“He kept staring at you all night. For a moment there, I thought his eyes were attached to you by an invisible string.”

“You weren't out there that long, were you? I can't bear to think that no one found you right away." Noah shook his head. "No more than a couple of hours, I'd guess." "A couple of hours!" Jane and Kate exclaimed. They froze, exchanging horrified looks. "Maybe a little longer. Hard to tell because the clouds were blocking the sun." "Longer?" Jane asked. Her hands were clenched into fists. "And I was wet, too. I guess it must have rained on me. Or maybe the sprinklers came on." "You could have died out there!" Kate cried. "Oh, it wasn't so bad. A little water never hurt anyone. The worst part was the raccoon when I finally came to. With the way he kept staring at me, I thought he might be rabid. Then he came at me." "You were attacked by a raccoon?" Jane looked as though she might faint. "Not really attacked. I fought him off before he could bite me." "It tried to bite you!" Kate cried. "Oh, it's no big deal. I've fought off raccoons before." Kate and Jane stared at each other with shell-shocked expressions, then turned toward their siblings. Appalled silence reigned before Noah finally smiled. He pointed his finger at them and winked. "Gotcha.”

“You are staring at me like you were going to eat me up.”

“He said his friend Victor called it a lucky charm, and that it kept him safe in Iraq."She felt her pulse pick up tempo, and she brought her face close to Ben's."Did you say Victor called it a lucky charm?""Uh-huh." Ben nodded. "That's what he said.""Are you sure?""Of course I'm sure."Beth stared at her son, feeling at war with herself.”

“I've wanted to go out with you from the first moment I saw you. I just had to wait until you were ready.”

“He leaned closer, their faces drawing near, and he could feel the heat of her breath mingling with his. He closed his eyes against the memory of a thousand other kisses and touched his lips to hers. He felt a kind of spark, and all at once he felt her slowly coming back to him. She was the arm that held him close in times of trouble, she was the whisper on the pillow beside him at night.”

“What? You don't think he's cute?""I didn't really notice.""How can you not notice when a guy is cute?" Melody stared at her in disbelief.”