How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #10
When I see them now they are not sepia, still, losing their edges to the light of a future afternoon. Caught midway between was and must be. For me they are real. (10.17)
The narrator/Felice is now looking back at her time with Violet and Joe, and she's remembering them remembering. Sheesh. Can't anyone in this novel be content with just straight-up memory? But what Felice/the narrator understands about Violet and Joe is that they are most content existing in perpetual partial memory. They want to remember even as they forge their future. It's kind of sweet.
Quote #11
They are remembering while they whisper the carnival dolls they won and the Baltimore boats they never sailed on. (10.20)
Here's where we get just why exactly Joe and Violet belong together: They remember both that which did and that which did not happen. They're a little cracked, right? So they can make stuff up and process it as a memory. It's why they're both unreliable narrators, why they're such fascinating characters, and why they're totally meant for each other.