“I demoted him from The Best Man Ever to just The Best Man I’d Ever Met. Superman would have charged out (hell, he’d have flown) to get Lois Lane cookies. I was pretty sure of it.”

“I was in love. Perhaps not with the man of my dreams, but with a man that was more man than any I’d ever encountered.”

“Best thing that ever happened to me, that shredded washer," he whispered."Too bad I didn't know what a washer was or I would have shredded it myself," I whispered back and he burst out laughing.”

“It was silly, but I couldn’t let go of the hope that one day he’d walk in, look at me, smile and maybe popby my table to have a chat where I would boggle his mind with my brilliance. I’d charm him with mymanner. Then he’d ask me out on a date. At the end of which, maybe, hopefully, I’d finally be able totouch his hair (amongst other things).This never happened.”

“If you ever think of takin’ off, if you ever get scared enough at what I do for a living that you decide you can’t hack it, then you best think again because unless what we have turns shit like everything else in my life, I’m not ever letting you go.”

“I stood there. Still. Frozen. Looking at the most handsome man I’d ever seen in my life. The man I fell in love with when he was still mostly a boy. The man who raised two great kids against the odds. The man who kept the streets of my hometown safe. The only man outside my brother and father who even tried to take care of me, he did it in a way that was beautiful, precious, so I let him. The man who made me happy. The man who was happy being with me.”

“I lay under Luke, pretty certain I was going to die and wishing I’d made a will. Now, my sisters and mother were going to get all Aunt Ella’s money. I should have left it to Sissy and a cat shelter.”