My Darling Husband Quotes
"This is parenthood in a nutshell: utter terror for your children’s welfare, always."
"No fight. No flight. I just stand here, transfixed, dumbstruck, stock-still."
"The thought of a stranger ambushing you as you’re coming in the door and forcing their way into your house, threatening you and your children. It’s everyone’s worst nightmare."
"I can hear the thoughts tripping through his brain. That we have too much. That he has too little."
"My daughter is a musical genius, something I accidentally discovered when she was four."
"How does this happen? How can it be that I spend every second my kids are out of sight missing them terribly, then I have them for ten minutes in the car and I’m counting the seconds until bedtime."
"Beatrix knows we’re not going backward, but she enjoys being a smart-ass. Too clever for her nine years."
"Whenever she’d show up at one of the shops, the bartenders would text me a warning so I could sneak out through the kitchen."
"Going to a restaurant with Atlanta’s Steak King is like dining out with a rock star."
"Wait him out. At some point he'll make a mistake, and then I'll have my chance. The trick is to be ready."
"Big, shuddering sobs are threatening to burst up my throat, and I struggle to swallow them down."
"I would gladly sacrifice myself for my kids."
"I watch him and I notice everything, committing every detail to memory so that I can recite it later—to the cops, in a courtroom."
"Silence is a weapon of control—our only one in this horror show."
"Sweet, sweet Baxter. This is why he will never know about the nanny cams."
"The moment passes, and when he finishes, he reaches for the gun."
"The realization slithers through me like an eel, ice-cold and slippery. This is someone different."
"I’m certain now: this is not the same man who was at Beatrix’s music lesson, the same man who’s been following me all over town."
"You gotta admit I have a point. You really are your own worst enemy, aren’t you?"
"Any decent chef can toss some meat on a grill, but Jade is the reason I went from one shop to five in the span of as many years, why I became known as Atlanta’s Steak King."
"I liked it because it was the only time I saw my father be kind to my mother, when she cooked him a good meal."
"I’d say I got carried away by the glitz and the fame, by the television appearances and fancy parties and people eating at a Lasky steak house just so they could get a picture with me."
"Are there things I wish I could go back and do differently? Hell, yes."
"This isn’t about the kids. This is about you and me, don’t you get it?"
"The kids are fine. Watching some cartoon in the other room. I put Beatrix in charge of the remote."
"It’s not a joke. This man says he will shoot me and the kids unless you do exactly as he says."
"I will get you this money, but you have to understand there are forces out of my control."
"No bank transfers. It has to be cash, and you have to bring it by seven. He says one second later than that and we’re dead."
"Don’t come to me with a list of problems. Bring me the solutions."
"Normally I could volley like this for days. Winning Ed over with words, cooking up steaks and uncorking a bottle of my best red, plying him gently to my side, but every second I spend arguing is another second I don’t have the money."
"I can’t walk by the thing without thinking back to the night we broke it in; Baxter was born ten months later."
"The clock is ticking. My heart feels like it’s about to explode."
"Because to me it was the ultimate status symbol, being able to afford a hundred-dollar meal on a regular old Tuesday."
"I did what I had to do, what I thought was the best thing at the time."
"The last thing I ever would have done is walk away."
"Life or death, Ed. I need the money by closing time."
"Like a fool, I grabbed on with both hands, never stopping to think through the consequences."
"I remember what it was like after he lost all his money, the way Mom and I went from this giant mansion to a seedy hotel, all the whispers that would start up the second she left a room."
"Every single thing I did was for them, to feed and clothe and take care of them."
"But let’s talk again when it’s your wife chained to a chair, begging you to hurry home with money you don’t have while your children scream bloody murder in the background."
"Every night was work and one big party all rolled into one."
"I’m not proud of what I did, but at least I stuck around."
"People will do all sorts of things when they’re desperate for cash."
"I strain against my bindings, but my arms and legs don’t budge. I’m stuck. Helpless."
"If I don’t get this money today, people are going to die."
"The truth is, Bax is an angel when he’s awake, too."
"But as we’re coming up to the main level, I tug my right sleeve over my hand and prick the pad of my thumb with the screwdriver, and a thrill travels up my spine."
"That kind of mistake is forever. You can’t put the pin back in that grenade."
"I’m ready. I cling to the shadows by the shelves and keep up the pretense, calling for Beatrix as I move deeper down the line. I’m just waiting for the right moment."
