How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
And back in Wescott, another awesome girl sat texting or calling, wondering why on earth her boyfriend, the one who was so charming but just couldn't commit, wasn't returning her calls or messages. Maybe he was in the shower. Or forgot his phone again. Or maybe he was sitting in a restaurant in a town hundreds of miles away with his daughter, about to start their lives all over again. (1.21)
Ouch—Gus Sweet may be popular with the ladies, but that doesn't mean he's a particularly good boyfriend. Even Mclean knows that he's a hit-it-and-quit-it kind of guy.
Quote #2
Even all this time later, it still seemed impossible that she'd done it, the very act and fact still capable of unexpectedly knocking the wind out of me at random moments. (1.37)
Mclean puts on this tough girl act, like she doesn't care about what her mom did, but she's really hurt by the whole divorce. In fact, she avoids talking to her mom because she doesn't want to deal with all those icky feelings.
Quote #3
When she left my dad for Peter, I honestly could not believe it was happening, even as I witnessed the debris—snickers in the hallways at school, her moving out, the sudden, heavy fatigue in my dad's features—all around me. (2.4)
Her mom acts like everything is fine and dandy now, but Mclean knows otherwise. After the divorce, she had to deal with feelings of abandonment and the fact that everyone was talking about the awful thing her mom did.
Quote #4
Now, though, like everything else was since the divorce, the beach would be different. And the truth was, those weekends, spontaneous and shabby, were some of the best times I'd had with my mom before everything fell apart. (4.93)
By leaving Mclean and her dad for another man, Mclean's mom has pretty much tainted all their good memories. Even all those lovely beach trips are forever screwed up in Mclean's mind—especially if her mom insists on dragging her out for more of them.
Quote #5
I must have seemed like a stranger to her, I realized, when she saw me like this. In a town she didn't know, with people she'd never met, and both of us wading through this limbo world between what we'd been and what we might be. (7.107)
How weird is it that Mclean's mom pretty much knows nothing about her daughter's new life? She has no idea who her friends are, or what she likes to do at school—and that's all because their family has been torn apart.
Quote #6
"Sure," I said. "When you move a lot, you don't have a lot of entanglements. There's not really time to get all caught up in things. It's simpler." (8.265)
Boy, Mclean's not the best when it comes to flirting with a boy that she likes. She tries to scare Dave off with her whole I-don't-do-entanglements party line, but he's persistent.
Quote #7
"He didn't take me away." My voice was rising now. She'd fumbled around, poking and prodding, and now she'd found it, that one button that could not be unpushed. I'd changed? Please. "That was my choice. You made choices, too. Remember?" (9.43)
The truth comes out: Mclean's not avoiding her mom because she's a moody, mean teenager, she's avoiding her because she's still hurt and upset about her mom walking out on their family. That seems like a reasonable excuse to hold a grudge.
Quote #8
"Why can't she just leave me alone?" My voice was breaking now, the tears audible if not visible yet. "Jesus. Hasn't she gotten enough?" (10.74)
Mclean's mom has already walked out on their family—and as far as Mclean's concerned, she should just leave them alone for good. She's betrayed them, so why does she keep trying to come around and hang out with Mclean?
Quote #9
All that was clear was that everything, including me, suddenly felt wholly temporary. I looked down at the model again. There, the entire world was simple in miniature, clean and orderly, if only because there were none of us, no people, there to complicate things. (12.111)
Just when Mclean is starting to get her bearings in a place, her dad goes ahead and insinuates that they might be moving again. She doesn't want to be the one to pick up and leave this time, though.
Quote #10
"But I get the feeling you're in a hurry, leaving and all, so I figured I should cut to the chase." (13.93)
Even though Dave knows that Mclean's got a cut-and-run kind of tendency when it comes to relationships and entanglements, he takes his chances and asks her out anyway. After all, there's no time like the present.