“They're on a crash course to nowhere. But you, my lady friend, you're a black hole. You've sucked me in, and now there's no escape...”

“The rest of the girls out there are just shooting stars," Simon whispered into my ear. "They're on a crash course to nowhere. But you, my lady friend, you're a black hole. You've sucked me in, and now there's no escape”

“...You have to live inside each beautiful or terrible thing as it happens to you, because the present may be all you've got.”

“Believing is never a waste of time." Simon looked at me intently his eyes flickering. "Even if you're wrong you could have been right. Take me with my painting I don't know if I'm any good. So maybe I shouldn't try because maybe I'd be setting myself up for disappointment. But it's like you looking for old coins on the beach. Whether you find any or not is for bonus points it's the search that counts. It's the belief that they might be out there.”

“If you stay on the sidelines of the here and now then your future will only ever be a pale version of a dream you never had the courage to experience.”

“I've always had a good memory a good head for facts although when something is behind you it changes when you try to capture it in words. The past is slippery that way. I know all about that. And even the present is hard to pin down. You think you know everything that's happening around you. But you can't always see clearly when you're standing right there in the picture.”

“After that, Simon swam naked every night. By the third skinnydippingsession, I secretly peeled off my bikini top while I was inthe water. It was safe. Simon was splashing somewhere ahead ofme. He couldn’t see. It was an amazing feeling. I felt free. Or at least half of me did.And right then that seemed to "t with the person I felt I was onLong Island: half-cautious, half-spontaneous, surprising myselfwith my random behavior, my sudden moves away from who Ithought I was.“So how was it, your half skinny dip?” Simon asked as I wasdrying off.“You were watching me?” I blushed, horrified.“Just a hunch,” he replied. “Feels good though, right?”I hit him with the towel.”