Book excerpt: With wit and tenderness, the short story collection What They Thought That Love Should Be explores intimate moments in the lives of men and women as they experience love's enigmas, contradictions, and consolations. A woman mourning the death of her husband refuses to part with her husband's remains keeping the urn with his ashes at her side. An art museum curator meets a severely depressed woman and shares with her a new found capacity for affection as they view his museum's art collections. A terminally ill man pivots between memories of a long past trek through Europe with his wife and their final journey together as he faces death. Written with grace and empathy, the collection's captivating stories embrace the possibilities of love as well as its limits.