"You can pretend that your life is going on when really, all along, you’re trapped in a moment you’ll never be able to change."
— Lee Martin (The Bright Forever: A Novel)

"The measure of a man's character is what he would do if he knew he would never be found out."
— Lee Martin (The Bright Forever: A Novel)

"Later, while she was sleeping, she woke to the sound of Ray moving through the house. At first she confused. She thought she was still married to Bill. Then, when she had everythbing straight in her head, shame washed over her because she had denied her first husband when she had told Ray that no man had ever been as good to her as he had. But it was true, wasn't it? She lay in bed, listening to him opening cabinets, and she knew it was impossible to say what was between people, and the longer you were with someone, the harder it was to even come close. All she knew was that once she had been with Bill and now she was with Ray. She had come out of her old life and into a new one, and even if she wished for it, which she didn't-not really, she didn't, not even in her heart of hearts-she couldn't go back.
~Clare"
— Lee Martin (The Bright Forever: A Novel)