“The paper landed on the table, but the news was stapled to his chest. A tattoo.”

“The paper, the stapler, the staples, the tape. It makes me sick. Physical things. Forty years of loving someone becomes staples and tape.”

“You know your heart and soul are stapled to that manuscript, but what we see are the words on the paper”

“She took the posters downtown that afternoon. She filled a rolling suitcase with them ... she took a stapler. And a box of staples. And hope. I think of those things. The paper, the stapler, the staples, the tape, the hope. It makes me sick. Physical things. Forty years of loving someone becomes staples and hop.”

“I needed to stop staring at his bicep...and chest...and tattoo. Never thought the sun could be so...sexy. Wow. This was awkward.”

“He whirled in the water and grinned at me. Damn, he was a handsome bastard. I realized he was half-naked. Blue swirls of tattoos painted his chest. When God made that chest, he did to tempt women.”