"Gabriel had actually brought this tree from Riverside eight years ago. It was a navel orange tree, maybe the descendant of the original trees first brought to California from Brazil in 1873 and planted by L.C. Tibbets. This was the sort of historic detail Gabriel liked. Bringing an orange tree...from Riverside, California to his place near Mazatlan was a significant act of some sort. Gabriel had taken some pains to plant the tree as a marker—to mark the Tropic of Cancer" (Chapter 1, pg. 11.)

"She had started dating Gabriel because he was Latino, part of that hot colorful race, only to find out that, except for maybe his interest in tango (and even that was academic), he wasn't what you call the stereotype. But that was back in college (the things you learn in college); since then, they had been on again/off again" (Chapter 3, pg...