Windfall

“It means,” he says, a little impatiently, “that I don’t think you’re breakable. But your heart is.”

it’s not easy, you know? To get the thing you want most in the world in the worst way possible.”

Bad luck exists; I’d be crazy to think otherwise. But what I believe in—what I have to believe in—is randomness. Because to imagine that my parents died as a result of curses or fate or the larger workings of the universe, to imagine it was somehow meant to happen that way—even I don’t think the world is that cruel.

two people who love each other as much as Leo and Max can fall apart so easily, what hope is there for anyone else?

“That’s not nothing,” I say softly, unable to keep from thinking of Teddy. “To love someone and have them love you back.”

what was so easy to avoid last night no longer seems to make sense in the light of day

When you move, it’s like your life gets split in two. So you never really feel at home in either place.

I hate to believe you have to pay for the good things with something bad.

“Well, how can you have so much faith in someone—especially someone who lets you down as much as Teddy—when you have so little faith in the world?”

I nod, but I’m also thinking that nearness can be awful too. Being so close to someone you love without them knowing it. Without them ever returning it.