We Never Asked For Wings Quotes
"Everything is going to be fine, he told himself. Everything is going to be just fine."
"They didn’t have any friends; Luna did not look convinced."
"He was too skinny, for one, and his nose had grown before the rest of his face."
"But every once in a while it hit him. Where was civilization?"
"It was different now; now, it was the only place he could breathe."
"She loved her children. It was there, under the fear, under the avoidance: a love lit with awe, so bright it hurt to look."
"She doubted there was anyone close enough to hear her scream."
"It felt like an eternity since Maria Elena had been in the car beside her, not a single night."
"If it was fear, good, it would keep her awake, and if it was hunger, too bad."
"The clock on the dash read 2:00 A.M. It felt like she’d been driving forever."
"I’m coming, she wanted to scream, but she also wanted to give up, to curl up, to go to sleep."
"It’s better with them gone, though. My grandpa’s protective of his feathers."
"Migrating birds reorient themselves at sunset. The exact reason is unknown, but at twilight, just when the sun drops beyond the horizon line, birds flying in the wrong direction correct their flight paths all at once."
"I don’t want to go. Really. But we have to eat. If I don’t work, we don’t eat."
"You’ll understand when you’re older, Letty wanted to yell back, but maybe she wouldn’t, because Letty could barely understand herself."
"Blood beat in her temples. She couldn’t imagine how Luna was keeping up on her tiny, thin legs, but every time Letty glanced back there she was, gravel flying behind her in a wild spray."
"What are we going to do?" Letty wailed desperately, idiotically, as if she were the bleeding six-year-old splayed across the road and not the mother standing over her."
"Luna didn’t answer. Her eyes were shut tight, and she sucked in her lower lip, snot and silent tears running down her face."
"Luna hobbled, and then jogged, and then ran."
"Every street in Mission Hills was named after a tree, and he passed them one at a time as he worked his way toward Sara’s condo: Sycamore, Ash, Cherry, Elm."
"At the far end of the porch, a wooden swing hung from the eaves. He walked over and reached out, setting it gently in motion."
"Yes! A voice in Alex’s head screamed. Please. Help us."
"They were afraid to be together, but they were afraid to be apart too."
"I’ll never leave you, Letty wanted to say, but she’d given up her right to ever say that again when she left them sleeping in their beds and drove to Mexico."
"I am not fine!" she screamed, a spectacle that caused the entire hallway to stop and stare."
"You’re the worst mom ever," she whispered into the sudden silence. "My nana would buy me a coloring book. I want my nana."
"So do I," Letty spit, to which Luna began to cry again, and the crowd turned in on itself, chatting loudly about nothing, trying not to watch."
"But as long as they’re making money, they don’t care."
"Alex Riley, he wrote slowly, trying to call up an image of the boy he’d be if his father had stayed, if he’d given him his name and his home and his family and his love. But nothing came to mind. Alex Riley simply didn’t exist."
"If you don’t feel it, fake it. Pretend to love it, hard, and one day you’ll start to love it for real and you won’t notice the day you stopped pretending."
"She laughed. 'It’s no use. You’ll never be normal.'"
"I don’t have bad credit. I just don’t have any credit."
"With his thumb he popped a miniature bottle of prosecco and filled both glasses halfway."
"It’s worth it, then. You’re doing the right thing."
"I wouldn’t have ever forgiven myself if you got fired for being drunk on the job."
"All the happiness without the impaired judgment."
"He’s testing my passion. Seeing what I’m willing to sacrifice."
"I’m it. All of my parents’ disappointments, rolled up into one neat little package."
"So you don’t talk anymore? Oh, no, we talk all the time. He’s my father, and we love each other. This is just a test."
"Who in their right mind would ever let this melt?"
"Thank you for enlightening me on the virtues of the McDonald’s sundae."
"You work nights. At least you make decent money."
"I still know everyone in the kitchen. I go to the back door and they’ll make me anything I want. I’m like that dog in Lady and the Tramp."
"There is no possible way you like them like that."
"You have no idea what it was like. I did the best I could."
