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“You want to talk about it?” I asked carefully. “Nope.” The forced cheer in his voice was painful to hear. “Just want to shake my groove thang and make bad decisions.”
“You know, mi Tempestina, secrets are like seeds. Buried in the dark, they find a way to grow toward the light, no matter how deep you plant them.” Her eyes twinkled. “Sometimes it’s better to plant them in the open, where you can control how they grow.”
“Told you,” Parker said smugly. “That boy is head over cleats for you.
“But you can stand with her while she faces it. You don’t need to fight someone’s battles for them.
“Are you kidding? I know you through your words.” Jules’s expression grew earnest. “Your books got me through midterms last semester. The way you write about women taking up space in a world that wants them small. That matters. When I realized my brother was dating the author I admired, well, fate doesn’t hand out coincidences like that every day.”
“The world is always going to try to tell you how much space you’re allowed to take up. Too loud, too quiet, too big, too much. But here’s the thing, the only person who gets to decide that is you.”
“But here’s what I learned. The only shame is in denying who you truly are.”
“The world’s a stage, querida, and we are all merely actors, every one of us. Of course we have faked it a time or two.”
Romance novels are—” “Joy,” Abuela interrupted firmly. “They are joy and hope and the promise that everyone deserves love. Even girls who look like us, who take up space, who have curves and opinions and don’t fit into little boxes.”
“Love is not about someone rescuing you, mi amor. It’s about having someone who stands beside you when you rescue yourself.”
As we headed for the door, Freddie called after us, “Does he know about the scene in book two chapter seventeen? Because if he hasn’t tried that move yet—” “FREDDIE!” Tempest and Ophelia shouted in unison. “What?” Freddie asked innocently. “I’m just saying, art should inspire life, you know?” Oh, we were getting a copy of book two on the way home. That was for sure.
“Well, for what it’s worth... you look like someone who’s about to get picked first overall in a romance novel.”
the regret of playing it safe is far more painful than the grief of having loved fully.”
“That’s exactly when you should celebrate,” he insisted. “When the world tries to make you feel small or wrong or not enough. That’s when you put on something gorgeous and dance anyway.”
