“The tear stayed in her eye, never falling down her cheek, and then the left side of her mouth crept up into a half-smile. This was my mom. She would come home to us again. -If I Know It's Coming”

“It began with the twitch of her lower lip as it took on a life of its own, rippling outward to the corners of her mouth and forcing them upward into a helpless smile. She instantly clasped one hand over her mouth in a frantic attempt to silence the sound that was coming from her throat. The result was that she half-spluttered, half-coughed, her eyes painfully wide as she desperately wished a hole would emerge in the oriental carpet and mercifully swallow her up.”

“This is it, Lake," I say pointing back and forth between us. "It's real now. I'm not walking away from you again. Ever." Her eyes fill with tears. "Promise?" she whispers."I swear. I love you so much." A tear rolls down her cheek. "Say it again," she whispers.”

“The pull toward him came from her center. Her eyes never left his face as she moved to her hands and knees. She crawled slowly over the blanket, the breakfast, his legs, until her hands rested on either side of his hips. His smile lifted only on one side. He took care to stay very still, but his mouth opened slightly as she approached. This close to Blake she could smell him. Fresh, sweet fall leaves and mint.”

“She looked up at him with a smile. The smile broke what was left of his resistance - shattered it. He had let the walls down when he'd thought she was gone, and there was no time to build them back up. Helplessly he pulled her against him. For a moment she clung to him tightly, warm and alive in his arms. Her hair brushed his cheek. The color had come back into the world; he could breathe again, and for that moment he breathed her in - she smelled of salt, blood, tears, and Tessa.”

“I know she is crying. Her tears fall on the wrong side, into the bottomless well inside her.”