“And even if you hate her, can't stand her, even if she's ruining your life, there's something about her, some romance, some power. She's absolutely herself. No matter how hard you try, you'll never get to her. And when she dies, the world will be flat, too simple, reasonable, fair.”

“So many things that seemed crucial and excruciatingly hard ended and then didn't matter anymore, forever after”

“We all — in the end — die in medias res. In the middle of a story. Of many stories.”

“He was a man too busy to flush toilets.”

“There's always this one girl. She's desperate and she's weird and she's jealous, and you're stuck with her, no matter how hard you try to get her off your back. Just throw some really fucked-up self-esteem issues into the mix and you have Kara.”

“You must be excessively hungry, Mr. Merritt,” she saidgraciously. Mademoiselle would have been so proud of her.“Perhaps you are not a morning person?”He smiled, finally bringing his devastating sky bluemorning gaze fully upon her face.“I thought perhaps if I filled my mouth with biscuits, Imight keep my foot out of it for a while.”

“When she was younger, she felt that he wanted to know everything about her, but she was sometimes afraid to tell too much. She was afraid he would know her too well, that he would find some weakness in her, some element that would turn him away, maybe even a quality she didn't even realize she possessed.”