QUOTE : Halfway through, he realized that it couldn’t really be Grace and that the words might not even be coming out of his mouth. She unnerved him with the candor of her unblinking gaze. “You don’t have to look like that,” he added. Must’ve said it this time. “Like what?” she said, her head turned a little to the side. “Like a man’s fucked up outta his mind and in my bar? Go to hell.” He’d reared back on his stool at that suggestion, trying to assemble his wits like pieces on a game board. A weight on his chest, in the dark and the light. He’d thought he was smarter. He’d thought she’d gotten mired in old ways of thinking. But it turned out new ways of thinking didn’t help, either. Time for another drink, somewhere else. A kind of oblivion. Then regroup.