Ninja At First Sight (Knitting in the City, #4.75)

by Penny Reid

“You think of bunny rabbits being butchered for fur coats and sheep farmers taking their pleasure from livestock, but you think nothing of actual atrocities, genocide, hundreds of thousands of people murdered or left to starve or forgotten. This country raises millions—if not billions—of dollars for cuddly cats and dogs, yet we do nothing to ease the suffering of and subjugation of those in third world countries. You think bestiality is offensive? I find you and your defective priorities offensive. You give me offense because I am inclined to take it.”

“I agree. Without someone to take offense, one cannot give offense. That stated, values are important. Ethics are important. Morality, holding truths sacred, is important.”

“The point I debate is not whose truths or ideology are superior. The point I debate is that each of us needs an ideology. We all need something to fight for, to believe in, to hold sacred. Simone-” I motioned to her with my hand, “is an animal-rights activist. No one should be belittling her good work, because she is doing good work.”

“Do you hold anything sacred?” He paused, maybe searching his mind to determine if I’d asked a trick question; finally, he nodded once. “Of course.” “What good work do you do? How do you fight for what you hold sacred?” Greg blinked as if he were startled by the question. All at once, his gaze turned thunderous. I almost took a step back, but I didn’t. I held my ground. “You give me offense, and I take it. I take offense to the fact that you would stand here and belittle Simone’s beliefs and her work to correct what she feels are grave wrongs when you take no action to fight for your beliefs. It is one thing to compare or even belittle sacred truths when both parties are working toward rectifying wrongs. But it is quite another to rail against a person who is doing something when you do nothing.”

“Not everyone is capable of fighting the great fights. Not everyone is brave and strong and powerful. Let people have their causes. Allow them their victories, when victories can be had, without begrudging the wrongs that they right. Attending to injustice, no matter how small, is always a worthy cause.”

“See? No vanity. You’ve lost the ability to care about bullshit that doesn’t matter. You’re a star, the center of a solar system, with no desire for the planets, asteroids, and moons caught in your gravitational field.”

“They don’t want privacy. They want an audience. A pair of pribbling base-court varlots.” “Pribbling base-court varlots? What does that even mean?” “It’s a Shakespearean insult. Roughly translated, it means selfish twats.”

“I’ll file it under, Fuckwit-opinions no one cares about.”

“Your logic is flawed.” She snorted, turning her attention back to the sink and her very clean serving spoon. “Really? How so?” “First of all, you’re assuming women—or most women—intend to steal men from other women. You paint a very unflattering picture of women—sneaky, underhanded, selfish—and I don’t think that’s the case. I don’t think most women behave that way or have those thoughts. Most women are not conniving.”

“And the other part of your logic that isn’t accurate is your assessment of Greg. Greg is a person, not a spoon, or a saucepan, or a tea cup. He can’t be stolen. Men aren’t stolen. They’re responsible for their own actions and decisions—staying with a woman is a decision. Straying or leaving is a decision. You make it sound like men are mindless, powerless to temptation.” She snorted. “In my experience, they are.” “Then you’ve known only weak men. And weak men deserve conniving women.”

“They looked at each other like they cherished each other, like they couldn’t live without the other. It’s what I’ve always surmised being in love looked like.”

“I think, after facing death, seeing it, touching it, it’s difficult to turn your brain off to the farcicalities of fantasy.”

“Like I said, some burdens aren’t quantifiable, but money is.” “But—don’t you see? Money isn’t. Not really. Because a relationship is made up of many burdens, and the two people within the relationship have different strengths and weaknesses, abilities and talents.”

“The beauty of human relationships is sharing burdens?” “More or less. But burdens don’t grow lighter if both people are contributing equally. Life isn’t a fifty-fifty split, that’s just being lazy. Burdens are weightless, worlds change, and love endures when both people are contributing their maximum.”

“I think the opposite is true. I think—unless you have some compelling reason to keep bank accounts separate—the separation of finances just in case dooms a relationship to failure. It’s like each person already has one foot out the door, like those people who get married and think to themselves, Oh, well if this doesn’t work out, I can always get a divorce.”

if it’s possible to have a partner who gives all of themselves without reservation, who looks forward to working and sacrificing for me just as I look forward to doing the same for her, who can’t help but love ferociously, brutally, and unconditionally—and even perhaps without reason or sound judgment—that’s what I want. Because that’s how I plan to love in return.”

“She’s horrible,” he whispered accusingly. “I thought you said your childhood was fine? That woman isn’t fine. She’s Satan.”