You always kiss on the first date?""Not usually until after the duct-tape.

Damn right, cowboy.

For a moment, I felt like myself again. Not the new me, not the old me, just the real me.

This Byrd wants a Wren.

Oh, Troy? He’s no one. He wanted something more from me than I could give.”“Friends with benefits?” Laurie asked, blushing as he said it.“More like frenemies with benefits.

Never heard you talk about a man this way. Usually you rattle off their attributes like you're fixing to fricassee the poor sons of bitches. God help the poor bastard you ever fall in love with.

You're not a nuthatch, Laurie.""Oh, but I am. I'm totally upside down. I'm a very backward kind of guy.

It felt terrific. It felt deeper and richer than laughter. It felt like opening a door and tumbling headfirst into a pile of feathers.

You're too young to be so old.

For the first time in ages I felt a tiny pinprick in my heart--not like it was breaking, but like something small and unseen had begun sewing it closed again.