“But Hunter did sneeze, and what I'd thought was his concern for me had actually been a presneeze expression.”

“I saw why Hunter had looked so horrified at the idea of me staying in his house. The walls were covered in glossy posters of fast cars and movie starlets wearing thongs.”

“He nodded to my fiddle case. "Why didn't you come play with me?" Immediately he rolled his eyes at himself. "That's not what I meant."I didn't point out that if he was constantly hearing double entendres in his own words, he had a dirtier mind than he wanted to let on. Sam having a dirty mind was okay with me. It was adorable, actually, as long as his mind was on me.”

“Most people did not think dirty thoughts at a time like this. Only me.”

“We can't leave the snow all bloody," I told the underside of his chin,shadowed with stubble. "It will scare the tourists.""The new snow will cover it up." He looked down at me."Shhh."Something in his Shhh tugged at my heart. He kept watchiing me,not examining m ear for medical emergencies but looking into my eyes,for a few more steps. I couldn't read his look.He was kind of blurry,for one thing,and I was kind of dizzy. I thought he looked..concerned. Sympathetic. Determined to rescue me from danger. I wished that was what he felt. But it couldn't have been.I was misreading him.”

“I didn't admit it to Liz and Chloe,but I remembered exactly what I'd been thinking when I took this quiz in seventh grade.I'd been hoping I wouldn't go to hell for telling the little white lies I was telling.I would have been mortified to say so, but when I'd picked Barry Yates or Mark Jones or any boy for the rest of the quiz,i'd always meant Nick.”

“I gave my dad a thumbs-up.He stared at me. My mom turned to him in the car, asking him, What? What is it? He kept staring at me. My brown hair was an even bigger shock for him than I'd expected.I smiled and waved at him and mouthed, "Welcome home."He put his hand to his eyes. He knew I was finally cured.”