Older Quotes

“Life is living. If you’re not living exactly the way you want to live, then what’s the fucking point?”
― Jennifer Hartmann, Older

“Every moment with you fucking hurts.” His voice was pure grit, words cracking and breaking. “Every moment without you…hurts so much more.”
― Jennifer Hartmann, Older

“Yes.” Reed stopped pacing, coming to a dead stop a few feet away. He stared at me, jaw clenched tight, hands balled even tighter. “Yes, Halley, I’m in love with you. I think I proved that when I threw myself under the bus and completely destroyed my relationship with my daughter to protect you. To keep her from hating you,” he gritted out. “So, yes…I love you. I love you fiercely, wholly, selfishly and unselfishly, more than I ever fucking should. I love everything about you, from your smile, to your perfect heart, to the way your hair always slips from your ponytail when you’re running or sparring and hides those eyes I’ve been enamored with since the moment I first saw you. I love how you take every picture like it’s the only one you’ll ever take, how you love like it’s simply a way of life, and how you cook from your soul because it makes everyone around you so goddamn happy. I love the strength you pulled from nothing, from bare bones and rock bottom, and how you choose to dance through life with grace and courage, finding music in every soundless shadow, when anyone else would have laid down and died.” He choked out the last words, emotion catching in his throat as his chest puffed with the weight of each breath. “Now…tell me how that changes anything.”
― Jennifer Hartmann, Older

“Comet, You told me a story once. You were standing in the kitchen making a taco casserole, wearing a fuzzy sweater that matched your eyes. It was a story about a bunny. When you were young, a little rabbit had found its way into your garage, injured and bleeding. You wanted to save it. You wanted to give it a second chance at life. Unfortunately, the story didn’t end well, and I wished so hard that I could go back in time and help you save that bunny. Since my powers are limited, I did what I could. Meet Hoppity. I hope that when you look at it, hold it, set it on your shelf, you think of me. I hope it serves as a constant reminder of your beautiful heart and the way it changes people. The way it changed me. You changed me, Halley, in all the best ways. Let this be your second chance at life. Take risks. Take opportunities. Take pictures that hang in galleries one day, so everyone can see your talent, your beauty, your immeasurable worth. Fight. Fight for you, for your future. Not with fists and kicks, but with what you’ve always fought best with: love. The night I met you, you sat down in a cold lake and said, “You’re welcome.” I said I didn’t thank you for anything and you replied with, “You might one day.” You were right. Thank you, Halley Foster. You’ve made me a better man. Reed”
― Jennifer Hartmann, Older

“She watched the movie. I watched her.”
― Jennifer Hartmann, Older

“I was at home again. Not in Illinois, but in Reed’s glittering galaxy. A comet landing in the arms of its favourite star.”
― Jennifer Hartmann, Older

“It was fascinating the way human beings tended to living things; how we could nurture something so fiercely, all while knowing it was going to die. Just a little more water, we’d say. Better sunlight. A silent wish for a few more good days. But it didn’t matter. Every hearty, thriving thing carried with it the certainty of an expiration date.

Nothing lived forever.

Even love.

And still, we allowed it to bloom. We breathed life into it, while simultaneously whispering our last goodbye.

Some goodbyes just came far too soon.”
― Jennifer Hartmann, Older

“do you like this song?” - “it’s my favorite.”
― Jennifer Hartmann, Older

“I guess that was why I loved too much. I had a lot of loveless holes to fill.”
― Jennifer Hartmann, Older

“Growing old with the one you love was an underrated treasure. Aging was frightening. Death was an ominous certainty that nipped at our ankles. But the journey to the other side of this life with someone who held your heart, who shared your dreams and fears, who knew you in the deepest corners of your soul, was a privilege beyond measure.”
― Jennifer Hartmann, Older

“I’m Reed.” “Halley. Like the comet.”
― Jennifer Hartmann, Older

“So, yes…I love you. I love you fiercely, wholly, selfishly and unselfishly, more than I ever fucking should. I love everything about you, from your smile, to your perfect heart, to the way your hair always slips from your ponytail when you’re running or sparring and hides those eyes I’ve been enamored with since the moment I first saw you. I love how you take every picture like it’s the only one you’ll ever take, how you love like it’s simply a way of life, and how you cook from your soul because it makes everyone around you so goddamn happy. I love the strength you pulled from nothing, from bare bones and rock bottom, and how you choose to dance through life with grace and courage, finding music in every soundless shadow, when anyone else would have laid down and died.”
― Jennifer Hartmann, Older

