Inside The O'Briens Quotes
"If he wants to leave a stinking pile of his own shit right in the middle of the kitchen table, then that’s where it should stay until he moves it."
"The air in the house is a thick swamp, today’s heat and humidity already elbowing in on what was trapped inside yesterday."
"The devil in his mother’s eyes, dead for twenty-five years, is now staring at him in the bathroom mirror."
"He used to go with her and the kids whenever he had off, but after Katie received her confirmation, that was the end of it."
"But God must know that Joe’s a good man."
"It’s not that he doesn’t believe in God. Heaven and hell. Good and evil. Right and wrong."
"Joe’s been patrolling the hilly streets of Charlestown, riding alone in his cruiser for a few hours now."
"Responding to a call also gives him the rare chance to experience what he loves most about his job—when he really helps someone out."
"There’s no such thing as a typical tour."
"Joe loves the Red Sox, but it’s a complicated, bittersweet relationship for a Boston cop."
"The Sox are in the World Series, and everyone in New England is high on hope."
"Joe unwraps his tuna sub and scarfs it down, barely tasting it."
"He feels like a kid, hooting and high-fiving Fitzie despite the bone-compressing agony in his back and feet."
"Family after family inches by, and Joe regrets that he didn’t get to spend more time like this with Rosie and his kids when they were young."
"It worries Rosie that the girls are so unsettled, dancing and Downward-Dogging without a steady boyfriend, not even a prospect for marriage in sight."
"Retirement and grandchildren. He’ll be fifty-five, still plenty young enough to enjoy kids. He’ll take them to Fenway and spoil the hell out of them."
"Lansdowne is now empty but for a handful of dumb fish who resisted the current."
"Joe and his fellow officers will give the boys only a touch longer to celebrate, to sober up a bit."
"Joe turns the cold brass knob of the front door and pushes it open."
"Above Mary, a white marble font is fixed to the wall, filled with holy water."
"A cold, creeping dread whispers in Joe’s ear as he and Rosie wait to cross Fruit Street."
"He’s wearing sneakers and jeans and his thin black coat that isn’t even close to warm enough for this weather."
"Joe takes a deep breath. Even polluted with car exhaust, the cold air feels fresh and healthy in his lungs."
"Joe holds the remote but doesn’t turn on the TV."
"He’s sorry, Mum. I didn’t know. I didn’t know."
"It’s Sunday afternoon, and Katie skipped both yoga and church."
"She loves the physical practice, the postures that teach grace, resilience, and balance."
She’s a big "someday" talker. Someday, I’m going to own my own yoga studio.
"The room does feel strange, oppressive even, with the TV off."
"Katie sighs and smells Windex. That’s weird."
"Her mom brings in a stack of paper plates and napkins, and they start peeling off hot slices of pizza."
"The pain that you create now is always some form of nonacceptance, some form of unconscious resistance to what is." - Eckhart Tolle
"Life is a near-death experience. Stumble around in giddy gratitude while you still can." - Jen Sincero
"There’s plenty of real hope in the research being done."
"Life doesn’t have to stop or go off the rails if you take the test and find out it’s positive."
"Relationships are hard. At least they are for me."
"This is so weird. I mean, I don’t really know you, and we’re talking about stuff I don’t talk about with anyone."
"We’re sharing really intimate stuff here."
"One thing we didn’t talk about last time when we went over the genetics that you should know."
"Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul."
"Her bedroom walls are covered in black, jagged, outraged explosions, like an artist’s abstract interpretation of war."
"I’ve been treating time like an easy, abundant commodity, something I could cavalierly afford to waste."
"Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage."
"Where there is hatred, let me sow love."
"I think we need to leave you with nothing and Rosie with everything."
"What kind of person wants to live in a living room full of brown cardboard boxes for four months?"
"If you get the test results, and it’s positive, are you breaking up with me?"
"You’re living like you’ve been handed a death sentence."
"I’m just not ready to go next week. I didn’t find any subs."
"How can I? How am I supposed to have faith in a God that would do this to our family? We’re good people, Joe."
"I’m okay with you picking out an apartment without me."
"I’m sorry. I don’t know what to do," she says.
"Then come with me. We’ll explore Portland together, see what’s there."
"Being HD-free doesn’t feel like freedom. It feels unfair, tainted, rotten."
"Meghan gets Katie better than anyone on the planet."
"I figure however long I have, I’m not going to let HD steal the symptomatic-free time I have."
"If she could take away Meghan’s gene-positive result by being gene positive herself, she would."
"Every breath is a risk. Love is why we breathe."
"The quality of her experience depends entirely on the thoughts she chooses."
"Reality depends on what is paid attention to."
"You’ve had the power all along, girl. Go live your dreams."
"It’s top of the ninth, and the pitcher goes one, two, three. The Sox win it, 5–2."
"She hadn’t thought about that homily in years. And now, embracing her sister on the stoop, heart to heart, the remembered story of the boy and his sick sister takes Katie to an entirely different place."