Stealing Sunshine (Cherry Peak, #4)

by Hannah Cowan

For three years, I’ve successfully hidden my affection for the sunshine girl beside me. Every blunt, cold reply and blank expression were my only ways of keeping my cards hidden. I’ve never reacted to someone the way I do her, as if she’d somehow already burrowed herself into my life without my knowledge by our first meeting.

“Don’t apologize for the actions of others, Bryce. We’re not responsible for anyone besides ourselves. Everyone has their own mind and their own conscience, even if they choose to ignore it,”

It’s nothing more than a subtle tug of the corner of her mouth. A blink-and-you’ll-miss-it reaction from someone who makes a habit of keeping their emotions well restricted. But despite that, I think it might be the most honest smile I’ve ever witnessed.

Our parents hold such an important position in our lives. They’re supposed to love us unconditionally, nurture always, and teach us right from wrong. The world around us will always change, but family is supposed to be everlasting.

“Like, imagine if you had this entire list of things you wanted to accomplish before you died, and instead of making the effort to start crossing them off, you kept putting it off further and further until you woke up one day and realized that you’d wasted too much time. You kept telling yourself that you’d send that text to catch up with a friend tomorrow or that you’d accept that date invite next weekend, then before you knew it, you’ve grown apart from your friend, and you’re spending another night in your bed alone.

Good things happen to good people, yes, but that doesn’t mean you don’t have to chase them. So, yeah, I guess my biggest fear is getting too comfortable in the life that I have and forgetting that there’s more out there waiting for me. I just have to put in the effort to find it and take it for myself.”

“When I marry a woman, there won’t be a single person in attendance who doesn’t deserve to be there. Sharing blood and DNA doesn’t give anyone access to my most important moments. Those are sacred, and I won’t have them tarnished by unwelcomed faces who were invited solely out of obligation,”

When I was younger, it was easier to make friends. We didn’t know better back then than to take every smile and hello as an olive branch. But as an adult, friendships have been far and few between for me. People can be judgy and cruel but also completely opposite of you in views and dreams. It’s a miracle to find even one person that you connect with, and that’s not even the hard part. It’s keeping them around once you’ve started letting them see who you are past the surface level.