“I love you, man, you know it, sucked losin’ you when you two disintegrated and I’m fuckin’ thrilled to have you back, but I love her a fuckuva lot more than you and I find out she’s in her head because you can’t let go of something that happened eighteen years ago and still feel like getting’ your licks in, you got me to worry about. You get me?”

“The man who gets Mara gets you and Billie. I’m that man. What you gotta get is, while fallin’ in love with Mara, I fell in love with you and your sister. Straight up, Bud, no lie. The feelings I feel for Mara are hers, the feelings I feel for Billie are hers and the feelings I feel for you are yours. You all have my love, not collectively, individually. Do you understand me?” “Mitch nodded. “Right. What I mean is, I didn’t fall in love with you all as a whole. I fell in love with each of you because of who you are. I don’t care about you because you come with Mara. I care about you because you’re a good kid. You’re smart. You’re loyal. And you love and look out for your sister and Mara. I know grown men who do not have a character as fine as yours. Those are the reasons I love you. There are different reasons I love Billie. And there are different reasons I love Mara. Today, what we had together was good. But the feelings I feel for you aren’t feelings I have to have in order to have Mara. They’re feelings you earned. Now, you with me?”

“Shit comes up, I'm here to help you sort it out and, baby, I like where I am a fuckuca lot because you are real, that's the whole reason I like where I am," he grinned again, "outside the fact you're fuckin' gorgeous, you got great fuckin' legs, you look good in clothes and a fuckuva lot better out of them. His grin faded, his eyes changed, they warmed in a way they warmed me and he finished, "So don't worry about that. If it happens, roll with it, I'm here and I'll roll with it with you.”

“He raped me, Agent Calhoun, he hit me but he didn’t kill me. As long as I’m breathing,I’ve got fight in me and luckily I’m breathing.”It was at that he whispered, “You aren’t like a lot of women.”“Yes I am,” I whispered back. “I’m like all women. You see this but inside there’ssomething else that I won’t let you see or him see but it’s the mess he left me. But that’smine. No one gets to it. Everything you get and he gets is a show. One thing you learn reallyquickly and really well when that kind of thing happens to you is to be a fucking greatactress. You don’t have a choice in that because a man like that does something like that toyou, you lose having choices. The only choice you have is what role you intend to play. Ipicked my role and that… that Agent Calhoun is what you see.”

“You got a girl who’s worth it … you spoil her rotten. You let her know she’s precious, not convince her of that shit, because it’s not about convincing. It’s about understanding it’s just fuckin’ true.”

“A year ago, I was too busy thinkin' about how lucky I was that someone as beautiful and talented as you let me into her bed to be bossy. Now I know you love me, I can be as bossy as I want.”

“Then you shouldn't have thrown her away when she was your wife. Now she ain't. Now she's somethin' to me and I don't let men I don't like get close to her and I gotta tell you man, I do not like you.”