The Paid Bridesmaid

Whenever you feel like you need to run, know that I’ll always understand. And that I’ll come and find you.

It’s not an airport. You don’t have to announce your departure.

you know what happens whenever I draw a line in the sand? The tide always washes it away.

I think I liked it better in the olden days when phones were dumb and people were smart.

There’s something triumphant about a little sociopath deigning to cuddle with you.

We should have some antics.” “I don’t antic,” I told him. “Do you shenanigan? Frolic? High jink?

You never just throw caution to the wind?” There was a time when that might have been true, but life had taught me a hard lesson there. “I’ve tried, but then I just freak out and try to gather up all the pieces of caution before they blow away.

while I respect your bachelor’s degree from I’m Entitled to Know Everything University, not everything is about you.

I can be flexible. Totally flexible. Just as long as everything is going exactly the way I want it to.

Shouldn’t you let him decide how he’s going to feel? You don’t get to preemptively decide how people will react before you even give them the chance.

my trust was so thoroughly violated that I find it hard to give it again. But it’s not the worst part. The worst is how hard it is to trust myself. When someone else makes you question everything—your judgment, your decisions, your intuition—that’s hard to recover from. He undermined my belief in me.

I would add things that hadn’t initially been on my daily checklist just to have the satisfaction of crossing them off. I loved lists. They made me feel in control of my life.

It had been a long time since a man had looked at me that way because I put out such strong “do not disturb” vibes.

What part of the Old Testament do you think we’re on now?

Didn’t have a mom? Everyone had a mom. If he wanted one, he could have mine.

That’s part of growing up with an alcoholic parent. You’re angry with them and resent their choices, but at the same time you want their love. You want them to choose you, to be more important than getting drunk.