"Right from the beginning, May had been the unwilling straight man in Pete's ever-evolving comedy routine" (Before, p. 4).

"And of course Pete would know to look for her here" (Before, p. 18).

"But Palmer was too old for that now, and her mom didn't have time tor energy to think about how things should be - she only knew how they were" (Chapter 1, p. 29).

"In Palmer's eyes, Brooks had given up everything and left her alone" (Chapter 3, p. 75).

"She suddenly wanted out of this place, to get away from all of these people" (Chapter 8 p. 141).

"'A lot of things seem like that,' she said. 'They build you up and build you up, and it's...a bell in a shed'" (Chapter 8, p. 147).

"In the last minute or so, it seemed like the world had utterly transformed in May's eyes" (Chapter 11, p. 193).

"Normally Brooks' idea of bonding with her sisters...