To get a hug from your dad makes you feel safer than just about anything in the world, and in his arms, you don’t have to be brave or strong or selfless. You’re daddy’s little girl again, and just knowing he’s there makes everything a little better, even if it doesn’t really change anything.

Nick,” I murmured, “should I ever head into the cellar armed only with a ladle after the police have just warned me that a psychotic killer is on the loose, please slap me.

You want to be treated like an adult? Then you need to grow up.

That moment when you’ve had the worst day ever, and you come home, and you can’t go one more step without a long, hard hug from your spouse. Only they have the arms that will do. Only they really understand.

I’m going to email you every week and invite you out for dinner, and you can turn me down as much as you want, but when you’re ready, we’ll go somewhere fabulous with huge drinks, my treat. And you can tell me about him, or we can talk about bridezillas or gossip or go to a movie. We can talk now if you want, or we can just get down to work.” I.

Levi always said if you heard hoofbeats, expect to see horses, not zebras.

The third boat was quite pretty, too... this one was an Adirondack fishing boat, and even though it was only half finished, I could picture Jay Gatsby in it, casting a line over the side while he yearned for that shallow tramp, Daisy.

Real love would be when no matter how happy you were at any given moment, it would be better with the person you love. Like having that person there would make it perfect.

Adam loves me. I know he loves me. To think I thought it was a tree. A knothole. Some kind of hole, yes, but really, I am such an idiot. Almost forty, and pathetically naive.

Wrong,” he growls in a voice I’ve never heard. “Very, very wrong, Chastity. If we were together and didn’t work, I’d be out you. You’re the one I can’t lose.