"That’s why I gave up the career I loved, why I’m room mom and snack mom and library reading-time mom, why I cart them all over town, to soccer and music lessons and trips to the library and zoo, why I swallow my impatience at having to ask them three times to clean their room and sweetly ask them a fourth."
"You only get one family, you know. All it takes is for one of you to switch things up and say you're sorry, to change your behavior."
"The best defense isn't a defense at all, but a full-throttle attack. You might get hurt, but it's your best chance to walk away alive."
"I know you're so so busy going to book clubs and managing your house staff and all, but stop being such a dick."
"She’s wrapping up. Adrenaline zings through my veins, and I blurt the first thing I can think of."
"And then the pain arrives, a shattering explosion on the whole right side of my head. Like a sledgehammer to the cheek, like my face was dipped in lava."
"The only thing I regret, asshole, is that I missed."
"Maxim Petrakis doesn’t give a shit about the state’s Smokefree Air Act. He’s spent his entire career skirting laws and ignoring regulations."
"If it ain’t the Steak King, as I live and breathe."
"Flattery will get you nowhere, kid. Now sit down and tell me some good news. You look like shit, by the way."
"Move on. If I weren’t so totally miserable I would laugh."
"Just over seven hundred thousand. I’ve managed to piece together some cash, but it’s not much. I’m still way short."
"I’ll pay whatever you want. I will run your kitchens and cook your steaks until the end of time. Just please. I am begging you."
"I don’t know where else to go. Because I have nowhere else to turn. You’re my last hope, Maxim, and I know how weird that sounds but—"
"Just kill me, Maxim. Put a bullet in my head and put me out of my misery."
"I wish I could rewind all the way to 2008, to my first time sitting at this very desk."
"This has nothing to do with me, and everything to do with Cam."
"I will take you down, and I’m a good shot so don’t even try."
"I’m serious, kid. Look away, or this gun is the last thing you’ll see."
"The only way you can help is by making sure that money gets here on time—and he doesn’t have much left."
"This isn’t about revenge. This is about justice. About me getting what I deserve. What I am owed."
"I love you, Cam. I have since that time you came over in the middle of the night and planted all those purple tulips under my window."
"You had me at tulips, Cam. I was a goner. I still am."
"The best thing I ever did was walk in your restaurant that day."
"Of all the little girls suffering from CF in this city, what are the odds Tanya’s niece could be the same girl as this man’s daughter? A million to one, probably."
"Canadians with CF live ten whole years longer than Americans. Why is that, do you reckon?"
"Americans love to criticize Canada’s state-run health-care system, but the only thing ours is serving are the bottom lines for the drug and insurance companies."
"You asshole! Listen to me, hear these words I’m about to say to you. You can hit me. You can break my bones and point a gun at my head. You can pull the trigger and blow out my brains, but you do NOT TOUCH MY WIFE."
"I’m helpless because of Cam. Cam did this, not me. This is all his fault."
"No father deserves the kind of worries you’re carrying around, but you’re not that guy. I know you don’t want to do this."
"Questions fly through my mind. What’s going to happen once I’m tied down? How do I save my daughter when I’m strapped to a chair?"
"He shakes his head, and my throat dries up like sandpaper."
"Anyone who separates a mother from her child, who ties her to a chair and turns her defenseless is evil."
"An inflexible, type A perfectionist who carries the weight of the world on her shoulders."
"My mind shuffles through the items around me, inventorying the ones that are heavy enough, sharp enough, solid enough."
"Which also means that Cam heard our conversation. He remembered the nanny cams, he was listening and watching."
""It’s not fine." I shake my head, and tears tumble down my face. I will not sit apart from her. I won’t."
"I’m not aiming at my mom. I’m aiming at you."
"You think I wouldn’t give her my lungs if I could?"
"Life can turn on a dime. Believe me when I say there’s no safety net to catch you when you fall."
"The truth is, I didn’t much care. I was too damn busy trying to keep my own ass afloat."
"Despite the bullet, despite the blood turning his shirt shiny, he’s pleased with himself."
"I can’t be a hundred percent sure, but I’m guessing the only people who will shed a tear for me are the ones watching from those cameras."
"When you push a man to the edge of a cliff, you can't get pissy when he jumps."
"Some things are impossible to put behind you, but this will not be one of them."
"Beatrix is not the one who needs to change. I am."
"My daughter can be anything she wants to be. Who am I to decide?"
"Love doesn't put food on the table. Love doesn't pay the rent or the creditors who come banging at the door. A baby needs so much more than love."
"And really, when you think about it, isn’t security just another word for love?"