“There was something about Nick that was like being around a wild animal. He was smiling and friendly now, but it felt like at any minute he could turn snarling and scary again.”

“He turned in a small circle and looked at the grass, the rocks, the river, the raining sky with its tatters and torn places, the shining bark of the wet trees all around. He could not think of any prayers now. But every movement felt like a kind of adoration.”

“Closing his eyes, he made it about fifteen minutes before his tossing and turning rode those pj bottoms so far up his crotch he felt like he could cough flannel.If he was doing the mattress and pillow thing, he usually slept naked and now he knew why.This was f'in ridiculous.”

“When I got started again, I drove slower and felt smaller. I think it does us all good to get looked at like that now and then by a wild animal.”

“What was interesting about being the needy one was how much in love you felt...He'd lost the ability to be an asshole. Now he was smitten, and it felt both tremendous and scary.”

“If sharks could smile, they'd smile like he was now.”