“Thad asked, "Why does she keep calling you Kid, Mr.Morgan? Something about that sounds mite familiar.""Son of a gun!" Bill suddenly exclaimed. "He's Kid Morgan, the gunfighter! I've read about him!Lace glanced at The Kid and smiled. "Looks like your secret's out.""It was never that much of a secret." The Kid shrugged."Well, I'm glad I don't have to keep it anymore," Nick said.The Gustaffson brothers looked at him. Bill said, "You knew about this?" "Yeah," Nick replied, looking a little ashamed. "I'm sorry, fellas. Mr.Morgan asked me to keep quiet about it, and I promised him I would.”

“me: just don't ask about his forty-three ex-boyfriends, okay? or ask him about why he's carrying around an axe.mom:...me: i'm kidding about the axe part.”

“Jason shrugged and turned away, the kids trailing after him. "I sincerely hope," he told them quietly, "that you learned a little something about the dangers of wandering around in the park on Halloween....”

“Help me out here, Jeremy," she said pleadingly.He gave her a look. "Why should I do that?""Because once, nineteen years ago, you were wrong about him, too."Jeremy stared at her stoically. After a long pause, his face broke into a smile. "Aw, hell, you crazy kid, you knew I was gonna let you in—I'm a sucker for this stuff.”

“And you know,you really have made your point with Aaron and Mia. You don't have to keep him around to keep hanging out with the royals.”"Why do I keep getting the feeling you don't like him anymore?”"I like him okay—which is about as much as you like him. And I don't think you should get hot and sweaty with people you only like 'okay'.“Lissa widened her eyes in pretend astonishment. "Is this Rose Hathaway talking? Have you reformed? Or do you have someone you like 'more than okay'?”"Hey" I said uncomfortably, "I'm just looking out for you.That, and I never noticed how boring Aaron is before.”She scoffed. "You think everyone's boring.”"Christian isn't.”

“Over the last couple of years, the photos of me when I was a kid... well, they've started to give me a little pang or something - not unhappiness, exactly, but some kind of quiet, deep regret... I keep wanting to apologize to the little guy: "I'm sorry, I've let you down. I was the person who was supposed to look after you, but I blew it: I made wrong decisions at bad times, and I turned you into me.”