The Burns We Carry Quotes

“I never saw you as broken. Every part of you was always just Shay to me. And I don’t think you’d be whole without every bit, even the parts of you that hurt. It’s made you who you are. So I don’t see how that’s broken at all.”
― Marae Good, The Burns We Carry

“I knew she was right. I believed it with every fiber of my being. But I also knew not everything was forgivable. Some steps couldn’t be wiped away. Not all burns healed. I couldn’t claim the life I wanted if I’d broken it.”
― Marae Good, The Burns We Carry

“You see the world differently than me, Shay. You see beauty in the shadows, and I find it in the sun. I see it in you.”
― Marae Good, The Burns We Carry

“I don’t want to be defined by the person who left me.”
― Marae Good, The Burns We Carry

“And maybe . . . maybe some of that anger was directed at myself too. For too long, I’d carried the burns inflicted upon me, acting as if someone’s carelessness and selfishness determined my worth. It was time I stopped that. I was worth more than that, too.”
― Marae Good, The Burns We Carry

“We should do something,” I started, abandoning my former idea of suggesting we stay inside and watch movies all day. I was a homebody to my core, but there was nothing quite like getting out in the sun.”
― Marae Good, The Burns We Carry

“And the fact you didn’t know until this moment that those boys weren’t truly my nephews tells me they claim me as much as I do them. So I guess what I’m trying to say is family has everything to do with heart and nothing with to do with blood. And I think someday, wherever you are, you’ll find it. You and Tater.”
― Marae Good, The Burns We Carry

“Can we listen to Taylor Swift?” I asked and reached forward to grab Levi’s phone from the center cup holders. “That’s it—you’re walking,” Nolan hollered as Taylor Swift’s “You’re on Your Own, Kid” started to play.”
― Marae Good, The Burns We Carry

“Again with the evasiveness. I wanted to shake him, demand he decide what he wanted. Yes, I appreciated him for advocating that I do what was best for me. But it still was nice to be wanted. To be needed.”
― Marae Good, The Burns We Carry

“And for a moment, a pure, fleeting moment, I’d thought I’d found my place—my family. Brooks was afraid I’d destroy his home. But he’d never stopped to ensure he wouldn’t destroy mine.”
― Marae Good, The Burns We Carry

“Not all fires are bad, sunshine. They can prevent wildfires, help clean up debris and invasive species that are hurting the forest. They rejuvenate the land and encourage growth that might have never happened. There are even seeds that are dependent on fire.”
― Marae Good, The Burns We Carry

“When you spend so long alone, carrying the weight of those around you, eventually you collapse.”
― Marae Good, The Burns We Carry

“I doubted they had any idea they were teaching me how to live again.”
― Marae Good, The Burns We Carry

“And all I could think was how I might like to get lost . . . see if I found something along the way.” Maybe what Declan said to me the night we met was true. Maybe I was lost. Not hopelessly, but confidently. I was wandering, searching for more. For home.”
― Marae Good, The Burns We Carry

“I wanted to demand to know why. To accuse him of being nosy, or that he had forced Levi to stay behind, because I hadn’t heard back from him. But I only offered up a frail smile and climbed out, pretending this was real. Pretending I lived in a world where others’ actions were sincere.”
― Marae Good, The Burns We Carry

“I didn’t try to reason with him, to prove how wrong his image of me was. He wouldn’t believe me, and it was better that way. Safer than letting him know me, see me for who I was. He couldn’t hurt me then, couldn’t inflict the same pain I was running from.”
― Marae Good, The Burns We Carry

“Maybe it wasn’t such a bad thing to let someone in. To welcome their support, trusting they desired the best for me. And for the first time, when I lay awake that night and silently promised myself I’ve got this, I believed it.”
― Marae Good, The Burns We Carry

“I felt relieved. Grateful to have someone listen, while understanding there was nothing they could do to ease the burns I carried. Only time could do that.”
― Marae Good, The Burns We Carry

“I don’t want to steer you wrong and pretend my life was full of pain and misery. I know plenty have it worse—” “Pain is pain, Shay. Whether you die from a car accident or cancer—it still kills you. And I imagine both hurt like hell.”
― Marae Good, The Burns We Carry

“I should’ve stayed home, said every introvert ever.”
― Marae Good, The Burns We Carry

“If only I could change my heart, forget how I longed to go home and be cared for. But I couldn’t trust my heart. It was raw and broken. But homes can be rebuilt, and hearts can mend.”
― Marae Good, The Burns We Carry

“I’m sorry.” He seemed to falter at that, the corners of his eyes dropping, like he’d expected me to fight back. And I wanted to. I wanted to scream and throw him out. But no matter how much I tried to rally the fight, I couldn’t bring myself to argue any further. I knew all too well I couldn’t force my way into anyone’s life. “I didn’t mean to cause any problems. I’ll keep my distance, I’m sorry.”
― Marae Good, The Burns We Carry

“If the problem was indeed within me, if I wasn’t worthy of being happy or cherished. Maybe I was a fool for leaving it all, leaving the only family I’d ever known. But I couldn’t change anything about it now. I couldn’t make anyone want me.”
― Marae Good, The Burns We Carry

“I hesitated. I didn’t know these men, and being murdered wasn’t high on my to-do list—it was at least number forty-five.”
― Marae Good, The Burns We Carry

“Levi had no reason, absolutely no reason to help me—he wanted something. And I had nothing to give. I wouldn’t stumble down this familiar path again, unknowingly giving up who I was. Giving up my voice. Never again.”
― Marae Good, The Burns We Carry

“It was why I didn’t make the bed when I rolled out of it, why the pants I’d worn yesterday were discarded on the floor. Why the toothpaste lid was off, the dishes piled up. One might’ve looked in the cabin and seen a mess, a slob. But the little messes, the clutter—it was an act of defiance. I was taking back my life.”
― Marae Good, The Burns We Carry

“It’s illegal in all fifty states to interrupt anyone mid-song, right? Especially when I was bellowing—fine, crying—to Taylor Swift’s “cardigan,” my voice lost in the crisp mountain air and endless pine trees. And it’s definitely a crime punishable by death to interrupt Taylor’s melancholy heart.”
― Marae Good, The Burns We Carry

“Pain is pain, Shay. Whether you die from a car accident or cancer—it still kills you. And I imagine both hurt like hell.”
― Marae Good, The Burns We Carry