“I'm not who you think I am, Abby," he said in English.I almost smiled. It was the kind of melodramatic line people said in bad made-for-TV movies, but then I saw his eyes, bleak and distant, and I knew he was telling the truth."I thought you were Dante Alexander, foreign-exchange student visiting from Italy."He shook his head slowly, sadly. "Not exactly.”

“He stared at me. "She liked you, boy." The intensity of his voice and eyes made me blink."Yes," I said."She did it for you, you know.""What?""Gave up her self, for a while there. She loved you that much. What an incredibly lucky kid you were."I could not look at him. "I know."He shook his head with a wistful sadness. "No, you don't. You can't know yet. Maybe someday..."I knew he was tempted to say more. Probably to tell me how stupid I was, how cowardly, that I blew the bestchance I would ever have. But his smile returned, and his eyes were tender again, and nothing harsherthan cherry smoke came out of his mouth.”

“He looked at the gun. "Aren't you afraid?""Of course I am," Anna said. "Of course I'm afraid. But that doesn't help."He shook his head. "No," he said, "it doesn't help to be afraid. Bad things happen anyway. You're right.”

“He shook his head slowly from side to side, as though it were very heavy. I could almost hear the contents sloshing.”

“He shook his head in mock sympathy. "I tell you, Sage. Sometimes I think I am the one who needs to take out the restraining order on you.”

“Feeling like I had to lose you for the second time...” He shook his head, and I thought I saw tears under his eyes. “I don’t think I could bear it. You’re everything to me, Elizabeth.”