“My father warned me that you’re an interloper. He told me I should make you leave, since we’re no longer married and… — Lauren DeStefano Copy Share Image
I nod like I'm not at all unnerved by this new cold side to him. Not cruel like his father. Not warm… — Lauren DeStefano Copy Share Image
Life is much different from the days when there were lilies in my mother’s garden, and all my secrets fit into a… — Lauren DeStefano Copy Share Image
Tell me about yourself." "Myself?" He looks confused. "Yes," I say, patting the mattress. "You know all there is to know," he… — Lauren DeStefano Copy Share Image
Do you know what my father used to say?" I ask her. "He used to say that songs had a heart. A… — Lauren DeStefano Copy Share Image
“...our parents' death broke his sense of wonder. My left-brained brother, who once had dreams of saving the world, now laughs at… — Lauren DeStefano Copy Share Image
“PEOPLE USED to be connected to one another all the time. That’s what my parents told me. Everyone had phones and computers.… — Lauren DeStefano Copy Share Image
“I have seen my father concede to utter defeat in the hospital room. I've heard him choke on sobs and whisper angry… — Lauren DeStefano Copy Share Image
“Once upon a time there were two parents, two children, and a brick house with lilies in the yard. The parents died,… — Lauren DeStefano Copy Share Image
“The portrait rattles and goes still. I wonder if the dream would do my mother any good. I wonder if all that… — Lauren DeStefano Copy Share Image
I think humans have always been desperate. I think it has always been about doing something awful if it might help, when… — Lauren DeStefano Copy Share Image
“I watch the perfectly imperfect people several stories below, living their perfectly imperfect lives, and I think about how many decades will have to… — Lauren DeStefano Copy Share Image
You have a way of looking at things. You make it seem as though everything's going to be okay. I can't imagine a more… — Lauren DeStefano Copy Share Image
He says one word, nodding into the daylight. "Look." It's an astounding word. It's a gift. — Lauren DeStefano Copy Share Image
“Rhine: It's okay that you miss her. She was the love of your life. Linden: Not the only love. It feels wrong to think… — Lauren DeStefano Copy Share Image
“She strokes my cheeks with the side of her hand – a repetitive, wispy motion. Like little ghost kisses.” — Lauren DeStefano Copy Share Image
I've done it all before, I tell myself, and I can do it again. Trust is the strongest weapon. — Lauren DeStefano Copy Share Image
“Now isn't the time to be angry with my brother, but I suppose the anger I feel for him never goes away. I cover… — Lauren DeStefano Copy Share Image
I see an ocean that’s spilled out of a wineglass, its body clear and sparkling and folding over itself. I see a ribbon of… — Lauren DeStefano Copy Share Image
Maybe what frightens us about the edge isn't our fear of morality, but the thoughts it leads us to have. — Lauren DeStefano Copy Share Image
“This isn’t living, what all of us are doing. We drive down long, dilapidated back roads.” — Lauren DeStefano Copy Share Image
