The Summer We Fell (The Summer #1)

by Elizabeth O'Roark

I thought I could save you if I came here this summer, but even if someone opens the cage, you’ve got to be willing to fly away, too, Jules.”

“I thought I was going to die, and the only thing that mattered, the only thing I wanted, was you,” he says against my mouth. “You were all I fucking thought about.”

“That’s what this house is for. For all the children who are certain they are bad and unlovable. So that they can find the good that’s been in them all along.”

“You’re the bird,” he says softly, his fingers brushing my mouth. “You’re something wild and magnificent, and he has no idea how to take care of you, so he spends all his time making sure your cage is secure because he has no idea what else to do. And that’s why this kills me, Juliet. Because I think I do know how to take care of you, and I want to take his place so bad that it fucking hurts to look at you sometimes.”

“Juliet, I’ll wait for you forever. But if you leave it up to other people, that’s exactly how long it will take.”