“I want that," he said fiercely. "What?" "For you to be around." Her breath caught. A tenuous hope took fire in her chest. "Really?" He closed his glowing eyes and shook his head. "Yeah. It's fucking stupid. It's crazy. It's dangerous." "So it'll fit right into your life script." He laughed and looked down at her. "Yeah, pretty much.”

“Sorry." he said, rubbing his temples. "Do you have any Tylenol?""Nope, sorry. Your doctor's appointment is today right?""Yeah.""Here take this." Jenna rummaged in her purse and took out two tablets.Robbie squinted at them, then tossed them down with the rest of his soda. "What was that?""Cyanide." said Sharon, and we laughed."Actually, it was Midol." Jenna said.Matt whooped with laughter as Robbie gaped at her in dismay."It'll really help." Jenna insisted. "It's what I take for my headaches.""Oh man." Robbie shook his head. I was almost doubled over with laughter."Look at it this way," said Cal brightly. "You won't get that awful bloated feeling.""You'll feel pretty all day." suggested Matt, laughing so hard, he had to wipe his eyes.”

“Karrin smiled faintly and shook her head. "He always said you knew ghosts. You're sure it was really him?"Mort eyed her. "Me and everyone else, yeah."Karrin scowled and stared into the middle distance.Mort frowned and then his expression softened. "You didn't want it to be his ghost. Did you?"Murphy shook her head slowly, but said nothing."You needed everyone to be wrong about it. Because if it really was his ghost," Mort said, "it means that he really is dead."Murphy's face...just crumpled. Her eyes overflowed and she bowed her head. Her body shook in silence.”

“Not so tough. And my name isn't Cookie.""Right. It's Coco."She took a chance. "It's actually Meg."He leaned in close, his breath warm on her cheek--smelling faintly of whiskey and mint. "Is that what you want me to call you when I'm fucking you?”

“Lincoln closed his eyes. It seemed like the right thing to do, no matter what happened next. He closed his eyes and felt her fingertips touching his cheek, then his forehead, then his eyelids. He took a breath--ink and hand soap."I" -- he heard her whisper, closer than he expected, and shaky and strange -- "think I might be a very stupid girl."He shook his head no. Just barely. So that only someone who was holding his cheek and his neck would notice."Yes," she said, sounding closer. He didn't move, didn't open his eyes. What if he opened his eyes and she saw what she was doing?She kissed his cheek, and he let his head tip forward into her hands. She kissed his other cheek. And his chin. The groove below his bottom lip. "Stupid girl," she said near the corner of his mouth, sounding incredulous, "what could you possibly be thinking?"Lincoln found his mouth. "Perfect girl," he said so quietly that only someone with her hands in his hair and her lips all but touching his could possibly hear. "Pretty girl." He found her mouth. "Perfect." Kiss. "Magic." Kiss. "Only girl.”

“He closed his eyes, shook his head. If he could get her alone somewhere, somewhere completely private, he'd kill her. He would break a rock over her head and split her skull open so that he could see, just for a second, what the fuck was in her mind.”