Just for the Summer (Part of Your World, #3)

by Abby Jimenez

“Unhealed trauma is a crack. And all the little hard things that trickle into it that would have rolled off someone else, settle. Then when life gets cold, that crack gets bigger, longer, deeper. It makes new breaks. You don’t know how broken she was or what she was trying to do to fill those cracks. Being broken is not an excuse for bad behavior, you still have to make good choices and do the right thing. But it can be the reason. And sometimes understanding the reason can be what helps you heal.”

“If you can choose anger or empathy, always choose empathy,

This nightmare was everyone’s. An atomic bomb. It affected anyone close enough to be in the blast zone.

because of it or in spite of it.

“You’re not asking too much,” he said. “You were just asking the wrong person.

I’m really sorry if my leaving hurt you. The last thing I wanted was for you to feel abandoned. I know what that’s like.” “I didn’t feel abandoned,” she said, looking me in the eye. “’Cause I knew if I ever called you, you’d come.”

Even small, I was better than she was.