Laura Miller, Butterfly Weeds

“Here, Fridays were dedicated to the two Bs–Beach and Boats.”

“His voice had this thick, Charleston accent, where every word had more syllables than ever intended, yet each word seemed as if it had been carefully chosen and presented in a way that only a man born and raised in the heart of the South could–distinguished and from a different time.”

“She always used to say that the past is a relentless parasite in its quest, feeding off of the senses, looking for anything that will trigger a memory–forever there to complicate the present, forever there to remind us that it will always be a piece of us. I never had a clue as to what she meant, until now.”

“The past is a very determined ghost, haunting every chance it gets.”

“Big events, small, mundane moments of the day–it doesn’t matter; the past will find a way to squeeze into the present–if you let it.”

“Every small town that I had ever been to had had a caboose.”

“A faint smell of lilac filled the air. There was always lilac in this part of town. Where there were grandmothers, there was always lilac.”

“More than every once in awhile,More than most dreams,More than just my heart,More than anything,More than you know,And more than I can say,I’ve loved you moreEvery passing day”

“How does the story really go?Does she ever cross your mind?Does she ever steal your nights?Is she still a part of you?Do you ever wish she were still by your side?And what would you do?If she walked up here tomorrow And told you that she loved you?Would you drop it all and run to her?Would you tell her you love her too?Or would you simply send her home?And tell her you’ve moved on?Tell me, Buddy, what would you do?”

“Tell me you’ve seen the world.Now, you’ve come back homeTell me you’ve carried me with you,That you’ve held me close.Tell me you’ve missed meOr that I’m not crazy for waiting causeOf all the butterflies that chose to stay,I’m in love with the one that got away”

“You’re much too beautiful for tears.”

“These days, though, he was as unpredictable as an alley cat. One minute, he’s purring on your lap. The next, he’s scowling at you from the window sill, and you’re left wondering if he’s plotting your demise over there, just waiting for you to fall asleep. That’s Will.”

“I could hear the crickets and tree frogs starting their night song in the small, wooded area behind us. A faint smell of lilac filled the air. There was always lilac in this part of town. Where there were grandmothers, there was always lilac.”

“The levee had always been my beach, the world beyond it, my ocean. That’s as close as it got here, anyway. No waves, no dolphins, no white sand, no sea gulls. If you were lucky enough, though, every once in a while you did get to see a crane, or a beaver.”

“A freshly red-painted train caboose had, for decades now, made its home on a green, little patch of the world outside of the one-room post office. Every small town that I had ever been to had had a caboose.”

“At times, the road will be hard, the days will be long, and the journey you’ve traveled won’t feel like a song. But know that I’ll always love you, and with love, all is certain.”

“The past will find a way to squeeze into the present–if you let it.”

“You are my love of loves, my dream of dreams, my hope of hopes...and I would take the journey all over again because it led me to you, because it’s our story–the story of us.”

“I just want her to know that she's still beautiful, after all these years, and that I'm here - always,”

“But no, Sir, to answer your question. I'm taken, and I have been since I was sixteen," Will confessed”

“I’ll love you until the last petal falls, Jules.”

“Life didn’t go how I had planned, but I couldn’t have planned a better life. Somewhere in between the beginning and eternity, I fought the war that we all must fight–the journey that in taking, forces us to come face to face with our own realities.”

“Don’t count him out, Julia. He hasn’t given up on you.”

“Somewhere in between the beginning and eternity, I fought the war that we all must fight–the journey that in taking, forces us to come face to face with our own realities.”

“I had found him again, and with him, my world had become completely unwound. It was messy and impulsive, naïve and irrational, and somehow, right again.”

“Perfect love was that kind of love that made no sense but made everything else make sense somehow. It was raw and unscripted, turbulent and slightly unpredictable.”

“There is a perfect someone, even if the road to that someone isn’t all that perfect.”

“Dreams would always end with you, and then mornings would steal you away with a cruelty that haunted my days.”

“I loved you too much to lose you twice.”

“See, I’m in love with the person you can never outrun. I’m in love with you.”

“A smitten smile unexpectedly shot across my face, and I quickly hid it as best I could–purely out of habit. Will Stephens doesn’t get smitten smiles.”

“It was a completely new feeling for me–like someone had just released a million, tiny butterflies loose in my stomach, and they were feverishly flying up into my head and making me lose my mind.”