She is holding the gun that's a blow-dryer up to her head, when I ask. "What's the next thing after love?"
"What?"
The stuff I need to say is all tangled. "You love Mason, right?"
The dog hears his name and smiles. "Well, sure," she says.
"And you love Daddy more than that?"
She looks down at me. "Yes."
"And you love me even higher?"
Her eyebrows fly. "True."
"So what comes after that?"
She lifts me and puts me on the edge of the sink. The countertop is warm where the blow-dryer has been sitting: it just might be alive. For a minute, she thinks hard. "The next thing after love," she tells me, "is being a mom."

(Perfect Match - Jodi Picoult)