Quotes from Jess Lourey

I enjoyed my own company enough that I didn't feel the need to socialize with people who exhausted me.

Yeah," I said, nursing the milkshake I'd brought outside. The cup was still half-full, moisture beading across the wax coating. It tasted artificial, like someone had asked God to turn the color pink into food.

He was hunched in front of the soda fountain, filling his plastic cup with a suicide, a little bit of every flavor.

She slid the chef's knife from the storage block, the whisk of metal leaving wood a crisp note slicing through the humid air.

Good women keep their homes clean, and good neighbors mind their own business, honey

Well, here's something you should know: heroes are willing to pause their own lives to help you.

It reminded me I could go anywhere when I got older, explore bottomless blue-green oceans, climb icy snow-capped mountains, drink tea with monks.

My mind wandered as I went through the motions of Catholic mass, kneeling, praying, and also with you–ing.

listen without telling you to appreciate the attention? Be happy. The guy likes you. "You don't want to burn it all up

She laughed again. It sounded like a string of empty metal cans clattering in the wind.

But Gloria kept her eyes trained on me, kept gripping my face. "You'll recognize those men, the ones inclined to their dark side, because they'll expect you to carry their load. They'll smother your anger with their pain, they'll make you doubt yourself, and they'll tell you they love you the whole time. Some do it big, like Ed, but most do it in quiet steps, like your father.

That terrible awareness that life could twist on you in a blink wasn't something a person could forget.

Didn't say," Mr. Sullivan said, pretending the deep-fryer knobs needed fiddling with. "I'm really sorry about what happened to your friends.

The truth is there's always a hidden world under the one we initially perceive, but grasping its nature can be inconvenient, unsettling even dangerous.

Belief is a powerful lens; it can shape the world world to it.

the problem wasn't the person who made the mistake; it was the person who acknowledged the truth.

Girls who land broken are easy prey.

Sephie finding three boys picking on me on the playground and pushing them down, fierce as an Amazon.

bind in spite of secrets and

For the love of Betsy, who talks like that? No wonder we were at the loser table.

The boy who was attacked could turn queer now, too. Did you ever think of that?" That sent a thrill of terror through me. Was that sort of thing contagious?

Their four blond boys were indistinguishable except for height: John, Kyle, Kevin, and Junior. The oldest was five, and having them so close together meant their mom couldn't laugh too hard anymore or she'd accidentally pee. (She'd told me on the uncomfortable ride home.)

Dandelions were known as the elixir of life. Every part of them was edible—flower, stem, leaf, and root—and they were one of the most nutritional plants known to humans, containing fiber, protein, antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals. Although dandelion tea was good for nearly everything that ailed you, the most powerful benefit of dandelions was that if properly processed, their leaf and root extract fought the growth of cancer cells.

He was putting on a show for us, that much was clear, but why were we all watching it?