“Success would come only at the expense of losing her cool, at the risk of turning intosomeone she did not want to be.”

“Envy comes from wanting something that isn't yours, but grief comes from losing something you've already had.”

“Envy, after all, comes from wanting something that isn't yours. But grief comes from losing something you've already had.”

“Being a good mother, it seemed to me, meant you ran the risk of losing your child.”

“she didn't need anyone. At Wheeler, even when she stood out with her pink hair and quilter army-surplus jacket and combat bots, she did this without apology. It was a great irony that the very fact of a relationship with her would diminish her appeal, that the moment she came to love me back and depend on me as much as I depended on her, she would no longer be a truly independent spirit. No way in hell was I going to be the one to take that quality away from her.”

“She felt a cage coming down around her; too late she realized that he had her trapped by the heart. And like any unwilling animal that was well and truly caught, she could escape only by leaving a piece of herself behind.”

“His biggest fear was that if and when he did find his missing daughter, she would no longer recognize who he had become in order to save her.”