“All the time I’ve knowed you, Jack, you kept the door to that heart of yers locked up tight an the key hid away. Looks like she found it.He says nothing. Molly waits. Then:Keys ain’t her style, he says. She kicked the door down.”

“Jack lifts his mug. Me an Ike do the same.To Molly Pratt, says Jack.Ike scowls at him. Watch yer mouth, he says.Jeez, Ike, says Jack. All I’m sayin is … to Molly Pratt.Ike looks sly. Leans in an waggles his eyebrows. To Molly Pratt, he says, an her frilly red bloomers.One helluva woman, says Jack.One helluva pair of undies, says Ike.Then they throw their drinks down their necks.”

“You don’t fool me, he says in a low voice.Is that right?Yea, he says. I see it in yer eyes. All you care about’s yer precious brother.That aint true, I says.If it’d been Emmi they took, he says, Emmi an not Lugh…would you of gone after her?I take in a breath to say of course I would but the look on his face stops me. there ain’t no point in lyin when he already knows the truth.He leaves go of me an steps back.I thought so, he says. Yer sister’ll be safer with me than she could ever be with you. You jest ride along on yer high horse an leave her to me.”

“An when Ike walks through that door- after I finish kissin him to death- I'm gonna tie him to that chair an never let him go, cux life's too gawdamn short an it's about time I start takin my own advice. I might need yer help, of course, but I'm sure you won't mind, seein how- Molly! Jack grabs her hand. Stop, Molly, please. Dammit Moll. Ike ain't gonna walk through the door.She goes still. Very still. Her smile fades. Please don't say it, she whispers. He can't bear to. But he has to. Ike's dead, he says. He's dead, Molly. I'm sorry.”

“No, you need to listen, she says. This ain’t Silverlake, an you ain’t the daddy. Out here in the real world, the person who knows what they’re doin is the daddy an right now, that’s me. So. Do like daddy says an shift that tasty butt of yers. Unless, of course, you want it shot off.”

“You couldn't find nobody more pig-headed if you tried, he says. An she's always thinkin she knows best, even when she don't, especially when she don't. She's prickly and stubborn an everythin you'd put at the bottom of a list if you was makin a... a list of that kind. Which I aint. I didn't. But? says Molly. But ohmigawd Molly, she shines so bright, he says. The fire of life burns so strong in her. I never realized till I met her... I bin cold my whole life, Moll.I know, she says softly. It's jest that... aw, hell. She thinks I'm a better man than I really am.Well, yer a better man than you think you are.”

“Don’t you dare walk away from this, Jack, don’t you dare, Molly says fiercely. Most people don’t ever feel what yer feeling. Be with her. An if it lasts one hour, one night, a week a month, it don’t matter. Be with her, burn with her, shine with her… fer whatever time’s given to you.”