“Every life needs a little space. It leaves room for good things to enter it.”

“Even at seventy-four, with a limp from a hip replacement, Margaret could still enter a room and fill it like perfume.”

“He used to believe good things happened in this kind of weather.”

“But that would leave Paxton to fend for herself, and the last thing any woman wanted in this kind of situation was to look around and see all the people who could help her doing nothing.”

“I should let people in. If they leave, they leave. If I break, I break. It happens to everyone. Right?”

“Her friendship . . . still existed, as if it was a living, breathing thing, something that came to life the moment it happened and didn't just go away because they no longer acknowledged it.”

“She looked like autumn, when leaves turned and fruit ripened.”