“you want to protect your children, she said. even when they're not children no longer, you still think you can, maybe, make things not hurt so bad. ”

“after a kiss you can find yourself in that deserted place where even if it's not leading to anything, you and the other person have both admitted some thing that tugs at the friendship, pulling it out of shape. ”

“you feel things real strong, leanne, even if you pretend you don't. you're my girl that way. ”

“i was thinking that i'd like to try kissing you, joshua reed said. ”

“to an outsider, it might look like a harsh thing, like inaction of the worst sort or a purposeful forgetting, but when you're the one choosing to look away, you know it's because your heart is simply trying to make it to tomorrow. your heart is scared to death, and it would rather not know than take a chance on being destroyed by the whole truth. ”

“isn't there a point at which the mind should be able to surrender on behalf of the heart? or check it in to an asylum, somewhere safe and locked, if the heart keeps refusing to see a landscape for what it is? yet with some people in life, it seems you just can't lose yourself, even when you should. ”

“no, i don't, i told him. i'm not sure that it matters what you care about. maybe it's the caring itself that matters. ”