“I force my eyes upward and look at Mia for the first time. She's still beautiful. Not in an obvious Vanessa LeGrande or Bryn Shraeder kind of way. In a quiet way that's always been devastating to me. Her hair, long and dark, is down now, swimming damply against her bare shoulders, which are still milky white and covered with the constellation of freckles that I used to kiss. The scar on her left shoulder, the one that used to be an angry red weld is silvery pink now. Almost like the latest rage in tattoo accessories. Almost pretty.”

“Sometimes we meet people and are so symbiotic with them, it’s as if we are one person, with one mind, one destiny.”

“Please Mia," he implores. "Don't make me write a song.”

“A journey of a thousand miles starts with just ten digits.”

“Neither sleet nor rain nor a half inch of snow will compel me to dress like a lumberjack.”

“I remember watching it all and getting the tickling in my chest and thinking to myself: This is what happiness feels like.”

“Adam's lips are set in a grime line. I can't tell if he's about to cry or about to punch the guard. For his sake, I hope it's the former. For you own, I hope the latter.”

“For my first recital ever, they gave me a cello. And for this one, they gave me you.”

“But that's the thing with death. The whisper of it descent travels fast and wide, and people must've know I'd become a corpse because nobody even came to view the body.”

“I'll be your mess, you be mineThat was the deal that we had signed”

“You must not waste your one day here. When the sun shines, you let it shine on you. Snow is always waiting.”