‘Wherever you are going, it is waiting for you.’

They just don’t feel they have to do the tap dance, you know? They don’t have to prove themselves all the time to be loved. Because they always were.” Cleo smiled sadly. “But how do you stop tap dancing if you’re like us?” “I just got too tired, Cley,” he

“Pinch, punch, first of the month!”

When the darkest part of you meets the darkest part of me, it creates light. Now she had completed that process on her own. She had met the darkest part of herself and created this.

Eleanor got this version of Frank, the sober, thoughtful man who took her suggestions, while Cleo had endured the drunken predecessor like a fool.

“I have a therapist now too.” “You do?” “She’s a Buddhist lesbian from Ireland, but she’s lived in Italy for years.” “I couldn’t imagine a better description of a therapist for you.” “I trust her,” she said. “She’s the first person I’ve trusted in a long time.” “I get it,” said Frank. “That’s how I feel about my sponsor.” “Wow, Frank,” said Cleo.

“Do you know how Nietzsche defined a joke?” she says. “As an epigram on the death of a feeling.”

“God is not always just,” she says. “But he does have a sense of humor.”

“Soz about that,” I say. “What’s that?” “Soz.” I shrug. “It’s how British teenagers say sorry.” “How sorry can you be if you can’t even spring for the second syllable?” “Since when was word length correlative to sincerity?