Some Kind of Perfect (Calloway Sisters #5)

by Krista Ritchie

Rose captivates me to the point where she has all of my attention. My eyes, my mind, my heart.

I prop myself on my elbows and give him a look. “How’d you get so smart?” “Mommy,” he says proudly.

“If you were anything other than a torrid fire, you wouldn’t be the woman I’ve admired and loved. I understand your reasons. I respect them and adore them because they belong to you.”

I get what it’s like not being able to use these specific words that turn you into a victim. Feeling like that word doesn’t fit your situation just right. Abuse? No, not me. Never me. It’s just this…it’s not that. It can’t be that harsh, raw thing. But it is. And then what?

Slowly but carefully, she interlaces my fingers with hers, nothing sexual about the act. For a brief moment, I feel our teenage years—Lily and Lo, Lo and Lily—best friends instead of lovers. Where touch carries the depth and lifeline of every soulful and anguished emotion.

Rose paints women as the superheroes they are, and she bolsters this truth until our daughter believes she is one too.

“Not all things can be altered from desire, passion, and wisdom. Some things just happen. Like love and death and life. Some things just are.”

“What are you thinking?” I whisper. “How breathtaking dreams are when you meet them.”

“The greatest medicine on Earth isn’t a pill. It’s compassion. The ability to make someone feel less alone. Someone very close has been this for you.”

I’ve already watched them do the leapfrog and spread peanut butter and jelly with their feet. Metaphorical peanut butter and jelly, obviously. The childish names for these moves grate on me. I understand that it’s pre-ballet, but I’d rather Madame Daphne use the correct terminology: dégagé, tendu, rond de jambe.

This brought back memories omg

“I never understood how much I had lost my voice until I started using it.”

I have a theory that, together, sisters can do extraordinary, miraculous things. People will underestimate us, undervalue us, maybe even forget us, but together, together—we succeed.

“Ryke was fated to be surrounded by women.” I laugh and rub my nose with the back of my hand. “He’d say thank fucking God.”

My hot words should sear him dead, but they only pool love in his eyes. I could set Connor on fire a million times over, and he’d never burn to ash. I suppose that’s why we’re made for one another. He can withstand every single inexhaustible part of me.

We speak of moving mountains, but sometimes people can completely rotate the world, just so someone else can land upright on their feet.

“The lake house puts our lives in vivid perspective.”

“I’ve always loved winning, but I would lengthen the time it takes us to reach the end, just to spend one more second with you.”