“I wish I would have been there for you.” He finally found his voice. “I wish I would have been there to beat up all the children who bullied you, to shoot your father dead the first time he broke one of your bones. I wish I would have been there to sweep you out of town and save you from the horrors you went through.”Her eyes widened in surprise and then immediately narrowed as she shook her head. “I didn’t need to have a hero in my life, Mark. I needed to figure out how to be my own hero. I took the easy way out. I allowed small-town people to label me and then I did my very best to live up to the label they’d provided. It’s taken me thirty-seven years to realize I don’t need a hero. I’m all I need and I’m strong enough to build the rest of my life alone.”

“You know what I wish? I wish I could put time in a bottle and throw it into the ocean. Then I would have forever to spend with you. I wouldn’t need air to breathe or food to eat. Holding you in my arms would be all the food I would need. Having your love would be the only air I would need to breathe.”

“Leonard Woolf: If I didn't know you better I'd call this ingratitude. Virginia Woolf: I am ungrateful? You call ME ungrateful? My life has been stolen from me. I'm living in a town I have no wish to live in... I'm living a life I have no wish to live... How did this happen?”

“I needed my daughter to disappear from my sight. If I could have had a wish, I would have wished her away.”

“Mrs. Vader shook her head as she picked up a sponge and wiped the counter. “Lori, you need to watch out around these boys.”I was still miffed at her for implying I didn’t have a mind of my own. “Maybe they need to watch out around me.” I had thought this for a while, but I never said it outloud. When I saw the look on Mrs. Vader’s face, I wished I could take it back. “Maybe they do!” Her voice was shrill.”

“Tell me why, Been. Why would you trick us in the first place?" Ben stopped pacing. Looked directly at me. "Don't you know?'I shook my head,confused."To impress you, Victoria Brennan." His voice cracked. "I wanted you to think that I was special."The words rocked me.Oh, Ben."He'd started this madness... for me?'You were spending all that time with Jason," Ben said softly, staring at his shoes. "skipping around town with your new perfect guy. Cotillion this. fund-raiser that. I hated it. Hated him. When I finally told Rome, he said that I needed to amaze you. Said I needed to figure out a way to make you see me.”