I part my lips, but no words come out. I want to cry. Want to beg. Want to scream. But mostly, I want to hold him until I know he’s going to be okay. Then I want him to hold me until I’m okay, too.

If somebody hurts you, it's okay to cry a river, just remember to build a bridge and get over it.

I am afraid that if I start to sob, I will never stop until I shrivel up like a raisin.

You're letting me go?"
He curled his upper lip, his expression painfully bitter as he took a step back from me.
"Apparently... I never had a hold of you." He turned sharply, and without another word striding down the street into the dark.
Braden never once looked back and that was a good thing.
If he had, he'd have seen Jocelyn Butler crying real tears for the first time in a long time, and he would have known that I'd lied. And lied big. For anyone who saw me, knew they were watching a heart in the process of it breaking.

I love children, especially when they cry, for then someone takes them away

Quit trying to make that special someone happy, you've already lost to someone who can make them cry.