Still, she knows one thing for certain: never judge a relationship unless you are the one wrapped up in its arms.

Before she realized he was next to her, he had placed his hands over hers on the countertop, then hooped his fingers through hers. Gretel looked up at him, so startled she might as well have been shot.
'I just wanted to wake you up', he said.
Which is exactly what he did. One look at him and her heart was racing. One look, and whatever had been before was all over.

Helplessness and anger make for predictable behavior: Children are certain to shove each other and pull hair, teenagers will call each other names and cry, and grown women who are sisters will say words so cruel that each syllable will take on the form of a snake, although such a snake often circles in on itself to eat its own tail once the words are said aloud.

When I walk, I walk with you. Where I go, you're with me always.

Just because something is unspoken doesn't mean that it disappears.

We need to know whether there is a culture that promotes inappropriate relationships with women,