Mary

“All the beauty of the stars means nothing when life here on earth is so ugly.”
― Sabaa Tahir, An Ember in the Ashes

“Because it was all you were willing to give me. And I’d rather have you hating me than not have you at all.”
― Elena Armas, The Spanish Love Deception

“As I shut the door and started to walk away, I heard him say, "Hey. Sydney."
"Yeah?"
"You had on a shirt with mushrooms on it, and your hair was pulled back. Silver earrings. Pepperoni slice. No lollipop."
I just looked at him, confused. Layla was walking toward us now.
"The first time you came into Seaside," he said. "You weren't invisible, not to me. Just so you know.”
― Sarah Dessen, Saint Anything

“The calmness of the boy. She’d never known anybody to speak or move so steady. So sure and easy. Just being near him, and not even that close, had eased her tightness. For the first time since Ma and Jodie left, she breathed without pain; felt something other than the hurt. She needed this boat and that boy.”
― Delia Owens, Where the Crawdads Sing