I turned it over and over, this strange, cold, generous, impossible thing, and I told myself that in the morning I would find it as absurd as it had seemed at first.

But in the morning something had changed, and it had nothing to do with Arthur at all.

I have noticed that this is how the largest decisions of a life are often made: not by a slow weighing of pros and cons on some inner scale, but by a sudden narrowing of the world until only one road remains.

The night before, I had the luxury of finding Arthur’s offer absurd, because Caleb was stable and there was still, in theory, time.

Absurdity is a luxury of people who have time.