“He always did the leaving. But not this time. She kept walking, and did not look back.”

“I didn't trot my pain out to show around. I kept it better hidden than anyone. I did.”

“How did you meet him?" I asked her.She smiled. "Here, actually. During a dinner rush. He was sitting at the counter and Isabel knocked a cup of coffee in his lap.""Ouch," I said."No kidding. She was so slammed she just kept moving, so I cleaned it up and made all the apologies. He said it was okay,, no problem, and I laughed and said pretty girls get away with anything." She looked down, twisting her ring a bit so the diamond sat in the centre of her finger, "And he smiled, and looked at Isabel, and said she wasn't his type."There was a faint cheer from the stadium, and I saw a ball whiz over the far fence and out of sight."And so," she went on, "I said, "Oh really? What is your type, exactly?" and he looked up at me and said, "You.”

“Then I'd crawl back into bed, smelling her all around me, and tell myself that next time, I would lock that window. But I never did.”

“The past did affect the present and the future, in ways you could see and a million ones you couldn't. Time wasn't a thing you could divide easily; there was no defined middle or beginning or end. I could pretend to leave the past behind, but it would not leave me.”

“Listen,"Kristy said," the truth is,nothing is guranteed. You know better than anybody." She looked at me hard,making sure I knew what she meant.I did."So don't be afraid.Be alive.”

“Failing sucks. But it's better than the alternative.""Which is?""Not even trying." Now he did look at me, straight on. "Life's short, you know?”