"It's gorgeous! I want to wrap it up in Christmas paper, pop a bow on it and take it home. This is just the right place to spend a perfect Christmas!"

Lots of answers flitted through my mind: he was my problem-my pain in the butt-my lover- my Consort-my rock-my forever boyfriend.

"You smoke?" It seemed silly, but after all we'd been through together the thought that Aphrodite was a smoker shocked me.
"Hell no, Do you know how many wrinkles smoking causes? Hello, Beef-jerky-looking skin at thirty."

"You're smarter than I thought you were," Damien admitted.
"I'm still crap at school."
He smiled. "There are other kinds of smart."
"That's good news for me."

And I almost did lie.
Then I remembered what lying to my friends had cost me before-not just their trust for a while, but it had cost me respect for myself. I didn't feel good when I lied. I felt out of sync with the Goddess and the path I believe she wanted me to walk.

'I think if we honour ourselves with the right foods and thoughts, then we are much less likely to get ill.'

For two years, everyone else's lives were moving on, and mine had stopped.

He wondered if she'd always been this beautiful, or if he'd been blind all those months before Texas.

Kyle didn't know what it was about this woman's smile that affected him so profoundly. He felt the power of it go through him like an electric shock.

Heaven knew she could find the most unique ways of irritating him.

She opened her eyes and she could see more clearly now. There was no point looking towards the past. There was no place for regrets. There was just the furure.

"He's not a liar at all. Not about important things. He'll tell you horrible truths, but he won't lie."

I totally get why people run races. After months and months of hard work, the excitement is like nothing I've experienced before. It's the night before Christmas.

Maybe you don't have to figure life out at all.
Maybe it just Is.

Mom sees the smile on my face and wraps an arm around me.
"I'm so, so proud of you."

It's nice hearing him say that if you work hard, you can do anything you want. I like knowing I can control my future.

"You caught me," he laughs. "I loved water skiing. I've never gone before."
"But you looked like a pro out there! How is that possible you're good at every sport?"
"That's just silly. I stink at ballet--my little sister tells me that when I try to copy her moves."

He daintily eats his piece as I chow down. "Don't eat the seeds! You'll grow a watermelon baby."

"What is up with the guys in your life squeezing my hand off?" he mutters, wringing his fingers out.
"Just protective, I guess."
"Yeah? Well, I'm gonna have to stop shaking their hands or I won't have a hand left to beat you at badminton later."
I chuckle.

What was I thinking, touching Jeremiah's arm like that? He must think I'm a complete Creepy McCreeperson.