“Like sisters throughout time, whatever battles raged between them, it was always, always, all four of them against the rest of the world.”

“You made new rules for the people you loved. They weren't subject to the same judgment criteria you reserved for the rest of the world. In some ways you were way easier on them, and in others, much harder.”

“I mean, I’ve always loved her, we’ve been best mates for years. When I started this thing, I thought that maybe, maybe there was something else – the germ of something else that could happen between us. But I don’t think I was entirely serious. It was speculative, you know. But, bloody hell, it’s bitten me in the arse. And now I love her. I think about her all the time. When I’m not with her, I’m just waiting for the next time I can be, and when I am, I’m just really happy. She’s funny, and smart, and.. gorgeous. I love her. Never felt like this before. Want-to-marry-her-and-be-with-her-all-the-rest-of-my-life kind of love her.”

“Why was it that, sometimes, you needed to see people closest to you as others saw them to remember how fantastic they were? Why couldn't you always remember that?”

“all this pain. all this crying. it wasn't that she hadn't expected it. she just underestimated it. it felt like a heavy, dark blanket that had been pulled across all of them. she hadn't know that it would make it difficult to breathe. she hadn't guess that it would seem so enveloping. and so total, and so permanent. ”

“i'm not sure either of them had a great capacity for love, that was all. it's funny - mine feels bottomless. ”

“amanda lifted a large handful of pictures out of the box and dropped them into her lap, flicking through them as they fall. they told a thousand stories, didn't they? the pictures of your life. but they left a lot out, too. ”