A Forty Year Kiss Quotes

“I wanted you to be able to change your life, but I also wanted it to be a tough decision. It's not a virtue, but you get to be my age, and, well, sometimes a person forgets that a gift should be a gift. Not a lesson with a thousand strings attached.”
― Nickolas Butler, A Forty Year Kiss

“You know what I think? Charlie asked.
That I should relax?
That you look incredible. I can't believe how lucky I am to be here with you tonight. That after all the years that went by and all the stupid decisions I made, that somehow, this is possible. You're the most beautiful woman in this restaurant.
Come on, she laughed, that's not true.
Yes. It is, he insisted.
You're not even looking. I could easily point to ten women who are most definitely prettier than me. She scanned the room. Okay, five or six anyway.
You're exactly right. I'm not looking. I don't need to look.”
― Nickolas Butler, A Forty Year Kiss

“Everything was expensive. Pork chops for forty dollars. A steak for fifty. The prices confounded her. Where did all this money come from? She glanced around the dining room, and there were couples in their twenties and thirties sprinkled here and there, laughing casually in their chic clothing. Checking their phones. No one was gawking at the menu prices or excusing themselves to go someplace cheaper.
She shook her head, took a long sip of the twelve-dollar glass of wine she had ordered, and laughed softly.
What is it? he asked, leaning back in his chair.
I don't know, Charlie. Sometimes, I just don't understand.
Don't understand what?
I don't understand, well, where all the money comes from. I mean, where are all the jobs paying all this money? And why couldn't I ever find a job like that? What did I do wrong? Did I miss something? Some announcements in high school, you know, pointing me in the direction of a six-figure salary?”
― Nickolas Butler, A Forty Year Kiss

“TOP FIVE THINGS I WANT FOR MY LIFE
1. I want to quit drinking.
2. I want to move to a big city. Minneapolis or Saint Paul. But maybe Milwaukee or Duluth or even Chicago.
3. I want to earn my MBA.
4. I want a job with benefits. I want two weeks of vacation, every year. I want to get my eyes checked and my teeth cleaned.
5. I want to see a glacier before they're all gone.”
― Nickolas Butler, A Forty Year Kiss

“If something happened to me, I have no idea what would happen to that cellar. Maybe - maybe - one of my cousins would know that they were worth something? But I could also see someone donating them to some church. Here, they'd say, carting in box after box of wine. Guess you should be all set on communion juice for a while.”
― Nickolas Butler, A Forty Year Kiss

“This whole day had been awful. She just wanted to take a hot bath. To put a hot washcloth over her face and lie in that warm place between disconnection, relaxation, and sleep. Nothing. No one to watch over or feed or clean up after or take care of or suffer or explain to or heal or worship or even love. Just warm, soapy water lapping at her skin. A few candles. Some old country album playing on her phone.”
― Nickolas Butler, A Forty Year Kiss

“As a farmer, he collected everything. Anything and everything that came to rest on their farm was a treasure. Or a potential treasure. He housed it all in various outbuildings.”
― Nickolas Butler, A Forty Year Kiss

“only”
― Nickolas Butler, A Forty Year Kiss: A Spellbinding Story of Second-Chance Romance, Hope, and Resilience

“How much easier was it not to change at all, to simply dwell in the comfortable little eddy time had carved away for her in this old river town? Or was there something to letting go? Letting go and drifting into the current, down and away from that eddy and into gliding waters she could not predict.”
― Nickolas Butler, A Forty Year Kiss: A Spellbinding Story of Second-Chance Romance, Hope, and Resilience

“there was recognition, especially in the past few years, that time was a growing shadow in every room. And she didn’t need to think of this fact as a negative thing, or a threat, but as a reminder that these were sweet days, sweet moments, and she could stretch them out if she so chose.”
― Nickolas Butler, A Forty Year Kiss: A Spellbinding Story of Second-Chance Romance, Hope, and Resilience