“Healing wasn’t always the best thing. Sometimes a hole was better left open. Sometimes it healed too thick and too well and left separate pieces fused and incompetent. And it was harder to reopen after that.”

“I sometimes think the stronger you feel about someone, the harder it is to picture their face when you are away from them.”

“Sometimes broken things heal crooked. The pieces didn’t fit anymore.”

“There are moments in your life when the big pieces slide and shift. Sometimes the big changes dong happen gradually but all at once. That's how it was for us. That was the day we discovered that friends can do things for you that your parents can't.”

“She'd put the envelope Tibby had left for her unopened in her underwear drawer. At first it was so she would see it there, and then she tried to cover it so she wouldn't see it there, but it turned out her underwear was too flimsy to cover anything.”

“I guess I was better at loving then, too, and also better at being loved — the two go together.”

“Maybe, sometimes, it's easier to be mad at the people you trust because you know they'll always love you, no matter what.”