“What I longed for was a home where nothing shifted beneath my feet, where steadiness replaced uncertainty like the desert at dusk. A place unburdened by expectations I might never meet, where acceptance came without condition, and love endured even in the driest seasons.”

“That single night with George divided my life into a before and after.”

“I didn’t know if I was allowed to choose love, to choose him, to choose myself.”

“Money did grow on trees, apparently, just not in orchards that bore fruit for me.”