Mistakes We Never Made (Mistakes We Never Made, #1)

by Hannah Brown

“She made me a dad, you know.” He says it so matter-of-factly. As if all fathers take one look at their baby girl and are instantly and irrevocably wrapped around their finger,

Grief may be a heavier burden to carry, but I don’t think it poisons you quite the same way that bitterness does.

I just want someone to take care of me the way I take care of everyone else.

It was indecent that men were allowed to walk around with their forearms just out in the open.

was struck by an unpleasantly familiar feeling. That gut-punching grief of watching a car drive away with someone I love inside of it, knowing they weren’t coming back.

“He’s like… he’s like the ocean. The feelings are just as powerful, but they’re steadier—like the tide, rolling in and out. Sometimes it feels like he’s the only one who can weather all my storms.”

“It’s not a two-way street,” Finn says. “Parents have to love their kids. Kids get to choose if they love their parents.”

My need to fix everything isn’t just about being responsible or looking out for my friends. It’s about trying to protect my own heart. To hold the shattered pieces of myself together by whatever means necessary. Because when there’s one massive thing in your life that you have zero control over—like when a parent abandons you—then you look for stability where you can get

I don’t want to hold on so tightly to the things that hurt me anymore. I

Like all I ever had to do was ask, and I could have everything I ever wanted.