Archer's Voice

Sometimes an understanding silence was better than a bunch of meaningless words.

I'm afraid to love you. I'm afraid that you'll leave and that I'll go back to being alone again. Only it will be a hundred times worse because I'll know what I'm missing. I can't…” He sucked in a shaky breath. “I want to be able to love you more than I fear losing you, and I don't know how. Teach me, Bree. Please teach me. Don't let me destroy this.

I lost my heart to you. And, Bree, in case you're wondering, I don't ever want it back.

Someday … when we're old and gray, I'm going to look at you lying in bed beside me, just like this, and I'm going to look into your eyes and know that it's only ever been you. And that is going to be the great joy of my life.

Try to believe that maybe more light shines out of those who have the most cracks.

Each night before I fall asleep, I make it a point to turn to my wife and silently say "Only you, only ever you". And her love slips quietly around me, holding me, anchoring me, reminding me that the loudest words are the ones we live.

I CAN SPEAK. I JUST LIKE TO SHOW OFF MY NICE PENMANSHIP.

I didn’t know enough to dream you, Bree, but somehow you came true anyway. How did that happen?” He rubbed his nose along mine, pausing and then pulling back again. “Who read my mind and knew exactly what I wanted, even when I didn’t?

I stand by my logic though. I think love is a concept, and each person has an individual word for what sums it up for them. My word for love is Bree.

I knew I loved her – fiercely and with every part of my heart, even the broken parts, even the parts that felt unworthy and without value. And maybe those parts most of all.

I know I'm probably the last person you want to see right now, but I thought if I sat on your porch, you wouldn't be scared. You wouldn't be alone.

..the loudest words are the ones we live.

Maybe there was no right or wrong, no black or white, only a thousand shades of gray when it came to pain and what we each held ourselves responsible for.

Bad things don't happen to people because they deserve for them to happen. It just doesn't work that way. It's just… life. And no matter who we are, we have to take the hand we're dealt, crappy though it may be, and try our very best to move forward anyway, to love anyway, to have hope anyway… to have faith that there's a purpose to the journey we're on.

You brought the silence, The most beautiful sound I’d ever heard.

...not all great acts of courage are obvious to those looking in from the outside.

I'm here for you. I'm here because of you. I'm here because you saw me, not just with your eyes, but with your heart. I'm here because you wanted to know what I had to say and because you were right...everyone does need friends.

I want to be able to love you more than I fear losing you

How do you teach a man who has lost everything, not to fear it happening again?

This is that burden I was talking about, Bree. This is what the burden of loving me looks like.” “Loving you isn't a burden. Loving you is an honor and a joy, Archer.

And sometimes, that's all it takes–one person who's willing to listen to your heart, to the sound no one else has ever tried to hear.

I realized that people's reactions had more to do with them, more to do with who they were, than anything about me

He smiled back and put his lips against mine, mouthing, “I love you, too,” against my mouth, as if he was breathing love into my body.

Did you… want me to kiss you yesterday? Did you want me to touch you? His lips parted slightly, and he watched me for my answer like his life depended on it.

My eyes moved over his face. 'Why did you do it?' He was silent for a couple beats, looking down, taking his bottom lip between his teeth before he brought his hands up and said, 'I don't know.' His expression turned thoughtful, his eyes meeting mine, and then he continued. 'When you were in the trap, I couldn't speak to you to reassure you. You can't hear me...I can't help that.' He looked down for a second and then back up at me. 'But I want you to see me.' An expression of vulnerability washed over his face. 'Now you can see me.

Bad things don't happen to people because they deserve for them to happen. It just doesn't work that way. It's just... life

There is nothing to find out. What I know, is that you walked through my gate that day and I lost my heart. But not because it could have been any girl-because it was you. I lost my heart to you. And, Bree, in case you're wondering, I don't ever want it back.

I don't know ho to do any of this. You deserve better than the nothing I have to offer you. But it hurts even more to think of letting you go