Status Updates From Stages of the Heart

If you ever think I'm standing in your way, you have to tell me because the view from here is that I'm protecting you.

I promise to be at your side when you want a partner and at your back when you want a push.

*super swoon*

I don't love you in spite of those things. I love you because of them.

You are loved, Laurel. I know because I love you.

You'll know because there will be times when she's out of your sight and it will feel as if you can't quite catch your breath, and when you see her, you'll feel exactly the same.

It feels good to laugh, doesn't it? It's been too long.

I reckon laughing requires exercise like any other part.

You'll always keep me on my toes and in my place.

In your place? Where do you think that is?

With you. It will always be with you.

*swoon*

When you're in a hole, Call, the first thing you need to do is stop digging.

Another proverbial needle in a haystack, but with patience and some luck, even a needle could occasionally be found.

Hypotheticals unsettle me. Kind of like an itch I can't reach to scratch.

You're good to be so patient with me.

As long as you realize my patience is not infinite.

You could have just said thank you.

You know, the mannerly thing to do is to say thank you when you get a compliment, not question its veracity like you're the prosecution cornering a defendant.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You can argue the point, but since I'm on the receiving end, your opinion is going to have about as much impact on me as water on a duck's back.

Knowing better doesn't necessarily mean doing better.

Even when she didn't quite know what she was asking for, the response was always what she wanted.

I have marks on my skin.

Love licks.

I don't know about that. More like I've been branded.

She had been well and truly plucked last night. There was no chance of her withering on the vine now.

You're a ripe piece of fruit, Miss Laurel, and maybe it's time for you think about getting plucked.

What did you say?

I said 'plucked'. As if I'd ever say the other.

LOL

As for Josey Pye, anyone could see the man was so bent, he could swallow nails and spit out corkscrews.

One of those vagrant thoughts that trips off my tongue before my better self can stop it.

That was ... that was ... there are no words.

There are, but you probably shouldn't strain yourself to come up with them.

She wanted it to be over and she wanted it to go on forever.

I didn't attend school until I tried college so I didn't experience much in the way of name-calling and slurs.

I learned something about making love from every one of the whores I lived with. They taught me to respect women, to treat them with dignity, to care for their tender feelings, and never make the mistake of thinking them the weaker sex.

Who said I'm going back to the bunkhouse?

I think I just heard me say it.

Have you ever tasted it?

Yes.

Huh.

I was curious. Like you.

I wouldn't have it as a condiment, though.

LOL

For some it wasn't a game, just a way to end a life when they believed suicide was a sin they'd carry forever.

Annie Lisle: Heard a version of this a lot during the war. 'Course the words were different. "Ellsworth's Avengers," it was called. A battle tribute song to the first Union officer killed.

McCall Landry wanted her honesty, but mostly he wanted her to be honest with herself.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

People will talk. I can't be responsible for what they think or say.

He doesn't get much opportunity to stretch his law enforcement legs, so they're fairly useless when something important happens.