eating from her pretty little hand. She tells me I am too tall and too wicked looking to capture the heart of any sensible young man.”

“But my pretty little Gwen…me and her daddy…” Then she purred. Seriously. Purred.”

“You're pretty sassy this morning, son. Is it all about Reingold's rulings?""That didn't suck, but I've got me a fascinating, beautiful woman I'm falling for. Falling hard.""Quick work.""In the blood. My mama and daddy barely did more than look at each other, and that was that. She's got me, Russ. Right here." He tapped a fist on his heart."Surely it's not considerably lower where she's got you?""There, too. But, Jesus, Russ, she does it for me. I just think about her, and... I swear I could look at her for hours. Days."Brooks let out a half-laugh, edged with a little surprise. "I'm done. I'm gone.”

“I want to tell her that I can't pull her down. I want to tell her that she has to let go of my hand in order to swim. I want to tell her that she must live her own life. But I sense she already knows that these options are open to her. And that she, too, has made her choice.”

“Then why didn't you tell her. She calls me telling me she loves me telling me that I'm everything to her. She says that you've opened her eyes to who I really am, but does she know who I really am Lexi? Does anyone other than you know who I am?”

“But the next time Nikki eats too many crabby snacks, I am going to tell her she did not eat too much and that she looks too skinny anyway; I'll say she needs to gain a few pounds because I like my women looking like women and not like 'Ms. Six O'Clock-straight up, straight down,' which is another term I learned from Danny.”