“We can do subtle," I assured her."It's our middle name," Andrea added.For some odd reason Rene didn't look convinced.”

“I didn't know you had a girlfriend, Griggs." Anson Choi feigns surprise. "What's her name?""I didn't actually catch her name," Griggs continues."Lily," Raffaela says over her shoulder and this time I give her a sideways look."Great to know that I'm in love with a girl with a cool name.""It's Taylor's middle name," Raffaela calls back again.”

“[H]e went ahead and named them without her, pulling from the spiral notebook of names they'd been collecting, putting together first and middle names with no rhyme or reason . . . names that obviously didn't flow.”

“Becky Renee Apple - can you believe her mom named her that and then had all of her sweaters monogramed with 'BRA'?”

“Rene looked at Grendel. “What in the world is that?”“That’s our mutant attack poodle,” I told her.“Is he chewing on a gun?”

“Saiman picked up a coffee mug, stared at it, and hurled it against the wall. It shattered into a dozen pieces. We looked at him. “Your date appears to be hysterical,” Rene told me. “You think I should slap some man into him?"Saiman stared at me, speechless. I had to give it to Rene—she didn't laugh. But she really wanted to.”