Atmosphere

by Taylor Jenkins Reid

She also knew there was a scientific explanation for these moments in which she felt she could sense the future. Information was being received at such a rapid speed that it felt as if the reaction was coming in before the stimulus. But the sensation was eerie, nonetheless. She understood why people got confused sometimes, started calling things fate.

‘You have to have something on the line, for it to be called character.’ ”

Didn’t that mean that she would not grieve its loss, since she had voraciously and self-indulgently taken all of it that was offered? No. It did not.

“You can’t miss something you never had.” It had sounded good at the time. It had a finality to it that she had liked. But it wasn’t true, was it?