"Valerie knew Walter wasn't impotent. Not by a long shot. So, she figured it must be something about herself, something that she'd perhaps neglected, or maybe she wasn't trying hard enough." Narrator, Chapter 1: Valerie, page 5

"That accident made me think about when I saw my own momma get beat. A woman never forgot bullstuff like that. After I'd witnessed that with my own five-year-old eyes, I'd sworn that no lover man would ever touch me and live to tell about it. But I'd run away from my man as soon as I felt the pain." Chiquita, Chapter 2: Chiquita, page 12-13

"It's hard loving somebody when they don't love you. Especially when you in the same house, in the same bed." Valerie, Chapter 6: Valerie, page 42

"[Valerie] left Walter a short note letting him know where she was going because she didn't want to reciprocate his rudeness. Even though she...