256 Quotes by Jennifer E. Smith

What was she supposed to do, spend Christmas there and Easter here? See her dad every other holiday and one week during the summer, just enough to glimpse his new life in fragments, tiny slivers of a world she had no part in? And all the while missing out on those moments of her mom’s life–her mom, who’d done nothing to deserve to spend Christmas alone?

Perhaps if there were more time, or if time were more malleable; if she could be both places at once, live parallel lives... Because as far as she was concerned, there was no in-between: She wanted all or nothing, illogically, irrationally, even though something inside of her knew that nothing would be too hard, and all was impossible.

We keep thinking there are only these two choices: We either grow apart or grow together. But maybe we can just kind of each grow on our own, and see how it goes. And then later, if it’s right, we’ll come back to each other and start again.

Ellie looked over at him, and her stomach fluttered. They’d only just found each other again. And for the first time in a long time, there was still so much to say.

Maybe growing up was really nothing more than growing away: from your old life, from your old self, from all those things that kept you tethered to your past.

There was something dreamlike about it, with only the grumble of their footsteps and the sound of their breathing, her smaller hand in his, guiding him along. The beach was only a few yards behind them and the road only a few yards ahead, but right here amid the trees, it felt like they were a million miles away from anything.

There’s a formula for how long it takes to get over someone, that it’s half as long as the time you’ve been together.

Maybe they were never meant to have more than just one night. After all, not everything can last. Not everything is supposed to mean something.

I like how you’re neither here nor there. And how there’s nowhere else you’re meant to be while waiting. You’re just sort of suspended.