“I walked to Montevallo.''Forty miles?!''Forty-two,' he corrected me. 'Well. Forty-two there. Forty-two back. Eight-two miles. No. Eight-four. Yes. Eighty-four miles in forty-five hours.''What the hell's in Montevallo?' I asked.'Not much. I just walked til I got too cold, and then I turned around.''You didn't sleep?''No, the dreams are terrible.”
“Rule Forty-two. All persons more than a mile high to leave the court.”
“I told myself that it took forty-two facial muscles to frown and only four to stretch out my arm and bitch-slap the witch.”
“You heard people say forty was the new thirty and fifty was the new forty and sixty was the new forty-five, but you never heard anybody say eighty was the new anything. Eighty was just eighty.”
“There, you are officially mine for the next forty-eight hours.”
“Four hundred forty-six,” Cole whispered.“What?” she asked.He kept his head down in what seemed to be a prayer. “He counts. You’ve smiled at him four hundred and forty-six times as of a few minutes ago. He announces the number every time I see him.”“I’m ashamed to admit that I didn’t think you were real. Considering my line of work, I should have more faith in humanity.” Cole shook his head. “I think it was smile two hundred eighty-six that drove me the most crazy. It was the night train. Blake was so sick, feverish. Honestly, I was considering taking him to the hospital. But no. He didn’t want to miss a smile. He wouldn’t even let me drive him. Blake walked the whole way in the pouring rain for number two eighty-six.”