Kaylin McFarren

Never settle for normal, Miss Lyons,_ Shinzo told her. __ormal is not natural. Extraordinary is natural, and that__ why you__e here. To do something extraordinary.

Rachel slid inside her silver Kia and slammed the car door, grateful that the museum__ security guard was now watching from a distance. If he hadn__ been, she might have acted on a homicidal impulse and run Chase over, the manipulative jerk. In fact, it made her feel better just to imagine it.

As Sloan approached the door, Paul Lyons lifted his eyes to watch her leave. He found himself wondering why after all these years they couldn__ manage to get along for a lousy twenty minutes. Perhaps it was the result of their inability to compromise__o give each other the benefit of the doubt. Or maybe they__ both simply lost the ability to trust another human being and believe anything good could come of this world.

You haven__ got a clue, Devon,_ Akira spat out. __ would have chosen any life other than the one I have. I envy your naïveté. Your belief in the possibility of love. I know you don__ understand any of this or who I am, but I was like you at one time. I only wanted to see the best in people. To believe this world was filled with hope and kindness._ Her bitterness was apparent. __ thought compassion came with understanding_with seeing inside a person__ heart and knowing their true mind. But I was wrong. Nothing in this world is what it seems.

You see, Katie," Pastor Ron said, "that__ what makes faith so tough to grasp, but also makes it so wonderful. It__ all about believing in something__hether it__ God, or other people, or even yourself__hen you__e got nothing else to go on. Nothing but a little voice inside telling you it__ more than a hunch.

After 40 years of marriage, isn__ it amazing when you can look at your partner sound asleep next to you and still believe they have potential.