“It was lovely meeting you.Tell Ember I said good-bye.""You're welcome here anytime, Princess," Thomas said, and I could actually hear Annali hitting him in the arm as I walked out of the cottage.”

“Oh,my gosh! You're even prettier than Finn said you were!""Ember!" Annali snapped when it appeared that Ember wouldn't stop.I blushed and looked away, unsure of how to respond to her. I understood in theory why it might be exciting to meet a Princess, but I couldn't see anything exciting about meeting me."Sorry," Ember apologized, but it didn't dampen her delight at all. "I've been begging Finn to let me meet you, and he-""Ember, you need to do your schoolwork." Annali wouldn't look at either of us."I came out because I didn't understand it." Ember pointed to her textbook.”

“Farewell,' she said. 'I hope you hear many more songs' - which was the best way she could think of to say good-bye to a butterfly.”

“I guess this is it," Chelsea said. "The beginning of good-bye.”

“I think I missed my window," he said."What window?""My get-a-life window. I think I was supposed to figure all this stuff out somewhere between twenty-two and twenty-six, and now it's too late.""It's not too late," she said. "You're getting a life. You've got a job, you're saving up to move out. You're meeting people. You went to a bar...""And that was a disaster. Actually, everything has been a disaster since I quit school.""You didn't quit school," she said. He could hear her rolling her eyes. "You finished your master's degree. Another master's degree.""Everything has been a disaster since I decided my life as it was wasn't good enough.""It WASN'T good enough," she said."It was good enough for me.""Then why have you been trying so hard to change it?”

“Because I love you.' There. I said it. I can't believe I actually said it. People cast around those words so carelessly. I always cringe whenever I hear kids say it while making out in the hall at school. I love you, babe. I love you, too. Here they're all of sixteen years old and convinced that they've found true love. I always thought I'd have more sense than that, a little more perspective. But here I am, saying it and meaning it.”