Not good enough...One
"I nodded again, “I know it’s a long shot, but it’s our best bet, one stray shot hits someone on the wall and that might be enough, one shot from the gates will stop that shit heel…”
"Emma talked over the top of me, “And kill the gas deal. These people live by their own code, how sure are you that one of them will break that code for the likes of us?”
"I shrugged, it was a faint hope, a flickering match light against the wind, something that would only catch if it hit tinder before it blew out for good."
"Emma started walking away and I reached out and took her hand. “It’s the best shot, I know it’s long, but I think it’s what we have.”
“I know you’re doing your best.”
"There it was, the proving ground of every relationship I ever had. Another woman, young to be sure, but a woman all the same was looking at me with that mixture of pity and dry resolve. I would try my best and I would fail. She knew it because she had already made up her mind about me. I already knew what I was going to do, what my part was going to and always had to be, that look though, that sealed it into permanent certainty. I had spent my life being a career fuck up, if I could just get this one last thing right…maybe that would balance the sheet."