"I’m glad you did. But I hope you aren’t aiming for a career in the CIA. You aren’t exactly the picture of stealth."
"Why would you ever want to be with someone miserable?"
"I’m not trying to be mean. I’m just trying to look out for you."
"You can’t just show up one day and decide to be a mom."
"It’s not like I can just take my son out to dinner and then drop him off and go back to my life. This changes everything."
"Talk to Alex. If you want to be a father, ask him if he wants one. He’ll tell you the truth."
"I don’t know what you should do. Really. If I did I would tell you."
"No, no, I’m not worried," she said. "He’s a good guy."
"It wasn’t how his grandmother had raised him."
"I haven’t thought about it. Maybe I’ll have a party here."
"I guess so. When I told Alex I’d pick him up on Saturday he didn’t mention he’d be posted in front of a pile of boxes."
"You left my birds," she corrected. "But Alex took your feathers."
"You know she doesn’t like you out in the world alone, and now she can reach you."
"It wasn’t your decision to make. And there’s no going back now, not ever."
"I don’t want to spend the rest of my life mad at you—I really don’t. But I can’t sit at your kitchen table and have a drink and make small talk. I’m not over what you did, Letty. Honestly, I don’t know if I ever will be."
"It has to work out," Alex said as they started back across the quad. "I don’t want someone else running my experiment."
"I told you!" Wes said. "I knew there was no way you’d want to hang out with your dad on a Saturday night."
"I'm not breaking up with you, I'm saving you."
"But you aren’t capable of talking and touching at the same time."
"They were quiet as Yesenia pulled out the file folders and arranged them on the bed."
"So you could figure out where the birds are migrating. See if it’s really true, what they are saying."
"Nana and Grandpa love you," Letty told her. "And they miss you."
"Merry Christmas," she said to Wes, exhaling heavily and handing him a drink.
"Thank you for having us," Yesenia translated. "It's really nice to meet you."
"You made this?" Sara's expression was disbelieving.
"To our hostess," Rick said, "for a beautiful meal."
"Me neither." Letty shuddered and closed the door.
"What am I doing here, Letty?" he asked quietly.
"Maybe we should try," he said quietly. "Maybe it's the best thing—for all of us."
"Last kiss," Yesenia said. "At school I'm your cousin, remember?"
"Not nervous." She smiled and squeezed his hand, then let it go quickly, remembering. "Just happy."
"You can share my locker," he said. "And I'll carry your books."
"It doesn’t matter. You broke in with the intention to commit another crime. So it still counts as burglary."
"Stop it," Alex said. The harshness in his voice pulled her back to sitting.
"Avoiding his father’s eyes, Alex tucked in the too-small white shirt he hadn’t worn since the last day of eighth grade and ducked around his embrace, sinking into the backseat of Wes’s car."
"Sadness lodged in his throat as he imagined all the other kids in the classroom, hard at work on their projects without him."
"How could Mr. Everett do this to him? He’d rather be homeschooled and continue to work on his project than withdraw. It was the only thing left for him to care about."
"Alex wiped his face, embarrassed. He knew he was overreacting. But it wasn’t just the science project; it was everything."
"Alex accepted the folded sheet of paper and opened it slowly. It was a letter from the board of the state science fair... _Alex Espinosa, lead scientist—_Alex’s heart skipped a beat at the title he’d been given."
"All the work, all the hours with his father—Alex felt a wave of guilt and sadness, for letting him down."
"Her life had been taken away too, and long before she’d started."
"Alex would have a clean criminal record. Sitting in the early-afternoon sunlight, she felt a flood of relief."
"Now get over it. Buck up and fix it, and if you can’t fix it, keep going anyway. It’s the only way to live."
"I don’t understand how this could be happening," he moaned softly. "It isn’t right."
"The truth is, it isn’t supposed to happen like this."
"I know this must be terrifying. But ORR isn’t an enforcement agency. They won’t come after you."
"She’s home," he said simply, and maybe he remembered his grandmother’s words too, because he added, so quietly Letty almost couldn’t hear: "Wherever she is, she’s home."