“Having to face him at a competency hearing is like getting to hell and finding out that the only food available is raw liver-insult added to injury.”

“The problem," he said, "with being one of the best is that you still have to get better. But you're competing with yourself.”

“Raw love, like raw heartache, could blindside you.”

“I shouldn't have eavesdropped, but sometimes, that's the only way to find out the truth.”

“She had tried to hide the discomfort behind the mask of competence that she usually wore, only to realize that in her hurry, she must have left it behind somewhere.”

“Your mama finds you like that, she's going to pitch a fit." "The only way she'd find out is if you told her I'd come out here with you, and then she'd be too angry at you to yell at me." "Guess we're partners in crime, then.”

“When someone dies, it feels like the hole in your gum when a tooth falls out. You can chew, you can eat, you have plenty of other teeth, but your tongue keeps going back to that empty place, where all the nerves are still a little raw.”