She had never imagined she had the power to make someone else so happy. And not a magical power either--a purely human one.

The more boys I meet the more I love my dog.

The letter had been crumpled up and tossed onto the grate. It had burned all around the edges so the names at the top and bottom had gone up in smoke. But there was enough of the bold black scrawl to reveal that it had indeed been a love letter. And as Hannah read the singed and half-destroyed parchment she was forced to turn away to hide the trembling of her hand. should warn you that this letter will not be eloquent. However it will be sincere especially in light of the fact that you will never read it. I have felt these words like a weight in my chest until I find myself amazed that a heart can go on beating under such a burden. I love you. I love you desperately violently tenderly completely. I want you in ways that I know you would find shocking. My love you dont belong with a man like me. In the past Ive done things you wouldnt approve of and Ive done them ten times over. I have led a life of immoderate sin. As it turns out Im just as immoderate in love. Worse in fact. I want to kiss every soft place of you make you blush and faint pleasure you until you weep and dry every tear with my lips. If you only knew how I crave the taste of you. I want to take you in my hands and mouth and feast on you. I want to drink wine and honey from you. I want you under me. On your back. Im sorry. You deserve more respect than that. But I cant stop thinking of it. Your arms and legs around me. Your mouth open for my kisses. I need too much of you. A lifetime of nights spent between your thighs wouldnt be enough. I want to talk with you forever. I remember every word youve ever said to me. If only I could visit you as a foreigner goes into a new country learn the language of you wander past all borders into every private and secret place I would stay forever. I would become a citizen of you. You would say its too soon to feel this way. You would ask how I could be so certain. But some things cant be measured by time. Ask me an hour from now. Ask me a month from now. A year ten years a lifetime. The way I love you will outlast every calendar clock and every toll of every bell that will ever be cast. If only youAnd there it stopped.

I look at you and I think about you and ... I dont know. No one has ever confounded me the way you do.

How can love be worthy of its name if one selects solely the pretty things and leaves out the hardships It is easy to enjoy the good and dislike the bad. Anybody can do that. The real challenge is to love the good and the bad together not because you need to take the rough with the smooth but because you need to go beyond such descriptions and accept love in its entirety.

Id missed him so much it almost hurt. It started the moment I left the Keep and nagged at me all day. Every day I had to fight with myself to keep from making up bullshit reasons to call the Keep so I could hear his voice. My only saving grace was that Curran wasnt handling this whole mating thing any better. Yesterday hed called me at the office claiming that he couldnt find his socks. We talked for two hours.

When you leaveweary of mewithout a word I shall gently let you go.

I made such a fool of myself she lamented.Love does not make you a fool.He didnt love me back.That does not make you a fool either.Just tell me Her voice cracked. When does it stop hurtingSometimes never.

Voicemail 1 Hi Isabel Culpeper. I am lying in my bed looking at the ceiling. I am mostly naked. I am thinking of your mother. Call me.Voicemail 2 The first minute and thirty seconds of Ive Gotta Get a Message to You by the Bee Gees. Voicemail 3 Im bored. I need to be entertained. Sam is moping. I may kill him with his own guitar. It would give me something to do and also make him say something. Two birds with one stone I find all these old expressions unnecessarily violent. Like ring around the rosy. Thats about the plague did you know Of course you did. The plague is like your older cousin. Hey does Sam talk to you He says jack shit to me. God Im bored. Call me.Voicemail 4 Hotel California by the Eagles in its entirety with every instance of the word California replaced with Minnesota. Voicemail 5 Hi this is Cole St. Clair. Want to know two true things One youre never picking up this phone. Two Im never going to stop leaving long messages. Its like therapy. Gotta talk to someone. Hey you know what I figured out today Victors dead. I figured it out yesterday too. Every day I figure it out again. I dont know what Im doing here. I feel like theres no one I can Voicemail 6 So yeah Im sorry. That last message went a little pear-shaped. You like that expression Sam said it the other day. Hey try this theory on for size I think hes a dead British housewife reincarnated into a Beatles body. You know I used to know this band that put on fake British accents for their shows. Boy did they suck aside from being assholes. I cant remember their name now. Im either getting senile or Ive done enough to my brain that stuffs falling out. Not so fair of me to make this one-sided is it Im always talking about myself in these things. So how are you Isabel Rosemary Culpeper Smile lately Hot Toddies. That was the name of the band. The Hot Toddies.Voicemail 20 I wish youd answer.

Love is like a forest I think as I kill trees by squandering toilet paper while decorating my ex girlfriends front yard.