Selene knows that love leaves scars. Some of them are invisible; barbs that cut her so deep in her heart that no one will ever see
them. Some of them are visible, scars on the surface of her skin from the times a boy hurt her so bad she felt like there was
nothing else she could do but try and purge the pain with a pocketknife or a razorblade. But she is proud of her scars, the secret
and the obvious ones. They made her who she is today.
Selene also knows that love can be a song played on a baby grand piano, slow and waltzing, when the moon hangs outside her
bedroom window, winking at her.
Graceland knows that love is the name her silly, Elvis-loving mother gave her. As a small child, she hated it. Hated the
comments popular girls at school made; the way they laughed at her. They were girls with plain names like "Jennifer" or "Kate"
or "Mary."
As a teenager, she refused to even answer to her first name. She introduced herself to everyone as "Tillie," which was her middle
name, and her grandmother's name.
When she turned twenty, she went to Memphis, just to see it – and that's where she stayed. In that land, she found grace. In
that land, she found love in the form of a boy with black hair who played upright bass in a rockabilly band. She wrote a letter to
her mother, thanking her for giving her a name so magical; a name that led her to the place she was meant to be.
Nixie knows that love comes in many forms. She knows she cannot limit herself to one lover, because they all have something
different to teach her; and she, in turn, has something to teach each one of them.
Love is Pete, with his strong hands rough from masonry work, and yet so gentle when they rub her shoulders or stroke her
thighs; the way his voice squeaks just a bit when he reads Rainer Maria Rilke poetry aloud.
Love is Joaquin, who has liquid brown eyes and paints pictures of mermaids. Nixie thinks he is prettier than she could ever hope
to be, but never questions why he is with her.
Love is Tab, who drinks too much coffee and then talks non-stop about the government and anarchy; he feeds her spicy vegetable
stir-fry and is a drummer in a punk rock band and has faded homemade tattoos all over his arms and legs.
Love is Milo, with his receding hairline and thick-framed glasses. She adores the way his tongue sticks slightly out of his mouth
when he's concentrating on a particularly difficult equation.
Nixie knows that she loves all of them. She knows that love is about sharing, not ownership.
Etta knows that love is the way her son, Leroy, looks at her. It is the way she wakes up sometimes in the middle of the night,
knowing that Leroy has had a bad dream, before he even starts to cry. It is the clammy warmth of his hand in hers. It is the
way he hugs her when she is sad.
Etta knows that love is the bond they always have, even when she scolds him or yells – because Leroy knows she is only doing it
out of her concern and love for him.
Ruby knows that love is like a Belle and Sebastian song, the jangly guitar and sweet British voices. Love is the way the light in
her tiny kitchen turns turquoise in the evening; the last rays of the sun refracting through the blue glass bottles that line the
windowsill. She knows that love is in the purr of her orange kitten when he rubs against her ankles, creating static that gives
them both little shocks.
Ruby knows that love is in her girlfriend's smile when she kisses her goodnight. She sings along to the record on her turntable,
but changes the names to fit her life – "Who needs boys when there's Wren around?"