“He was acting like the man he wanted to be, in hopes that he could become him. He would keep acting until he couldn't stand it anymore, and then he would be the man he was.”

“The force with which he wanted it both ways made him grit his teeth. What kind of fool wanted it only one way?”

“All the while, Everett felt both the threat of disorder and the steady, thrumming promise of having everything he wanted, all at once.”

“At the simplicity of the gesture, he felt a pang: the raw nerve of his loneliness exposed.”

“He held his hands tightly together and cursed his daughter for bringing the terrible world, with its humiliation and longing, back to his door.”

“His heart felt dangerously full, for the first time in years. That dried-up battered organ, suddenly flush with love. It could kill him.”

“Now, alone on the roof, Valentine looked at her shoes and wished people would either stay or go away, but not constantly coming back and leaving again.”