“Then he is up and off the couch in one fluid motion - remarkable considering no one gets up off our couch gracefully.”

“The clock is ticking. I should be leaving right now. But what I want to do is take Cicely in my arms and press her up against me hard enough to make her not care that I'm messing up her lipstick. I want to pick her up and carry her back through that doorway. We're only a few strides from the couch, only one rip away from ruining that expensive fabric, the dress she must have bought to wear for him.”

“You think I can't pull it off, don't you? You think I'll look stupid next to someone like Luke. You think he's too good for me." This is my chance. I should say yes and make her hate me, kill her last bit of hope. Easy. Like staking a vamp. "I think you'll look beautiful." I turn away. "No one's too good for you. No one's good enough.”

“You want to know why I brought you out here." "The question had crossed my mind, yes. But I figured it was probably to buy me horses or feed me caviar. Or, you know, to kill me." He looks up surprised. "Kill you? No. And in the future I would say if you suspect someone wants to kill you, you shouldn't follow him into the woods.”

“I know the story by heart. The book is just a "do not disturb" sign, to make sure no one talks to me.”

“For a minute I consider taking my iPod out of my pocket to give myself a little music to make the walk go faster, but then decide against it. The pre-storm rustle of the forest feels like the right soundtrack for my restless thoughts. Music would only jolly me out of my funk, and I'm in the mood to wallow a little longer.”

“I could not separate our fates now any more than I could sort the blood from the ash. We are tied together by our love of the same girl.”