Beth Harbison

“Well, that's what everyone wants, isn't it? Even these people who go out and have their noses shaved down to pencil erasers, and who get implants, and fillers, and who Botox their faces into immobility, they're all in search of the miracle that's going to make them feel like..." She searched for the word. "Like themselves.”

“No one promised life would be easy or that the game wouldn't change without warning. There you are, all ready to pass Go and collect two hundred dollars, and suddenly Colonel Mustard is trapped in the conservatory, ranting and raving and waving a wrench, and no one knows what exactly a conservatory is or why anyone thought a wrench - of all things - would be a good murder weapon, or what branch of the military Colonel Mustard even served in! Has anyone seen his credentials?”

“I was here, & now, but I was also swimming in the past, living these same motions we'd made so many times before.”

“I wanted to tell him I loved him, that I'd always loved him, & that life-& I- had never been the same without him there.”

“She couldn't have cared less when she got home or if she ever got home. All that mattered was this moment & that this moment continues.”

“God forbid, if something happened & she lost him for good, she would give up anything to have him back. Anything & everything.”

“She would forever remember how warm & secure he made her feel. How could she ever live without that?”

“I wanted sex to feel the way it had felt with him. Wild. Uninhibited. A perfect fit, perfect chemistry.”

“I'd never forgotten him, despite spending half my life trying to forget him. I'd given him everything: my love, my body, my pride, & parts of my heart & mind that I could never get back.”

“She could no longer see herself without him somewhere in her life, & there was no one she could even imagine being her 1st besides him.”

“What they had between them was alot deeper than what most people had.”

“She'd know the smell of him, the taste of him, the feel of him anywhere.”

“Now he would always be part of her. She just didn't know it yet.”

“He was the only person I ever met whose soul I could clearly see in his eyes. And I had more faith in him than I've ever had in another human being.”

“How different would I be, if I'd never met him? Might I have had a normal dating life like my friends did, flitting from one guy to the next, never getting too serious or too invested in one while I was still so young? Who would I be if I hadn't endured the heartbreak of losing him & losing that part of myself that was built around him?”

“That's when I realized that part of me would probably always be lost in the past. That just seemed to be my personality: I was the one who couldn't stand change.”

“I'd rather love you and be alone than love you and be with her or anyone.”

“My life had gone right; it had gone exactly as it needed to in order to bring me here.”

“Standing in the small space, Holly was overwhelmed by memories and a strange protective feeling for the child she'd been”

“She thought about Cheryl’s contention that this was young love, and about how she’d feel if they were ever to break up and she had to look back on this moment as an episode in a life that was full of people she didn’t even know now. The thought made her want to cry.”

“And I could go the rest of my life like this, don't get me wrong. This was reality and I'd certainly learned to adapt to that reality. I didn't love it, I'd never love it, but I lived with it pretty well.”

“I had to work out that he was always going to break my heart as long as I was willing to let him in.”

“Who they are today isn't who they were then.”

“I missed the idea of him more than he himself.”

“And everyone’s story would be different. Every triumph would have a different prize, every heart ache a different face.”

“We can understand the science of what makes a heart beat, but we can never stop it from breaking.”

“I think things ultimately work out the way they're supposed to, even if it's not always the most comfortable, cushy way.”

“Trust that things do work out by themselves sometimes.”

“I think its better to do whatever is going to make you feel the most peaceful and happy. - Shoe Addicts Anonymous”

“Writing is always a solitary experience, but living, if you're lucky, is not.”