3 Quotes by Maria Padian

I wish we could start over. I wish we were meeting for the first time. Clean slate.’Haley considers this. It’s such a little-kid term. ‘Do-over!’ they’d shriek on the four-square court. The kickball field. Back when there was no mistake you couldn’t fix, no hurt you couldn’t heal with Band-Aids, hugs, and snacks. She’d love a do-over as well.

The instant the words are out of his mouth, he realizes his mistake. It’s like getting smacked in the back of the head with a snowball: a thud, followed by glass-sharp prickles of dread melting down your neck.

For Carrie, words were volatile, intentional, Molotov cocktails of meaning.