The Twelve Days of Dash & Lily (Dash & Lily #2)

by Rachel Cohn

It’s always the ones who believe who are hurt the most when things go wrong.

Ostensibly, we were still dating. But the dating was feeling rather ostensible.

Boomer told Grandpa in the way Boomer had of delivering even the most basic information with an exclamation mark.

I knew she didn’t suffer fools gladly, but she’d gladly make a fool suffer.

(The f-word that isn’t fudge also appeared in that shriek, but my ears redacted it.)

I have no idea what I want to do with my life, but one thing I do know is that I wouldn’t mind dedicating it to the pursuit of competitive gingerbread house–making. (The guidance counselor at my high school has informed me this is not a viable option. Dream killer. I’ll prove him wrong!) A

“People who want things to be perfect are always impossible to please. But that doesn’t mean we should stop trying. Even if their expectations aren’t correct, their instincts are. You won’t get everything right, Dash. Even Lily knows that. The trying is what matters.”

“The thing to remember—what I really want you to remember—is that it doesn’t matter whether I actually live at the North Pole or whether I’m the one who brings you presents every Christmas Eve. People like Tanner are going to tell you I’m pretend, and then when you get older, people like Tanner are going to tell you other things are pretend. But you know what to say to that? So what. That’s what you tell them. Because at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter whether the story’s true or not. What matters is the care that’s been put into the story. The love. If something is pretend, that usually means someone has taken the time to build a story for you to live in. And building stories takes a lot of work. And, yes, there will come a time when you’ll see the story isn’t true. But the intentions behind it? Completely true. The love behind it? Also true.” Max’s

we have to move forward like it’s up to us, together. I know it’s not as intense or immediate as it used to be—but that just means that instead of having only a present together, we’re having a past, present, and future all at once.”

I shrieked, with all the decibel power of a tween girl getting a personal concert by the world’s biggest boy band.