“It appears time has two different effects on the heart," I say, still looking at the leaves. "It either makes it swell with love or shrivel with bitterness.”

“There are only two reasons why you leave someone you're still in love with - either it's the right thing to do, or it's the only thing to do.”

“It took two," I said. "Two different people to make the Heartwood what it is. Two different experiences, grief and joy, combined. True love never has just one face, does it? It must always have two, or it isn't true love at all.”

“Do I look like a commitment sort of girl to you?”“You look like trouble,” he grinned. “When I was growing up, my mother used to tell me to never trust a redhead.”I frowned. “There are only two reasons she’d say something like that.” Caleb raised his eyebrows. “And they are?”“Your father either slept with one, or she is one.”I buzzed under his crooked smile. It extended all the way to his eyes this time.“I like you,” he said.“That’s swell, Boy Scout. Real swell.”

“And I have by me, for my comfort, two strange white flowers - shriveled now, and brown and flat and brittle - to witness that even when mind and strength had gone, gratitude and a mutual tenderness still lived on in the heart of men.”

“My heart was broken so badly last time that it still hurts. Isn't that crazy? To still have a broken heart almost two years after a love story ends? ”