How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
"If I get independent enough, she can go back to work without feeling guilty all the time. That's my big goal. Then maybe I can stop feeling guilty about ruining her life." (18.22)
Alicia hopes to be independent one day, but it's not even just for herself that she has this dream—she wants it for her parents, too. If she can just take care of herself again, then that means that her parents will be released from the responsibility.
Quote #8
Then I hear Alicia's laugh, complete with that little snort at the end. I follow the sound to a glass-walled conference room where she's sitting with a bottle of Snapple and a thick blue folder on the table in front of her. Alicia's smiling and nodding, moving her head to follow the voices of the people at the table. She looks like she could have just graduated from college. With honors. And three proposals of marriage. (21.15)
When Bobby spots Alicia in that conference room, she seems way too happy for someone who's on a job interview. But that's because she's finally meeting people like herself—people with a disability who don't want to give up on their lives.
Quote #9
But this meeting she just had? These people she's met and talked to and laughed with? This is something that she's done on her own. It's part of her life, not mine. It's got nothing to do with me. (21.17)
Bobby suddenly recognizes that Alicia may have come with him to the Sears headquarters to help him with his goal, but that she ended up finding something for herself as well. And that's a good thing.