“You can't be together, which is exactly why you want to be.”

“You and Wes," she said, triumphant, "are just likethis ."She was holding a book, a paperback romance. The title, emblazoned in gold across the cover, wasForbidden, and the picture beneath it was of a man in a pirate outfit, eye patch and all, clutching a small, extremelybusty woman to his chest. In the background, there was a deserted island surrounded by blue water."We're pirates?" I said.She tapped the book with one fingernail. "This story," she said, "is all about two people who can't be togetherbecause of other circumstances. But secretly, they pine and lust for each other constantly, the very fact thattheir love is forbidden fueling their shared passion.""Did you just make that up?""No," she said, flipping the book over to read the back cover. "It's right here! And it's totally you and Wes.You can't be together, which is exactly why you want to be. And why you can't admit it to us, because thatwould make it less secret and thus less passionate.”

“Wes wants to be with Macy. And Macy, whether she'll admit it or not, wants to be with Wes. And yet they're not together, which is not only unjust, but when you think about it, tragical!”

“...You can't unlearn something, even if you want to. You know what you know.”

“If something doesn't work exactly right, or maybe needs some special treatment, you don't just throw it away. Everything can't be fully operational all the time. Sometimes, we need to have the patience to give something the little nudge it needs.”

“Maybe if I'd agreed to do the debutante thing like she wanted. Or taken up pageants instead of riding jump bikes with a bunch of grungy boys. I'd always tell her, why can't I do both? Who says you have to be either smart or pretty, or into girly stuff or sports? Life shouldn't be about the either/or. We're capable of more than that, you know?”

“This is exactly what i wanted, as commitments had never really been my thing. And it wasn't like it was hard, either. The only trick was never giving more than you were willing to lose.”