“We're bein cut asunder, Lugh an me.BitBy bit.An it makes me think.It makes me wonder.Is this how he feels when he sees me with Jack? Do I look at Jack the way Lugh looks at Maev?Helpess.Throat bared.Hopeless.”

“I helped pull him up, although I doubted I was doing any of the actual work. Will was staring at me again. He turned away, toward Jack, and whisper-yelled, "I heard Nikki's back.""Yep," Jack grunted as Will stumbled over the curb. "She is.""How are you doin' with that news,little bro?"Jack looked at me when he answered. "Better every day.”

“Jack grins. Anyways, Saba likes to look at my bare chest.Lugh looks at me. Frowns. Is that a fact? he says.I feel myself go bright red. It is not a fact, I says. You stinker, Jack.”

“When my son, Jack, was four, I had to make a trip to Los Angeles. I asked him if he was going to miss me. 'Not so much,' Jack told me. 'You're not going to miss me?' I said. Jack shook his head, and he said, 'Love means you can never be apart.”

“...And the way he does look at me makes me feel absolutely beautiful.”

“Thanks," Jack said. "My car's back at the store.If we can just make it there."Will noticed me for the first time. "Hey. A girl." He studied my face for a moment, and then he gasped and stopped walking. "Nikki Beckett. You'd better get out of here before my brother sees you.He'd freak.""And,we're walking," Jack said, heaving Will forward."Oh,hey,Jack.Didn't see you there." Will smiled again,undisturbed. His eyes glazed over and he seemed to have forgotten all about me.Jack looked at me around the slumping head of his brother. "Will was wounded. And discharged."Will swung his head around to face me. "They expected me to wear pants!" He prayed the last word across my face, and I gagged at his foul breath. "Like,all the time...It was so hot." He stared at me again. "Hey, you look familiar.Hey,Jack,'member that girl-?""Yes," Jack interrupted."You know,the one who totally messed you up-""Yes," Jack cut him off again. His eyes met mine,and he gave me an apologetic grin. I felt my own lips turning up.”