“‘Ah. The rule of money.’ Hilary nudged a mound of dirt with her shoe. She imagined a mansion in the middle of this field, stone columns and marble stairs, gardeners and servants rushing around. Parties of badminton and croquet on sprawling green lawns, men and women sipping iced tea and lounging in the sun. The thought was almost seductive. The clichés about money always were, and even though she knew it was silly, she sometimes thought that if she were rich, life would be richer and more full of unending possibility. She could travel, she could buy houses in faraway places, she could fly her favorite people to those houses. It was pleasing to think that happiness could be so tangible.” 

Excerpted from The Birthdays © Copyright 2012 by Heidi Pitlor. Reprinted with permission by W. W. Norton. All rights reserved.