but accepting help doesn‟t have to mean giving up control.

And that was it. All this buildup to a great leap, and I didn't fall or fly. Instead I found myself back on the edge of the cliff, blinking, wondering if I'd ever jumped at all. It's not supposed to be like this.

It's always very pure, that last moment before an ugly, unsettling truth hits someone. The most stark of before-and-afters.

How it seemed like you could see everything, but certain things were blocked out, hidden.

But it was too early to know: there were always more pages to go, more words to be written, before the story was over.

Can she be divorced?" I asked. "And famous for her commercials and ideas?" She can be anything," Boo told me, and this is what I remember most, her freckled face so solemn, as if she knew she was the first to tell me. "And so can you.

I mean, to me, freaking out is different. More of a running away, not telling anyone what's wrong, slowly simmering until you burst kind of thing.