How many times could you give up on someone you loved?

Love didn't necessarily look the way you expected it to.

Wish for what you want, work for what you need. -Carmen's grandmother

No matter how far back you cut a willow tree, it will never really die.

She existed in her friends; there she was. All the parts of herself she'd forgotten. She knew herself best when she was with them.

The most haunting thing was not that he didn't love her anymore. She could have accepted that eventually. The most haunting thing was that he did. He loved her from afar. He loved her in a way that was preserved in time, that couldn't be sullied. And she tended it in her careful, curatorial way.

It was hard to feel the right emotions at the right times. They didn’t come at all when you set a place for them, and they sacked when you weren’t ready, when you were just innocently flossing your teeth, for example, or eating a bowl of cereal.