“Are you here to save me?” Another kiss landed on my hairline, and he lingered there, squeezing me tighter, exhaling ragged breaths against my skin. “You never needed saving, Halley. You were never lost.” “I was,” I cried. “I was lost when you found me, and I’ll be lost when you leave me.” “No.” He kissed my forehead, my tear-tipped lashes, my quivering upper lip. “You were searching for something you already had.”
― Jennifer Hartmann, Older

“Erasing the past doesn’t do us any favors. If everything had an easy way out, we’d be a brittle, complacent species.”
― Jennifer Hartmann, Older

“Speaking of too happy, why are you smiling like a serial killer who just stumbled upon his next victim?”
― Jennifer Hartmann, Older

“Human beings were so damn resilient. We saw color through blackened vision, latched onto hope in hopeless places, and loved with every damaged piece of our broken-down hearts.”
― Jennifer Hartmann, Older

“I was lost when you found me, and I’ll be lost when you leave me.”
― Jennifer Hartmann, Older

“Are you lost?” I whirled around, water sloshing at my legs and disbelief pounding between my ribs. What? It couldn’t be. I was imagining him. Blinking rapidly, I pressed a hand to my chest, squeezing reality back into my heart. I gaped, jaw-dropped and legs-wobbling. “Reed.” He stood on the shore, his hands hidden in the pockets of his dark-wash jeans. He’d be too far away for me to make out the color of his eyes, but I’d already memorized the precise shade of pale-verdant green. We gazed at each other across the barren beach. When he took a small step forward, I swallowed hard, in a daze. “Do I look lost?” “A little.”
― Jennifer Hartmann, Older

“Not everyone could scoop up their trauma in two shaking hands and mold it into something worth holding. Her pain was clay, taking on a new form, a new shape. One day, it could become her greatest masterpiece.”
― Jennifer Hartmann, Older

“He sees me.”
― Jennifer Hartmann, Older

“Imperfections are what bind us together. Our common thread. We’re all capable of screwing up, but we’re all capable of forgiving, too. That’s what makes us stronger humans.”
― Jennifer Hartmann, Older

“I know that forgiveness, growth and understanding can be found in even the darkest circumstances. I know the love has power. power to break and ruin, and power to rebuild. I know the what is meant to be, will be. you can’t rush it. you can’t fake it. you just need to wait for the storm to pass and pick up the pieces when the time is right.”
― Jennifer Hartmann, Older

“lost things don’t have to stay lost forever. they can be found.”
― Jennifer Hartmann, Older

“You’re here to save me,” I breathed out. Warm lips brushed against mine as he whispered, “Maybe you’re here to save me.”
― Jennifer Hartmann, Older

“My Wonderwall.”
― Jennifer Hartmann, Older

“I’m certain it’s going to hurt like hell when this is over.”
― Jennifer Hartmann, Older

“hope you find someone who complements you in every way, who gives you strength and courage, who fights for you tooth and nail, no matter the consequences, and who loves every single piece of you. Even the sad pieces. Even the ugly pieces you try to keep buried.”
― Jennifer Hartmann, Older

“You just had to be so perfect. My white knight. My rescuer. You had to be everything I’ve dreamed about, every wish I’ve made on falling stars and birthday candles and pennies in mall fountains, and you had to make me fall in love with you.”
― Jennifer Hartmann, Older

“When I looked at her like this, her heart spread wide open and soul bare, she was more than Tara’s friend. More than eighteen. More than a predicament, a casualty of life. A blip. She was defiance. A force. A kaleidoscope in motion. I saw things I shouldn’t see when I looked at her. Something beyond physical.”
― Jennifer Hartmann, Older

“That was nice of you.” “It was decent,” he said, grabbing a shopping cart. “Bare minimum, we should all strive to be decent, don’t you think?”
― Jennifer Hartmann, Older