“Here I am wanting to tell you I’m sorry again,” she said, smiling a little. “I know I’ve given you a bad afternoon. For ten seconds there I was ready to try and seduce you, I don’t know what it means myself. I”ve never seduced anyone and I’ve never been seduced, but I”ve always liked the word. I thought if I was ever going to find out what it meant it had better be now.”

—Larry McMurtry, The Last Picture Show, Liveright, 2018 (1966)