The Secrets We Keep Quotes
"This summer is going to be good. Really. It has to be."
"Escaping it started to feel like the best option, the only option."
"I wanted a place where we could put down the devices and let go of the worry and fear."
"Sometimes I catch Kyle looking at me, his eyes narrowed, his lips pursed, and I feel a chill penetrating my body all the way through."
"I’m not going to worry about my children, or how we’ll occupy the next three months, or the fact that I ought to call Kyle."
"I’m simply going to let my mind empty out as I revel in the perfect peace of this moment."
"I feel like I should be past it now, I should be able to move on a little more."
"I wonder how much we’ll see of her and her family this summer."
"I’m not an alcoholic, not even a high-functioning one."
"The endless running around, the social calendar, the afterschool clubs, all the demands and endless expectations… It’s all so tedious, isn’t it, really?"
"Aren’t you the tiniest bit relieved to be away from all of it?"
"You might all learn to get along, you know."
"I wish I could talk to my mom, because she was always ready to listen, always got where I was coming from."
"Are you actually worried? Do you think I can't cope on my own, just because I drank a little too much at one stupid party?"
"Sometimes I picture her sitting in the kitchen when I was a teenager, waiting for me to get home from school and tell her about my day, as I always did."
"My heart is starting to drum, the blood surging through my veins in a way that almost feels pleasurable."
"I need this. I know it's stupid and wrong, but I need this."
"How can I not feel lonely? Stuck up here for three months, away from everything."
"It's sailing tomorrow. That's another whole hour, three times a week, at the yacht club."
"We're all doing it wrong in one way or another. Sometimes more wrong, sometimes more right. Either way, kids grow up. They survive."
"The grass is always greener there, I think, Tessa."
"I'm not sure I know how to be anything else. I'm not sure I can be bothered to deal with them coming, to be honest."
"I can't keep from wondering, how much of that is because of me?"
"I've learned along the way, but it hasn't felt as natural or easy as I’d expected, as I’d hoped."
"Don't you wish we could stay here forever?"
"I do love it," I say, although I’m still trying to take it all in. When I move my head, my newly straightened hair swings in a single, glossy sheet.
"But we haven’t paid…" "I took care of that," she dismisses with a wave of her hand.
"Rebecca, I could have—" I should have. "No, you couldn’t," she says matter-of-factly.
"It makes me squirm inwardly to think of all the money Rebecca has been spending on me."
"It feels right to me. I want to do this, and I can."
"Look, not to be crass, but this is nothing to me. Absolute peanuts. Last year, Josh’s bonus was two million."
"You’re on fire, Tessa. Let’s celebrate with something fabulous to eat."
"Let me pay for dinner. It’s the least I can do." "Now that I’ll accept," Rebecca says.
"I miss you, too." I realize, in an instant, that my friendship with Rebecca is nothing like my friendship with Rayha.
"It was just a dream, Zo." My voice comes out in a croak. I feel shaky, the dream still enveloping me, smothering me.
"It’s like looking through the wrong end of a telescope, a tiny, blurred vision of something I can barely discern."
"I’m so sorry about what—what happened," I stammer, trying to hold my ground even as I apologize and grovel.
"This is all your fault," Katherine hisses, turning to Ben, and he doesn’t answer.
"You can’t let the bullies win," she says, giving Ben a conspiratorial wink.
"I’m glad our spa trip boosted her confidence. It’s nice to know I’ve helped someone, even if I can’t help myself."
"I know you do! You’re on fire, Tessa. Let’s celebrate with something fabulous to eat."
"Why don’t we go upstairs," Tessa says to the children. "It’s all right, your mom is going to be all right."
"I think maybe she just… didn’t know what else to do?"
"She’s having a hard time," I said gently, and Zoe gave me a well-duh expression because it didn’t take a genius to figure that one out.
"I can’t imagine the rest of the summer without them, and yet now I can’t imagine it with them, either."
"I remind myself of [the happy memories] because I need to remember that they were real."
"My mind drifts over the last two weeks—the afternoons swimming at the club, skinny-dipping with Rebecca, the trip to Syracuse, all of us lying on blankets looking up at the fireworks."
"We’ve become close over the last few weeks."
"She’s always been the life and soul of the party. It’s one of the reasons I fell in love with her."
"I feel like I’m going crazy inside, trying to figure myself out, and it’s not working."
"It’s so easy to deceive yourself, isn’t it?"
"Who needs to confess to their brokenness and jagged pain?"
"I’m not sure I can, although waves of fatigue are crashing over me."
"I take a deep breath, trying, still, somehow, to reach him."
"I feel like an old woman as I hobble around the bedroom."
"It’s reality, and I need to face at least some of those people."
"I feel adrift, bobbing alone in a foreign sea, and no one is close enough to reach out a hand, to save me."
"I’m sorry, I don’t feel prepared for this."
"I don’t want to leave the children for that long."
"I breathe in the ghostly traces of her summery perfume."
"I don’t have the strength to deal with it if I am."
"She’s my friend and I can’t just turn my back on her."
"I’m not going to turn that tap on, trust me. I’m not ready for the flood."
"I feel like patting Emily on the shoulder and telling her to consider other jobs."
"I don’t want it to be true—I can’t let this be true."
"I feel as if I am betraying everyone I’ve ever loved."
"I’m trying to figure myself out, and it’s not working."
"How do we start to bridge this chasm of silence and secrets? How do we learn to trust each other enough to speak the truth?"
"It isn’t easy or natural, but it works. At least, it starts to work."
"You don’t need to be sorry. These things happen."
"And somehow, through the days, we find our way."
"There are worse things, surely, than a bowl of Coco Pops?"
"I’m glad you’re coping, Tessa, but this still isn’t your responsibility."
"I want to tell him I’m not just coping, I’m thriving."
"I can’t stand the thought of Charlotte hurting herself intentionally."
"This is a nice place, but I like being home with you much better."
"I need to get better fast. I need to become strong and well again, before I lose my family—and my husband."
"I never should have abused your trust like that."
"In fact, I finally exhibit some integrity."
"When it came to our lives, accuracy was a myth and absolutes were a joke."
"I am picking through the wreckage of my family, trying to put the pieces together."
"It feels like a kindness, to give her something to do."
"I was scared and lonely and half out of my head, needing a distraction, a reason."
"Guilt needles me, along with the doubt; am I being unfair to Tessa?"
"You’re not getting this back, Ben, until you tell me what happened."
"Things feel different now, everything more tenuous and fragile."
"He smiles at her warmly, the way he used to smile at me."
"You never should have made a play for my husband."
"You don’t know that Max wet the bed every night for a week after you left?"
"It’s going to be okay. It might be a long, hard slog, but it’s going to be okay."