“No bikinis on a first date. He nods. Im sure thats a rule. Or should be. For my sisters anyway.”

“I guess I like things that take time and attention. More worthwhile that way.”

“This is Sailor Supergirl, George says. She knows all about black holes.”

“Right. Because if you have trouble putting ketchup and mustard on a hot dog, you should totally move on to saving lives.”

“When I turn back to Jase, hes again beaming at me. Youre nice. He sounds pleased, as if he hadnt expected this aspect of my personality.”

“Jase props himself up on an elbow, looking at me for a minute without saying anything. His face gets an unreadable expression, and I wish I could take back walking over.Then he observes, Im guessin...”

“It took me years to figure out that upset was upset, and tumultuousness was not the same thing as passion. Love isn't drama.”

“I just wanted to tell you that I understand if you go. Its okay if you have to leave us. Its okay if you want to stop fighting.”

“I'd heard of Evergreen Care Center before. Cass and I had always made fun of the stupid ads they ran on TV, featuring some dragged-out woman with a limp perm and big, painted-on circles under her e...”

“I see them standing at the formal gates of their colleges,I see my father strolling outunder the ochre sandstone arch, thered tiles glinting like bentplates of blood behind his head, Isee my mother...”

“We realized that the version of the world they rendered for us was not the world they really believed in...”

“Id never heard my parents make love. If they made love, they did it silently, like bank robbers, like surgeons.”