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He studied the terrace around them, the satisfied diners, the officious servers in white and black like pretend Italians. Maybe the longing he felt was the longing one felt for God. To reach toward the divine not for pious reasons but for the solace of not being stranded inside yourself for the res…

It’s a devil’s bargain, being a writer. You’re committed to exposing yourself and your family to the outside world, for money. My work had been known, before Intimacy, as being quite charming, fun⁠—people really turned against me. It got really hot, very nasty. But I have quite thick skin in some w…

Oh, Desmond Desmond Desmond. What does he need her to do? Tell him it wasn’t his fault? But the police report said as much, in plain English. He’d been driving like a grown man recently struck by his father. That morning, his father had sprung at him but had been too out of sync with himself to lan…

In the rearview mirror, Gemma sees her husband’s face hued gray by his phone. He’s checking where sempre dritto leads on Google Maps, scanning the next few minutes of their lives for junctions. That wanting to know had often inspired and even aroused her. But his wanting to know had lately tipped o…

Gemma doesn’t note the wariness in his voice, because her own words are repeating in her head: “since we moved” as opposed to “moved back.” Which would have made it sound like she and Des had been an item in Ireland originally. But they hadn’t been. They don’t actually know how to be in their count…