“If it weren't for me inviting Meena Harper over for dinner that night, the two of you would never have met, and this whole horrible mess would never have happened..."She paused dramatically, as if waiting for someone to jump in and say, Oh no, Mary Lou. None of this was you fault."But," Mary Lou went on, a little less self-confidently, "if I hadnt then you, Lucien, would just have gone on through eternity never knowing what true love is. And then how would you have felt?""Considerably better than I've felt over the course of the past six months, I imagine," he replied.”

“This is my fault. If you’d never met me, this wouldn’t have happened.”“If I’d never met you, I would never gotten to hold you. I’ll take the bullet.”

“We always loved to say 'If I'd had a Monday-morning class, I never would have met you'. Or 'If you'd been reading something else, none of this would have happened'. We didn't believe in fate, but we believed in serendipity. We felt very lucky.”

“I swear I've never met a man who has your knack for lack of social grace. If you weren't naturally charming, someone would have stabbed you by now.”

“That first night, I did realize I would never meet another girl like you. But you deserve someone who has waited for you as long as you have waited for them. And no matter how much I wish I could be that guy, I can't Harper.”

“Breaking my neck was the best thing that ever happened to me. I have an Olympic medal. I've been to so many countries I would never have been, met so many people I would never have met. I've done more in the chair, ... than a whole hell of a lot of people who aren't in chairs.”