How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
Maybe my guard was up all the time and she was reacting to that. But I wish she had seen through it and I wish that once, just once, I had told her how I feel. That I feel safer when she is around. Sometimes I had tested her, wanting so desperately for her to let me down so then I would have an excuse to walk away. But she never did. (17.109)
Hannah may stay true to her promise to Tate that she wouldn't mother Taylor, but even in keeping her distance, Hannah seems to make it clear that she won't leave her friend's daughter. Regardless of what Taylor does and doesn't know, it's obvious that Hannah is committed to being her family.
Quote #8
Santangelo's dad comes outside. I watch his daughter jump onto him and he piggybacks her to us and I see the look on her face that says that nothing can happen to her if she's holding onto her dad. It kills me to hate them so much for having that. (18.51)
Just as Taylor watches Raffaela with her mom and longs for the experience of having a mother, watching Chaz's little sister with their dad inspires similar feelings of desire for a father. The feelings of hatred and jealousy the absence of a father inspires in Taylor as she observes their relationship are pretty powerful.
Quote #9
All I can think of is Hannah's story. My aunt's story. How strange it is to use those words for the first time. I have an aunt and I don't even know where she is. But I do know that I yearn for her in a way that I never thought possible, and that she's somehow written the story of my family's life. (18.63)
For Taylor, knowing the truth about her family transforms Hannah from a mystery woman who always seems to be there for her to a blood relative—the first tangible connection to family Taylor's experienced since her mother abandoned her.