He didn't laugh at her. There weren't words strong enough to express how much Diana appreciated it. That was most people's usual instinct. After all, she was sappy and goopy and a cock-eyed optimist. Who wouldn't laugh at that? When every world seemed so incredibly jaded?

She gave him a smile.

"Sometimes, I think I speak in affirmations a little too much," she said. "But for what it's worth, I don't think you should let the world change you, so much as you should change the world. Be that inner farmboy you are. As long as it brings something good to the world around you, you know?"

Not that she really liked farms. But that was beside the point.

At least he wasn't from the Midwest.