Different people were good at different things, Lena mused. Lena was good at writing thank-you notes, for instance, and Effie was good at being happy.

She'd loved him as much as he'd let her. More than he'd let her.

She kept walking. The very small, brave part of her brain knew that this would be her one chance. If she turned around, she would lose it.

You just have to let people love you in the way they can

All I could think to do was love her. That's all a person can do.

People sometimes talk about the power of first impressions, and believe me, there is truth to it.

Honesty was a tough customer... Once you started allowing yourself some honesty, it couldn't easily be contained or limited to one part of your life. It was like poison ivy or a bossy houseguest. Once it was there, you couldn't tell it what to do. You had to really fight to keep it from taking over.