“Oh my God," Maddie whispered, horrified. "I rented him that boat. Does that make me a murderer?"Tara's heart clutched. "He's not dead yet.""Hurry," Maddie called to Ford. "I can't be the one who killed Tara's ex!" I look terrible in orange!”

“I wanna know Maddy Walker. The real one. The one who stole my heart.”

“mad maddie: I GOT ACCEPTED TO SANTA CRUZ!!!!SnowAngel: omg!!!zoegirl: maddie!!!! yay!!!!!mad maddie: i know! it's incredible!SnowAngel: *squeals and hugs sweet maddie*SnowAngel: tell us every single detail!!!mad maddie: well, i got home from school and saw this big thick envelope on the kitchen counter, with "Santa Cruz Admissions Office" as the return address. i got really fidgety and just started screaming, right there in the house. no one was there but me, so i could be as loud as i wanted.zoegirl: omg!!!mad maddie: i took a deep breath and tried to calm down, but my hands were shaking. i opened the envelope and pulled out a folder that said, "Welcome to Santa Cruz!" inside was a letter that said, "Dear Madigan. You're in!"mad maddie: isn't that cool? i LOVE that, that instead of being all prissy and formal, they're like, "you're in! yahootie!"SnowAngel: oh maddie, i am sooooo happy for u!mad maddie: i ran out to my car all jumping and hopping around and drove to ian's, cuz i knew neither of u would be home yet. i showed him my letter and he hugged me really hard and lifted me into the air. it was AWESOME.zoegirl: i'm so proud of u, maddie!SnowAngel: me 2!”

“I don’t want to scare the guests with a big old guard dog,” Tara protested.“Safety is far more important than worrying about what anyone else thinks,” Sawyer told her.“You’re right, of course.” Tara looked at her sisters. “We’ll think about both an alarm and a dog.”“We can borrow Izzy from Jax,” Maddie said.“Sure,” Tara said. “And she can lick the next bad guy to death.”

“Where did that flashlight come from?" Chloe asked. "My purse."Chloe looked at Tara. "She carries a flashlight in her purse.""For emergencies," Maddie said, trying to see into the yard."You have any chocolate?" Chloe asked hopefully. "For emergencies?""Of course. Side Pocket, next to the fork.”

“While I was drying off Maddie after her bath tonight, she said, 'I love you' to me for the first time. It sounded like 'All lub boo,' but I didn't care. To reciprocate, I showed her what an ex-Marine looks like when he cries.”