I returned to my existence, the existence I had chosen instead of you. - Jhumpa Lahiri

Solitude demands a precise assessment of time, I’ve always understood this. It’s like the money in your wallet: you have to know how much time you need to kill, how much to spend before dinner, what’s left over before going to bed.

It made him shy, they way he felt the first time they stood together in a mirror.

The nickname had irritated and pleased her at the same time. It made her feel foolish, but she was aware that in renaming her he had claimed her somehow, already made her his own.