“My mother and Joe have a lovers' shorthand, an economy of gestures that comes when you are close enough to someone to speak their language. I wonder if my mother and father ever had that, or if my mother was always just trying to decipher him.”

“There are times, Sember, when I could believe your mother had a secret lover. Looking at you makes me wonder if it was one of my goats.”

“I wanted to give him what I never had. What my father took away when he decided I wasn't worth it. What my mother tried to give me, but couldn't do on her own. What Gio's mother didn't even try to give him. Hope. - Javier”

“When I was little I would always stand in front of a mirror and cross my eyes. Then my mother would come in and say, "Stop that, nothing will ever come of it!”

“When my mother died, my father's early widowhood gave him social cachet he would not have had if they had divorced. He was a bigger catch for the sorrow attached.”

“My father has always broken the rules for those he loves, just as my mother has always kept them for the same reason. [...] 'We can't give you the life you want,' my father says, his eyes wet. He looks at my mother and she nods at him to continue. 'We wish we could. But we can help you have a chance to decide which life you want.”