“He would never be that way again. He would never have the power of that specific kind of not-knowing.” — Catherine Lacey Copy Share Image
“Maybe it was just my life, my strange and always stranger life, taking all the life out of me.” — Catherine Lacey Copy Share Image
“And how sad it is that the last face someone makes at you is always the face you remember the most.” — Catherine Lacey Copy Share Image
“I had nothing to say to these strangers, whoever or whatever they were.” — Catherine Lacey Copy Share Image
“Past love is as good as a past dream, intangible, impossible to share.” — Catherine Lacey Copy Share Image
“I needed nothing and was needed nowhere. I almost doubted I was alive.” — Catherine Lacey Copy Share Image
“She was sure no one had ever been more in love than they were in those weeks, consumed by such longing, wanting… — Catherine Lacey Copy Share Image
“Though he felt a little guilt over disappearing, it wasn't even guilt, just sadness over not even wanting to call her.” — Catherine Lacey Copy Share Image
“He excused himself for a nap, and this day blended into his dreams like like years blended into a life, unseen but… — Catherine Lacey Copy Share Image
“But what had really happened? It was still unclear. Was it possible nothing of any significance had ever happened between us and… — Catherine Lacey Copy Share Image
“I couldn't decide how to feel about what he was saying, whether it was all nonsense or just more evidence that I… — Catherine Lacey Copy Share Image
“I sometimes wondered why I even answered the phone, but I guess I always had the hope that it would be someone… — Catherine Lacey Copy Share Image
“I think back to this moment sometimes now, look back at that person I was, months before I couldn't unknow what had… — Catherine Lacey Copy Share Image
“I thought that if I could ever do a background check on myself, I knew exactly what I'd do with it. I… — Catherine Lacey Copy Share Image
“The late-afternoon light was thick and orange and she passed four different couples taking photos of themselves on the same cobblestoned block,… — Catherine Lacey Copy Share Image
“I'd run out of options. That's how these things usually happen, how a person ends up placing all her last hopes on… — Catherine Lacey Copy Share Image
“Sometimes it seems all I have are questions, that I will ask the same ones all my life. I'm not sure if… — Catherine Lacey Copy Share Image
“Ed began explaining this Yo La Tengo thing, how he was listening to a record of theirs, on vinyl he emphasized, and… — Catherine Lacey Copy Share Image
“Maybe I will always have to love the idea of love or a concept of God more than I can love a… — Catherine Lacey Copy Share Image
“. . . overcast afternoons when it seemed possible the whole world had run out of things to say.” — Catherine Lacey Copy Share Image
“I closed my eyes, tried to get as far away from myself as I could.” — Catherine Lacey Copy Share Image
“It depressed me to think that I might have been looking at another person but seeing only myself.” — Catherine Lacey Copy Share Image
“Speaking felt impossible, as contained and enclosed as she was, a longing that went on a loop, a longing for nothing at… — Catherine Lacey Copy Share Image
“I barely managed to do the small talk—the what-do-you-do , the where-are-you-from , the what-neighborhood , the what-college , the despair of… — Catherine Lacey Copy Share Image
“ Will your dad beat me up if I ask for your number? She wrote it down, smiling, feeling somehow significant and… — Catherine Lacey Copy Share Image
“Sex seemed like a thing that might only happen to me at random, outside my control, like the weather.” — Catherine Lacey Copy Share Image
“It was possible she might not have the right feeling after all, that she wasn't in love, wasn't in limerence, but was… — Catherine Lacey Copy Share Image
“Isn’t everyone on the planet or at least everyone on the planet called me stuck between the two impulses of wanting to walk away… — Catherine Lacey Copy Share Image
“...no moment cares, and the ones you wish could stretch out like a hammock for you to lie in, well, those moments leave the… — Catherine Lacey Copy Share Image
“The late-afternoon light was thick and orange and she passed four different couples taking photos of themselves on the same cobblestoned block, all their… — Catherine Lacey Copy Share Image
“Every few minutes or so I would remember the look from the man who had wanted fifty cents, and I'd look at that framed… — Catherine Lacey Copy Share Image
“How someone wants to explain catastrophe isn't important--that's what I know now. When shit happens, it doesn't really matter what asshole is responsible.” — Catherine Lacey Copy Share Image
“Eventually she got out of bed, took a long shower, gargling and spitting mouthfuls of water, then screaming, just a little and quietly.” — Catherine Lacey Copy Share Image
“I couldn't decide how to feel about what he was saying, whether it was all nonsense or just more evidence that I would never… — Catherine Lacey Copy Share Image
“I wasn't sure if it was safe for me to be sharing time and space with other people, who all seemed so much gentler… — Catherine Lacey Copy Share Image
“Why were we never together anymore, just alone in each other's vicinity?” — Catherine Lacey Copy Share Image
“And I began to believe that you could exchange your life, send it back for a different model, and I knew that wasn’t really… — Catherine Lacey Copy Share Image
“I thought that if I could ever do a background check on myself, I knew exactly what I'd do with it. I wouldn't even… — Catherine Lacey Copy Share Image
