She had willed her heart to stay small and contained, but it wouldn’t be. Oh, well.

She had to have faith not just in trying but in failing. Was she strong enough to fail Was she strong enough not to

She spilled rice on my knee, and she smiled. I wanted her to spill a thousand things on me, lava, acid, bricks, anything, and smile each time

But it was smell that carried memory.

It was their mothers, long ago. Tibby noted with joy that all four of them were wearing jeans.

She realized all at once the deeper thing that bothered her, the thing that made him not just irritating but intolerable: how he kept loving her blindly when she deserved it so little.

But will he come I just want to know what you think the odds are. Tell me what you really think." "I think Tibby was a wise girl. I think she loved you.