“The great teachers fill you up with hope and shower you with a thousand reasons to embrace all aspects of life. I wanted to follow Mr. Monte around for the rest of my life, learning everything he wished to share of impart, but I didn't know how to ask.”

“Laurel, David? Would you like to share the joke with the rest of the class?" he asked, one hand on his skinny hip."No, sir," David said. "But thank you for asking." The students around them laughed, but Mr. james didn't look pleased. Laurel leaned back and grinned. David, one. Teacher who wishes he was as smart as David? Zero”

“If we all end up as llamas, I’m going to spend the rest of my life following you around saying ‘I told you so’ in llama-ese.”

“This is forever, Maggie. I would follow you into hell if I had to … You are all I want for the rest of my life.”

“I wish I could tell you that reuniting with my birth family fixed everything in my life. It didn't. What it did do was fill a lot of empty spaces in my heart. Just by knowing the facts, the real truth, I have been forced to give up the fantasy and look at it all squarely in the eye.”

“You speak of sacrifice, but it is not my sacrifice I offer. It is yours I ask of you," he went on. "I can offer you my life, but it is a short life; I can offer you my heart, though I have no idea how many more beats it shall sustain. But I love you enough to hope that you wil not care that I am being selfish in trying to make the rest of my life - whatever length - happy, by spending it with you. I want to be married to you, Tessa. I want it more than I have ever wanted anything else in my life." He looked up at her through the veil of silvery hair that fell over his eyes. "That is," he said shyly, "if you love me, too.”