“Nothing's ever gone. We fool ourselves that things fade, but they never do.”

“Once, he'd used it in song, but the songs in his heart had gone silent long ago, and he knew that one day so would his voice. A man with nothing inside him eventually had nothing to say.”

“Drew told me to never, ever talk to him about sex. As far as he‘s concerned, I‘ll be a virgin until I‘m a hundred, same as Brenna.”

“Am I too early?""No. He's waiting for you." The smile faded, to be replaced by a slightly disappointed expression. "I thought you'd be . . . scarier.”

“Honor?”“Yes.”“I’m going to do things to you now that a good girl definitely shouldn’t let a man do to her.”

“They didn't understand that she held his heart, held it so utterly that there was nothing he wouldn't do, no line he wouldn't cross to keep her safe.”

“I knew that before I asked . . . but part of me can’t help hoping that maybe this time, he’ll love me.”“As I can’t help hoping that my mother will rise, and will once again be the woman who sang me such lullabies that the world stood still.” Pulling her into a crushing embrace, he pressed his lips to her temple. “We are both fools.”