“If you want to protect me, prayer is just as powerful a weapon as that gun you carry.”

“Are you sure I can't mend a shirt or darn a sock for you in trade? Anything?""You can quit your yammerin' and carry this table downstairs so I can get back to minding my own business instead of messing around in yours.”

“Read. Everything you can get your hands on. Read until words become your friends. Them when you need to find one, they will jump into your mind, waving their hands for you to pick them. And you can select whichever you like, just like a captain choosing a stickball team.”

“You got someone else courting you?""No." The fork she'd been scrubbing slid from her hand, returning to the murky depths. "But then, I wasn't sure I had you courting me, either. I seem to recall you expressing a number of objections to my suitability in the past.”

“You need not treat me like a child, sir. I am perfectly capable of navigating this staircase on my own."He snorted.Her nostrils flared. "I promise not to ask you to catch me again, all right? Now stop scowling."Of course he did no such thing.”

“It was like skimming through a novel without fully engaging with the story until a well-turned phrase or powerful bit of imagery snagged her attention, hinting at depths previously unnoticed.”

“. . . if you can't see the good man he is, you need to unscrew them eyeballs of yours and try on a different pair.”