“Meg! I love you! I want to marry you!""That's weird," she said without stopping. "Only six weeks ago, you were telling me all about how Lucy broke your heart.""I was wrong. Lucy broke my brain.”

“I can't believe you're still mad at me," Ed says."You grabbed my arse.""You broke my nose.""You broke his nose?" Jazz asks. "You grabbed her arse?""It was two years ago-""Two years, four months, and eight days," I tell him."-and I was fifteen, and I slipped and she broke my nose.""Wait a minute. How do you slip onto someone's arse?"Jazz asks."I meant slipped up. I slipped up and she broke my nose.""You're lucky that's all I broke," I say."You're lucky I didn't call the police."Leo, Dylan, and Daisy slid into the booth. "Did you guys know that Lucy broke Ed's nose? Jazz asks.Ed closes his eyes silently and bangs his head on the wall.”

“I knew damn well if Lucy broke up with me I'd still love her until I turned to dust.”

“Do you need to hear that I haven't stopped missing you for one single since we broke up? Do I have to tell you that my heart hurts with how much I love you?”

“I love you," Sam said, and set his mouth against hers, and broke off the kiss because he had to say it again. "I love you."Lucy's trembling fingers came to his lips, caressing them gently, "Are you sure? How do you know it's not just about sex?""It is about sex...sex with your mind, sex with your soul, sex with the color of your eyes, the smell of your skin. I want to sleep in your bed. I want you to be the first thing I see every morning and the last thing I see at night. I love you the way I never thought I could love anyone.”

“When she was three, I sent her to day care for a coupleof hours every morning. After a few weeks, the teachercalled me and said that she was worried about Lucy. When itwas time for the children to have their milk, Lucy would alwayshang back until all the other kids had taken a carton beforeshe'd take one for herself. The teacher didn't understand. Goget your milk, she'd say to Lucy, but Lucy would always waitaround until there was just one carton left. It took a while for meto figure it out. Lucy didn't know which carton was supposed tobe her milk. She thought all the other kids knew which oneswere theirs, and if she waited until there was only one carton inthe box, that one had to be hers. Do you see what I'm talkingabout, Uncle Nat? She's a little weird—but intelligent weird, ifyou know what I mean. Not like anyone else. If I hadn't usedthe wordjust, you would have known where I was all along . . .”