Winter Street Quotes
"No one can possibly replace George, and nothing ruins Christmas like an absent Santa."
"Normally, he has a waiting list during the week of Christmas (just like the original Christmas: no room at the inn)."
"The texts that Kelley and Mitzi tried to send back were 'undeliverable.'"
"There is something magical about the afternoon. The sky is sterling silver, the air shimmering with mist."
"She feels like Sisyphus with his boulder; she will have to play it at least one more time."
"She loves her students and her classroom—the upright piano, tuned the first day of every month."
"She will have to play 'Jingle Bells' a hundred more times this season, she will do so in Claire Frye's honor."
"Her fingers ache. If she never plays 'Jingle Bells' again, it will be too soon."
"She loves doing regular, everyday things with him."
"He wants to be ready for a collision with reality in the event that his phone doesn't tell him what he wants to hear."
"This year, when Margaret finishes with the broadcast at seven thirty p.m. on the twenty-fourth, her driver, Raoul, will take her to Newark."
"She has to harken back twenty-four years, to when the boys were in middle school and Ava was five years old."
"She yearns for the silver. She says, 'Is there really such a thing as 'too Audrey Hepburn'?'"
"Jennifer and her assistant, Penelope, garnered three new commissions—one of them a soup-to-nuts job on Mount Vernon Street."
"Jennifer has serious talent as an interior designer."
"He watches the tree sparkle. Three thousand ornaments. Despite everything, he thinks, it is still so pretty."
"She drinks another beer at the Bar with Kevin, who has to work until closing."
"He knows what he has to do. It is only a matter of courage."
"She can't remember ever being this stressed out."
"Chopin was show-offy, perfect when trying to make a first impression."
"Marry him! she told Ava. And Ava said, I’m trying!"
"She is stuck here, like a partridge in a flipping pear tree."
"You eschewed corporate law for a life doing custom woodwork on Nantucket Island."
"Patrick inhales all eight eggs and half the caviar; then he feels queasy."
"You look beautiful, sweetheart. You remind me so much of your mother."
"You do know it’s Christmas Eve, right? You might have better luck calling St. Nick and hitching a ride on the sleigh."
"She hates to tell Raoul that if she can’t fly to Nantucket tonight, she’ll have to ask him to drive her up to Hyannis."
"Margaret digs into her luggage—the bikinis and cover-ups and sandals and straw hat have all been rendered useless."
"She is more certain now than ever that there is something bigger out there, but she is less sure what it is."
"The first Christmas with Patty, when he was just a newborn. Margaret set him under the tree in his Moses basket."
"Margaret loved the pageant, with its menagerie of barn animals and little children dressed as angels."
"Margaret and Kelley would drink Golden Dreams and get pleasantly mulled before putting the kids to bed and setting out the presents."
"It had all been a golden dream, Margaret thought. If only they had realized it at the time."
"Margaret sips her cinnamon-flavored coffee, trying not to wince—she drinks espresso only, the more hot and bitter, the better."
"He was the first, obviously, and his whole life has been a clinic in How to Excel."
"He actually did use the rod once, on a warm, still day in September sixteen or seventeen years earlier."
"Margaret beams. 'This is just the perfect gift. And Saturday night—primo marveloso!'"
"She pulls away first, as she always does—that much intimacy crosses some kind of line with Margaret."
"You can give birth to a beautiful, perfect human being, but requited love isn’t guaranteed for her—or for any of us."
"Her phone rings. It’s Ned. Bad news, she thinks."
"Patrick stands up. He spent the night in Bart’s room, which is still filled with Bart’s paraphernalia."
"Patrick swallows. 'I really messed up. And Jen is gone. She won’t answer my calls, and I don’t blame her.'"
"They all drink and open presents. One person opens at a time—Quinn family tradition, so that it lasts longer."
"Kelley beams. 'Today I have you! Would you like to come back to my bedroom and see my etchings?'"