“He rose to his feet in one fluid move, the better to look down at me. “You don’t know me, princess.Some people have reasons for doing things, and don’t just go wherever they’re told or drift whicheverway they’re pushed.”

“What if they don’t let us go through?” I ask, trying not to move my lips. “They will,” he answers from the dark recesses of the backseat footwell. “How do you know?” “Because you have the look they’re looking for.” “What look is that?” “Beautiful.” His voice is like a caress from the shadows.”

“It’s the people who don’t worry—those who never have any doubts that what they’re doing is good and right—they’re the ones that cause the problems.”

“Well, you can’t have just some of me, Jai,” I told her. “You appreciate the part of me that didn’t get angry because two ‘things’ we own got hurt. But the flip side of that is my belief that you don’t repair things if they still do what they’re supposed to do. The cars still work.Let’s just drive ’em.”

“He watched his brother find peace of mind through psychiatry. That’s why he won’t have anything to do with it.I don’t follow. Isn’t his brother happy?Utterly and always happy. And my husband says somebody’s just got to be maladjusted; that somebody’s got to be uncomfortable enough to wonder where people are, where they’re going, and why they’re going there.”

“Sometimes things don’t work out as they’re planned, and there have to be sacrifices in order to make things better again.”