It feels like forever, like he's lived through the same things as me, like our lives ran parallel for years until last week, when they finally intersected and fused.

— Barbara Delinsky

It's like you get started in one direction and pick up speed, and you may forget where you're going and why, but the momentum takes you there anyway. Only, you find out when you arrive that it isn't where you wanted to be.

— Barbara Delinsky

June would always be Charlotte's favorite month on Quinnipeague. She loved the frothy roil of the sea as it recovered from a day of rain, and in those early mornings, before the fog lifted and sun warmed the island, there was nothing, nothing better than a wood fire, wool socks, and hot chocolate made from scratch.

— Barbara Delinsky

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

— Barbara Delinsky

She thought about this. She had analyzed it in depth. When you live alone, travel alone, exist solely on the outskirts of other people's lives, you do have time to wonder why what you want most in life is out of reach. You also have the time to tell yourself that you don't want it at all, though whether you can ever be completely convinced is something else.

— Barbara Delinsky

So, is it harder to dream about what you don't have than to live in fear of losing what you do?

— Barbara Delinsky

Some women are born with an instinct for knowing how things work—and what to do when they break.

— Barbara Delinsky

So where does that leave me? I like hosting the show.... It’s become my identity. If that’s gone, where am I?

— Barbara Delinsky

The important part of growing older was the growing part. Resisting change meant forever standing still, which was a sad way to live.

— Barbara Delinsky

The question was whether James would love me if I was someone else.

— Barbara Delinsky