“What he wanted was Megan wanting him... but not needing him. Not vulnerable to him. Sure as help not trying to leave him over and over again... and simply failing.”

“Upturned face.Parted lips. The good-night kiss he couldnt leave without. Only, Megans lips were stiff and unyielding. She didnt pull away. It might almost have been better if she had. Instead, shed...”

“marriage is an arrangement between like-minded parties. Its a partnership, not a love affair. I never lied to you or kept anything of importance from you.She looked at him then, almost stunned, as ...”

“Life is'nt about getting everything you want the instant you want it.Some thing are worth waiting for.”

“Upturned face.Parted lips. The good-night kiss he couldn’t leave without. Only, Megan’s lips were stiff and unyielding. She didn’t pull away. It might almost have been better if she had. Instead, s...”

“Because—truth?—on the scale of significance, that stuff doesn’t even register. What has me pushed past the boiling point...what has me really, really upset is learning the woman I thought was so in...”

“He had slept next to her for thirty-six years, and the mattress felt different without her weight, however slight, and without the rhythm of her breath the dark had no measure. There were times he ...”

“Are you still mad at me?""Yes.""I'll go back to sleep, then.""Good.”

“Give it up, mister! No sex for you!" I yelled at the wall as my girls cackled maniacally."Tons of sex for me, sister. None for you!" he yelled all too clearly through the wall.”

“Marriage must fight constantly against a monster which devours everything: routine.”

“I know that the whole pointthe only pointis tofind the things that matter, and hold on to them, and fight for them, and refuse tolet them go.”

“No one lived forever. But you fought for every minute you could get. Bought a little more with a lot of hard work.”

“The heart was made to be broken.”

“He does something to me, that boy. Every time. Its his only detriment. He steps on my heart. He makes me cry.”

“Was it hard?" I ask.Letting go?"Not as hard as holding on to something that wasn't real.”