Sometimes the world was just too fucking much. — Richard Yates

And he was afraid she might be taking this much too seriously, so he reached out to stroke or tousle her hair, but that didn't work because she'd just been to the hairdresser and didn't want to get it messed up.

One advantage of the very low lighting in this room, he'd decided, was that it could make almost any girl look like a million dollars.

"Well, she's - sweet," he told her. "She's very sweet, and I guess that's part of the trouble. She's like a little girl - is a little girl.