“I have to.I've been fighting it all night. I'm going to lose. My battle is as futile as a woman feeling the first pangs of labor and deciding it's an inconvenient time to give birth. Nature wins out. It always does.”

“To distract myself from thoughts of my father, i decided to check out the dead body.”

“Depends on the dog. Big country dogs like these? Yeah. It's the fancy city ones that give me trouble. Overbred, Dad says. Makes them skittish and screws up their wiring. I had a Chihuahua attack me last year." He showed me a faint scar on his hand. "Took a good chunk out."I sputtered a laugh. "A Chihuahua?""Hey, that thing was more vicious than a pit bull. I was at a park with Simon, kicking around a ball. All of a sudden, this little rat dog comes tearing out of nowhere, jumps up, and clamps down on my hand. Wouldn't let go. I'm shaking it, and the owner's yelling at me not to hurt little Tito. I finally get the dog off. I'm bleeding all over that place and the guy never even apologizes.”

“Perfect night, wasn't it?""It could have been." I smiled up at him. "But you were there.”

“So, let me get this straight," he said to me. "You save my ass and you're a loser. I stick up for you because of it and I'm a hero. How does that work?""I don't know. But it's so sweet.”

“You wanna fight?" I asked.He looked up at me and, for just a second, hesitated, then said, "Yeah. I do.""Well, I'll save you the trouble. You win.”

“I'm behind you." I spun to see Derek. "I can't win," he said. "You're as skittish as a kitten.”