“The lift of her heart she'd felt on the outcrop she now felt again, and it wasn't just love. She'd felt love before, known its depths when her mother died.This was something rarer. Happiness, Laurel thought, that must be what this is.”

“She thought it lovely, and at the same time felt relief that, at the moment, her heart kept silent. A speaking heart could break-she knew that very well. As long as hers remained content, she'd stay relaxed and happy.”

“But although she was with family and friends, she'd never felt more alone. She felt as if she'd lost a vital part of herself and she had - her heart.”

“She'd cried over a broken heart before. She knew what that felt like, and it didn't feel like this. Her heart felt not so much broken as just ... empty. It felt like she was an outline empty in the middle. The outline cried senselessly for the absent middle. The past cried for the present that was nothing.”

“I had been in love with Ariella. I remembered what she'd meant to me, what I'd felt for her then...... and what I didn't feel for her now.”

“She felt free of everything that weighted her down on Earth. Free of danger, free of any pain she'd ever felt. Free of gravity.And so in love.”