I know what other people think about me,” Rusty told her. “ ‘That Rusty,’ they say. ‘Charming and handsome,’ they say first, of course—they’re not blind. Then they add, ‘All the ambition and drive of a chocolate sundae.’
Kami," he said, "you're crying." "No, I am not," Kami lied. "I got something in my eye." "You got something in your eye." "Yes. Possibly a speck of dust," Kami said, and broke down. "All right, possibly my feelings.
She had worried she would break if her heart broke, but she wasn't broken. She had lost everything, but she was not lost. It seemed a worthwhile thing to know.
Some say love cannot be bought, but mine is available at this time for anyone with a good heart and the ability to use a photocopier.
And you don't ever have to worry about what I feel. The way I feel about you won't change. You can do whatever you like to me. You could turn this town to dust, burn the woods until they were cinders, you could cut out my heart. It wouldn't matter. I...
Every time he touched her, the touch felt new, like something they had just invented together.
I did not matter what distant iron city had raised him. He had been made by Sorry-in-the-Vale, his bones as much a part of it as the valley and the woods. It was as if she had the whole town spread underneath her. Or the whole world, since right then...