They were like big, soft pieces of turquoise, the kind you see in rings, and the sun had gone to work on that blonde hair of hers so that it was almost white and dazzling in the sun.

She was wearing red shorts, and it was hard to look away. Red always excites me, and scares me a little too, ever since the hospital.

I had that high, light feeling in my head, the mixture of being angry and proud and suddenly the very strongest man in the world.

If you believe in milestones, in days that change a man's whole life, this was one of them.

Because it was the afternoon I met Claire Grace, the woman who taught me how to wake each morning - and know that I'd gotten away with murder.