Laura Anderson Kurk

I found I could only glance at him for tiny moments and then I had to look away. He was perfect enough to hurt my feelings for a long time, and I wanted to let him.

I finally understood why so much monkey business happened in the backs of buses. Put us in close proximity, with wheels spinning under us, and nothing to do but wait, we__e going to start thinking of lovely uses for our bodies. I don__ care who you are.

Here__ what I learned about life when we were going through that. We__e all human and mortal. We__e all going to suffer and die. But it__ how we are with each other during those times that proves God__ here with us._ He turned his hand over in mine and entwined our fingers. __e comes in through people. People who love us anyway. They jump right into the chaos with us and try to help us make sense of it. That__ what mercy is_it__ choosing to help, or forgive, or love even when it goes against all logic.

He ran his hand from my wrist up to the crook of my elbow and then to my shoulder. __hen I was a little kid, my dad would come to my room at night to say a prayer with me. He used to say, __ord, We know there__ a little girl out there who__ meant for Henry. Please protect her and raise her up right.__ His voice changed to something slower and more country when he mimicked his dad. He smiled at the memory, and then he put his mouth near my ear and whispered. __ou were that little girl.

All of the emotions that hit people at times like these, all of them, were coursing through us both like a secret we couldn__ tell. Because if we said everything we were thinking and feeling right then_if we laid it all out for one another_we might not like the way the words strung together. Or the way fear and hope and bitterness and love mashed up into one big mess in the pits of our stomachs.

She didn__ see me because of the reflection on the store windows, and she wouldn__ know me in this car anyway. In fact, she probably wouldn__ know me with shaggy hair and the beginnings of a beard. So I sat for a minute, watching her dusting bookshelves, either talking to herself or singing. Her feather duster had become a prop in whatever scene she had going. She looked heart-stoppingly, breathtakingly beautiful, my Meg.

I turned my ear toward the door because I heard him breathing. When you__e alone and afraid, the simple sound of the steady in and out of air being drawn by another person is good medicine.

I didn__ look at Thanet. I couldn__ because he would see the hurt on my face.__e loves you,_ Thanet said. __e__ hurting and it__ not just the Quinn thing. It__ being away from you and wondering if you__e hurting, too. Or if you__e having too much fun to hurt. What he really needed was to laugh, though. So we laughed_until he cried.__hat undid me. I looked at Thanet with so many questions on my lips.

You look incredible, Kavanagh,_ Quinn whispered close to my ear. __re you trying to kill me?___sshhh,_ I hissed. __hey__e going to hear you.___ can__ tell my date she__ beautiful?__ turned my head. __o. No, you can__.

Quit worrying so much about the boards and nails of your life. Focus on the stuff that lasts._ He glanced through the window toward the glowing light of the kitchen where Meg and my mom were laughing about something.

You__e kidding, right? The whole town will know where we are just by the idle on that thing.__e feigned a look of shock. __hat thing is a 1966 GTO. It has a name, okay? It__ Mack__s in __o mack on women._ I rebuilt it last year, and I was told the engine makes girls hot.___omeone actually used those words? Is it true?___BD,_ he said.__ou__e goofy. Let__ ride in my Jeep. Its name is Jeep._ Quinn chuckled. __avanagh has a smart mouth.

The first thing I needed, possibly the only thing, was to kiss her and I did, for as long as I could. I let us both breathe for a minute, and I perched her on a counter so I could touch the face I__ missed so much. I poured every bit of frustration, anger, sadness, and worry into that kiss. Meg understood and received it all, pushing her fingers into my hair and giggling against my lips. I didn__ care that anybody passing by could be watching us through the window, or that I could fall right there and sleep for a week.

Okay, news flash. Jealousy is not something I enjoy. I hadn__ felt it much before. But I__ also never been in love. And I__ never been 3,300 miles away from the girl I loved while some punk sat next to her on a couch. A punk who had designs on her, according to Dylan. I needed to lay eyes on this guy.

Quinn spoke their language__ll mystery and inside jokes, scarred souls and statement shirts. It was a beautiful moment for him__n his element and completely happy.When they started playing, he leaned over and whispered in my ear. __ee that guitar?__ nodded.__hat__ a 1969 Martin D28. Hear me when I say if I had to choose between a beautiful girl and that guitar, I__ choose the guitar. Natch._ He took a huge gulp of water, clearly affected.__aturally,_ I whispered. __t could be why you__e still single.

For a second, I stared at the map of her veins just under the surface of her thin skin. It was like her body was trying to become diaphanous. Instead of getting harder and stronger and full of life as we age, we disappear slowly. Our skin thins and evaporates. Our nails barely coat our fingertips. Our hair falls out. We are never more see-through.

But Quinn held the fuzzy handcuffs in his hands, looking them over closely, and he smiled. __h, hey, did you want to keep these for when your invisible boyfriend returns from his fake vacation?

Hold still, Meg, you__e dripping blood on my car seats.__ reached behind the passenger seat of Tennyson__ car looking for the white sheet she__ thrown in for mopping up bodily fluids. Quinn, sitting in the back seat, read my mind and handed it to me. __hank you.___o problem._ He leaned forward, pulling a corner of the sheet up to wipe off a small stream of blood on my neck. __ou okay?

Let__ go to town,_ Jo said. __ake me to eat dinner at the hotel.__ sucked in a breath and stared at her for a minute. Here she sat, her hair still wet although neatly braided, wearing an old Kiss sweatshirt, the one with the red mouth and tongue, red sweatpants, and ridiculous red pumps with black scuffs on the toes and heels.And she wanted me to take her to the Hotel Wyoming, where the rich tourists hung out. I smiled. Because it was possibly the greatest thing I__ ever heard. __eah, let__ go to the hotel. Grab your purse and I__l find your coat.