“Everything is research.”

“There are no mistakes, only journeys.”

“Courtney leans into Andrea, buries her face in Andrea’s shoulder. Andrea pats her daughter’s back. Courtney blubbers. Courtney sobs. Courtney wails. It is the best thing that has happened in months.”

“Thanks for . . . what you remember. And what you don’t. It’s not nothing. It’s a lot.”

“There is a certain point—she has known this since her father-in-law’s long battle with heart disease—when a person begins to die in earnest. There is a hollowness about them. They begin to retreat. She has seen this, and she knows.”

“If you believe in forever, then life is just a one-night stand.”

“Odd, how in the afterglow of someone else’s life, your own looks so much brighter.”