“I had nothing to fear from my father. Except his disappointment. Which was no small thing.”

Choices are easy when you have nothing to lose.

I can’t spend the rest of my life competing for your attention and coming in last.

Wolves go after a wounded deer, it is the nature of the beast.

If you want to disappear, Emily, you can do it most anywhere.

Rain didn’t make things messy. People did that all on their own.

You kids were all in college, and I suddenly saw that I was stuck alone with a man who, all those years later, was still wanting me to be someone I wasn’t.

What she did have, after raising two children, was the equivalent of a PhD in mothering and my undying respect.