Maureen clapped her hands together. “Oh,” she said in her elfin little voice. “It’s pretty.” “Pretty?” Simon looked quickly at the hunched shape on top of the concrete block. “Maureen, what the hell-

WORTH IT and perfect are different things. No one’s perfect, yet in romance, everyone becomes WORTH IT. And that’s the trick.

I decided to deflect her attitude by giving a long, Southern answer. I come from people who know how to draw things out. Annoy a Southerner, and we will drain away the moments of your...

It was as if the news itself wanted to reassure me. Even Jack the Ripper himself had reappeared as part of the greeting committee.

Don’t get stabbed. It makes everything awkward.