“It was all about control, in the end, and I had it.”

“The past doesn't change no matter how much time you spend thinking about it. Good and bad all add up to the whole. Take away one piece, no matter how small, and the whole changes. Whether it's optimism, pessimism or fatalism, I don't spend my time wishing for the past to be different so present would be different, too. I control my future with what I choose now.”

“It was not a happy ending of the sort in fairy tales, butit was the only one we had.”

“I know everything and nothing about him all at the same time.”

“We labored under the pretense that nothing had changed when everything had, and I understood him, but i no longer knew him.”

“And you’re not afraid of it ending?”“Sure I am. But I’d rather have something this good for a little while than have nothing forever.”

“What are you wearing?”I looked down at my soft flannel pajamas. I’d washed them so many times the plaid pattern had faded mostly to grays and whites. “What do you want me to be wearing?”Dan’s voice shifted a little. I imagined a smile. “Nothing.”Such a small thing, that little bit of flirting, but all at once I felt as if air had rushed into my lungs, and I hadn’t realized I’d been holding my breath. “Nothing but a smile.”