Smiling is confusing, she thought. This is why I don’t do it.
Knowing they were in the same city again made the missing him flare up inside her. In her stomach. Why were people always going on and on about the heart? Almost everything Levi happened in Cath’s stomach.
But there’s nothing more profound than creating something out of nothing.
I really am happy for Kiley. And for you and every other happily married lady. Except for that I’m not happy for you. I kind of want you all to drop dead.
Maybe Park had paralyzed her with his ninja magic, his Vulcan handhold, and now he was going to eat her. That would be awesome.
It was the nicest thing she could imagine. It made her want to have his babies and give him both of her kidneys.
My girlfriend is sad and quiet and keeps me up all night worrying about her.
There’s no such thing as handsome princes, she told herself. There’s no such thing as happily ever after.
Or maybe, he thought now, he just didn’t recognize all those other girls. The way a computer drive will spit out a disk if it doesn’t recognize the formatting. When he touched Eleanor’s hand, he recognized her. He knew.
The next night, Lincoln parked his Corolla right next to The Courier’s front door. I’m here, he thought. Find me. Follow me. Make this inevitable.
Then Park reached up and wrapped one of her red curls around his honey finger. “Back to missing you,” he said, letting it go.
Holding Eleanor’s hand was like holding a butterfly. Or a heartbeat. Like holding something complete, and completely alive.
All of her bones seemed more purposeful than other people’s. Like they weren’t just there to hold her up, they were there to make a point.
And when Eleanor smiled, something broke inside of him. Something always did.
But he kept finding new pockets of shallow inside himself. He kept finding new ways to betray her.
Eleanor had never thought about killing herself – ever – but she thought a lot about stopping. Just running until she couldn’t run anymore. Jumping from something so high that she’d never hit the bottom.
You look different. You look unsettling.’ ‘You look like you,’ he said. ‘You with the volume turned up.
She didn’t know there were things worse than selfish.
I don’t think there’s enough of her left.
She knew she was lovely, and she shared it like a gift. Every smile from Agatha was like waking up to a perfect sunny day. Agatha knew it. And she smiled at everyone who crossed her path, as if it were the most generous thing she could offer.