“Together, they would watch everything that was so carefully planned collapse, and they would smile at the beauty of destruction.”

“And they would all smile at the beauty of destruction.”

“It would require careful planning and execution, but Marina always accomplished everything to which she put her mind. She made a lot of spreadsheets.”

“Make a life with me, one that comes from love, one that I can watch grow in you. Only a fool would believe that what comes from what we have together would be anything but beautiful.”

“And then, despite everything, I smiled and looked at the note and knew that spring would come —it always does. so I stared out that cold window, watching my breath collect on the glass, trying not to think about my life after the thaw.”

“In the process of planning and having a wedding, I forgot there would actually be a marriage, a union of minds, bodies, souls, and issues that would come together as soon as the ceremony was over.”