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Kindle Notes & Highlights
“The people getting off that length of wood look much less wet,” Jade said. Michal groaned, throwing her hands up. “Okay, you have to be doing that on purpose.”
then they did their best to eat them discreetly (which proved difficult given that they’d melted entirely into their packaging, but Nia told herself that as far as anybody else knew, they could be eating any candy, and probably nobody cared anyway)
“Some of us wear bras,” Michal said. “Some of us have A cups and don’t see the point of putting them in a metal cage. It’s not like they need any support.”
real asfffff
If Toni is who she wants, that’s who she should be with,” Nia argued. “I don’t think she’d want Toni if she knew you were an option.”
“This is a good bench.” Nia nods, pushing an almost-laugh through her nose. “I’m partial to the tree.” “I see them as kind of a package deal.”
“You’re not public for me, either,” she says, kicking at a fractured stick on the ground. “I don’t think you ever could be.”
It bounces into Luna’s paw, and she only stirs enough to tuck it under herself.
She hadn’t needed another walk, which Jade knew. But after a while, she got restless enough to try for one, and Luna happily trotted along, sniffing to her heart’s content.
The person on the other end of the semi-broken speaker seems baffled by this choice, and there’s a back-and-forth of “just quesadillas, ma’am?” and “yes, please” and “no other sides? Just the quesadillas?” and “yes, please” and “so, four quesadillas?” and “yes, please” while Jonah tries not to pee himself laughing in the backseat.
“It’s a side!” she says again, laughing. “I will drawl and y’all forever for this.”
Jade and Jonah’s dad insisting on the long form of Kiddush even though nobody really wanted to sit through it,
and Jonah saying hamotzi and cutting into their mother’s wonky but delicious challah
Dr. Sandoval had said she should be able to make it to Rosh Hashanah (Jade suspected that she’d actually said late September, but Michal had relayed the information that way to lean into the Jewish mysticism of it all).
july 1
omg i hope it goes to my bday! unfortunately it did not 💔
Of course, they’re going home tomorrow.
but my birthday!!!
And I make pottery,
i wanna know how she supports herself!!! is she doing a pottery paint place?? or classes?? she can’t just be selling it, can she
Jonah smirks. “It’s a throwback to 2000s music theme night.” “You should’ve led with that!” Jade says, laughing.
“Lie down then,”
is this that eyeliner meme. is that what we’re doing right now. oh my god!
Andrew (two necklaces)
And then she gets caught between her desire to honor all parts of herself and a deep fear of being one of those mixed people who goes on about how they’re actually 1/42nd blah blah blah to monoracial people of color as if it’s a badge of superiority, somehow.
real as fuck
“I’ll trade you for ‘so you’re … dramatic pause, implied question mark’ … when I wanna know what type of Asian someone is.”
“Jade and Jonah aren’t together, either, in case you were wondering.”
They walk in to the opening notes of T-Pain’s
t-pain visited ut recently😌
“You’re cool, and a fantastic dancer, and I’m insanely attracted to you. But I don’t think I want to be in the middle of whatever all that is.”
real asf. good for him
Tell him we’re walking Luna, or something.”
the biggest excuse ever LMAO
“So turn around.”
here we are with some possible height problems but okay whatever
“I’ve been dreaming of you since we were teenagers,” she says. “Me, too.”
“What does hot coffee have to do with being bisexual?” Jonah asks. “It’s the oat milk,” Nia says. “But I get oat milk, too.” “Is there something you want to tell us, Jonah?” Jade reaches over to take his hand. “You know I’ll love you no matter what, but if you’ve finally decided to turn away from your lifestyle of heterosexual deviancy, I’ll be so happy to shepherd you on your godly journey. Hashem has answered my prayers!”
“There were never any tampons?” “No, Two, there were not.” Jonah laughs. “Okay, I realize how stupid I seem right now, but you said the one thing that would make me stop paying any attention.”
Nia leans forward to pat his knee. “Anything for my third-favorite Pardo.” “Still? Even after all the vomit? Even after you cleaned her shit?” Nia nods, grinning. “Still.” “ANYBODY WANT A FREE PUPPY?” Jonah whisper-shouts.
and then you have a joint party where the theme is some sort of weird compromise between Pokémon and the US Women’s National Team
Some friendships are just bigger than some relationships, and I’m so fucking sick of everybody in this world, including you, acting like that’s not the case. Why is my love with her not as big, not as important, just because sex was never attached?
real asfffff
“I want the position. I want to work at Radical Healing. I want to be able to buy a home on an academic salary. I want to live there. I like it, Jade. I don’t want to move back to Brooklyn.”
literally all so valid
Nia’s parents were hovering, as though she hadn’t acquired the ability to self-soothe at six months old, like everyone else.
fhdjdjjddjj
“At the risk of you finally telling me to fuck off,” he says, “you need to let yourself be in love with Nia.”
You can do ceramics anywhere.
so true also i wish we had seen more of this
Finally, I really hope you shared a room with Nia and not Two. He’s recently started snoring like a motherfucker.
LOLS
It prevents her from mapping commutes from her saved homes on Zillow to ceramics studios. It doesn’t prevent her from looking at which studios have job openings.
okay so she just works at a studio i guess? also i feel like studio jobs are like, in high demand but whatever. just make ur little world work how you’d like it to
“Hello?” The receiver picks up his deep inhale in crisp clarity. “Hey, Nia. It’s Jonah.” “I have caller ID,” she says. He sighs. “Everyone is so sassy today.”
“Nia, I am in love with you. Love doesn’t feel like a big enough word, because I’ve told you that I love you so many times before and I’ve never meant it the way I mean it now, but it’s the best I’ve got.
Jonah and I need the space to grow, and it’s time for us to live apart.
no literally bro
“and to ceramics studio socials, if that’s a thing, and…”
i’ve seen it happen
“Are you Nia’s date?” “I am.” “As a friend?” she clarifies. “No, not as a friend,” Jade says. “Don’t tell Gene,” she yells, “but that makes me happier than the wedding.” “Mom, I don’t think that’s good,” Nia says. “I’m joking!” her mom shouts back. “Can you zip me?”
“I love you,” Jade says. “In all the ways.” “I love you, Jade,” Nia says back. “In all the ways.”
Selfishly, I hope that the road trip helped in some way, just so I can pretend that I’ll have had a real part in this. “It was all because of your dead Auntie Michal,” you’ll tell your future kids together, “who told me I had to ask Jade to go on her bucket-list road trip before we turned thirty.”
awwwwww
“That little girl is a lesbian and likes your other friend”—Debbie Sarfati after our first playdate
(fun fact: this is how I learned the word “lesbian.” Obviously, I knew about families with two moms and all that, but I didn’t know there was a different word for it. Sorry I wasn’t shocked when you came out in eighth grade).
also I’m pretty sure you were made for each other (I will cool it with the mysticism, but remember I know your FULL natal chart).
Of course, the history and intersections of anti-Black racism and antisemitism in the American South cannot possibly be summarized in three chapters of a novel about two characters falling in love. If you found it interesting, I hope you’ll consider reading more from actual historians. There may not be as many kissing scenes, but it’ll be worth it anyway.
Thank you, Anita Kelly, for being all-around lovely—your warmth is felt throughout the romance community.
haha just read a kelly book!
