I waited for Katie to make the connection, to say something about her own circumstances in relation to mine - but once again she surprised me. "You know what I noticed when I was with Jacob? In your world, people can reach each other in an instant. There's the telephone, and the fax - and on the computer you can talk to someone all the way around the world. You've got people telling their secrets on TV talk shows, and magazines that publish pictures of movie stars trying to hide in their homes. All those connections, but everyone there seems so lonely."


"If you're afraid of everyone leaving you, what do you do?"
"Make them stay."
"And if you can't do that, or don't know how to?"
Ellie shrugged. "I don't know."
"Yes, you do. In fact, you've done it. You leave first," Coop said, "so you don't have to watch them walk away."


(Plain Truth - Jodi Picoult)